^ 



LANDMARKS 



OF 



WAYNE COUNTY 



NEW YORK 



HUustratefc 



EDITED BY 



HON. GEORGE WTCOWLES 



OF CLYDE, N. Y. 



ASSISTED BY H. P. SMITH AND OTHERS 



SYRACUSE, N. Y. 

D. Mason & Company, Publishers 

1895 



VB> 



FTa.7 



Bequest 

Albert Adsit demons 

Aug. 24, 1938 

(Not available for exchange) 



INTRODUCTORY. 



In presenting this historical and biographical record of Wayne 
county to its readers, the editor and his associates feel that no 
apology is demanded, either for the motives which first prompted 
the undertaking or for the accomplished results. While several 
more or less incomplete works treating upon the history of this 
locality have been published prior to the inception of this volume, 
it is true that the field has never been properly occupied. This 
fact was realized and appreciated by the representative people of 
the county, most of whom had. lqng.entertained the desire that a 
work worthy of the subjeet, and comprehensive and reasonably cor- 
rect, might be published before many "of the sources of information 
should become extinct. 

No person unfamiliar with work of this kind can properly appre- 
ciate its difficulties. Were it otherwise, and could the many who 
will turn these pages have followed the long course of the task, 
their censure would fall very lightly upon the heads of the editor 
and his helpers. No writer ever has, probably never will, produce 
such a volume, containing a great mass of material and thousands 
of names and dates, without numerous errors. For this reason, if 
for no other, absolute accuracy will not be expected herein. It is 
believed that all who may read these pages will feel kindly disposed 
and pass over the occasional errors to the perusal of that which 
fully meets their expectations. 



iv INTRODUCTION. 

To all who have aided in the preparation of this work (and they 
are so numerous as to render it impracticable to name them here), 
the gratitude of editors and publishers is due and hereby expressed. 
No worthy history of this county could have been written without 
such aid. 

The editor of the work desires to make especial acknowledgment 
of the assistance rendered him in his part of the work by H. P. 
Smith and W. Stanley Child, for their intelligent and faithful co- 
operation ; and to the press of the county, county officers, pastors 
of churches, school officials, and all of the many who have other 
wise contributed to the work. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 



Original Civil Divisions of New York State — Subsequent Divisions — Physical 
Characteristics of Wayne County — Fish and Animals of this Locality — Cli- 
matic Peculiarities — Effects of the Climate upon the Health of the Settlers 
— Coming of Wayne County Pioneers. i 

CHAPTER II. 

Indian Occupation of Western New York — Treatment of Indians by White Men 
— Relation of the Indians to Wayne County — The Jesuits and their Work — 
Local Operations in the War of the Revolution — Indian Remains 9 



CHAPTER III. 

Early Conditions in Western New York — Sketches of the "Genesee Country" 
and the Phelps andGorham Purchase — The Pre-emption Lines — Organization 
of Companies to Secure Lands in Western New York — A Very Extensive 
" Mill-Yard "—The Morris Reserve— The Military Tract as Related to Wayne 
County. ...14 

CHAPTER IV. 

Early Conditions in the "Genesee Country" — Efforts of Great Britain to Retain 
the Territory — Fears of Indian Invasion — Lack of Means of Communication 
with the East — Charles Williams and his Work — Colony on the Genesee River 
— Quaker Settlement at Jerusalem — Settlement at Canandaigua — List of Set- 
tlers West of Pre-emption Line — Opening of Roads — A Journey Westward 
from Albany — Privations of Pioneers. . . _ 26 

CHAPTER V. 

Beginning of Settlement in the Territory of Wayne County — Early Map of West- 
ern New York — Map of the "Genesee Lands" — Localities First Settled in 
Wayne County — Beginning at East Palmyra — Importance of Ganargwa 
Creek — First Improvement at Sodus Bay — Improvement of Highways — Set- 
tlements in Various Localities — The Threatened Canadian Invaion — Final 
Establishment of Peaceful Conditions — Estimate of Williamson's Policy 39 



vi CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VI. 

Circumstances of the Pioneers — Current Prices of Produce — Inconvenience of 
Distant Markets — Gradual Improvement of Roads — Old Stage Lines — Erec- 
tion of Early Mills— Outbreak of the War of 1812— Effects of the Conflict in 
Wayne County — Military Operations at Sodus Bay — Account of a Skirmish 
— Descent upon Pultneyville — General Improvements Following the Close of 
the War. - 52 

CHAPTER VII. 

Further Improvement in Means of Transportation — Discussion of the "Grand 
Canal" — Investigation and Surveys — Progress and Completion of the Great 
Work — Its Effect upon Wayne County — Other Public Improvements — The 
First Railroad — The Railroads of Wajne County — Brief History of Mormon- 
ism — Inception of Spiritualism 65 

CHAPTER VIII. 

End of the Reign of Peace — The First Gun — Military Enthusiasm — Wayne County 
The President's First Proclamation — The First Company Recruited in Wayne 
County — Sketches of the Various other Wayne County Organizations 83 

CHAPTER IX. 

Since the War — Internal Improvements — Legislative Acts— Agricultural Pro- 
ductions — Peppermint — Statistics, etc. — Civil List — Recapitulation. 91 

CHAPTER X. 

Comparison of State Law with the Common Law — Evolution of the Courts — The 
Court of Appeals — The Supreme Court — The Court of Chancery — The County 
Court — The Surrogate's Court — Justice's Court — District Attorneys — Sheriffs 
— Court House — Judicial Officers — Personal Notes. 101 

CHAPTER XI. 

The Medical Profession — Wayne County Medical Society — Wayne County Homeo- 
pathic Medical Society — Sketches and Reminiscences. 121 

CHAPTER XII. 
The Press of Wayne County. - - . 131 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Secret Societies 146 



CONTENTS, vii 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Agricultural Societies, County Institutions, &c. 159 

CHAPTER XV. 
History of the Town of Palmyra. 165 

CHAPTER XVI. 
History of the Town of Sodus. 197 

CHAPTER XVII. 
History of the Town and Village of Lyons. . . 221 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
History of the Town of Galen. 251 

CHAPTER XIX. 
History of the Town of Wolcott 282 

CHAPTER XX. 
History of the Town of Williamson. 304 

CHAPTER XXI. 
History of the Town of Ontario 319 

CHAPTER XXII. 
History of the Town of Macedon 329 

CHAPTER XXIII. 
History of the Town of Savannah 346 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
History of the Town of Arcadia. __ 357 

CHAPTER XXV. 
History of the Town of Marion. ..382 



viii CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXVI. 
History of the Town of Walworth. ... . .' 394 

CHAPTER XXVII. 
History of the Town of Rose. . - . 402 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 
History of the Town of Huron. . . . . 417 

CHAPTER XXIX. 
History of the Town of Butler. . 427 

PART II. 
Biographies 1-42 

PART III. 
Family Sketches ...1-321 

Index to Part I 323-328 

Index to Part II 329 

Index to Part III 330-343 

Index to Portraits.. 343 



Landmarks of Wayne County. 



CHAPTER I. 



Original Civil Divisions of New York State — Subsequent Divisions — Physical 
Characteristics of Wayne County — Fish and Animals of this Locality — Climatic 
Peculiarities — Effects of the Climate upon Health of the Settlers — Coming of Wayne 
County Pioneers. 

The original ten counties of what is now the State of New York were 
created November 1, 1683, and named Albany, Dutchess, Kings, New 
York, Orange, Queens, Richmond, Suffolk, Ulster, and Westchester. 
On the 11th of March, 1772, Montgomery county was erected under the 
name of " Tryon " (the change in name was made in 1784), and em- 
braced nearly the whole of the central and western part of the State. 
In 1789 all that part of the State lying west of Phelps & Gorham's pre- 
emption line (see outline map of the county on a later page), was 
erected into the county of Ontario, which ultimately gave a part of its 
territory to Wayne county. Two years later (1791), Herkimer county 
was taken from Montgomery; in 1794, Onondaga county was set off 
from Herkimer ; in 1799, Cayuga was taken from Onondaga, and in 
1804, Seneca county was taken from Cayuga, and ultimately gave a 
part of its territory to Wayne county. Seneca county was embraced 
in the military tract, described herein. From the two counties of On- 
tario and Seneca, Wayne county was erected on the 11th of April, 
1823. Most of that part of the county lying east of the pre-emption 
line was taken from the military tract, and now embraces the towns of 
Savannah, Galen, Butler, Rose, Wolcott and Huron; and all of the 
county west of that line, embracing the towns of Lyons, Arcadia, 
Sodus, Williamson, Marion, Palmyra, Ontario, Walworth and Macedon, 
was taken from Ontario county. The dates of the formation of the 
fifteen towns now composing Wayne county were as follows : Palmyra 
l 



2 LANDMARKS OF 

and Sodus, January, 1780; Williamson, February 20, 1802; Ontario, 
March 27, 1807; Wolcott, March 24, 1807; Lyons, March 1, 1811; 
Galen, February 14, 1812; Macedon, January 21), 1823; Savannah, 
November 24, 1824; Arcadia, February 15, 1825; Rose, February 5, 
1826; Huron, February 25, 182(3; Butler, February 26, 1826; Wal- 
worth, April 20, 1829. It will be noticed that several of these towns 
have been erected since the formation of the county. 

The law erecting Wayne county states that it should contain the 
towns of Wolcott and Galen, in Seneca county (from which have been 
taken four other towns), and Lyons, Sodus, Williamson, Ontario, and 
Macedon, and all that part of Phelps north of an east and west line 
from the southwest corner of Galen to the east line of Manchester, 
from Ontario county; from these six towns, three others have been 
erected since the county was set off, making the present fifteen. That 
part of Phelps above described was added to the town of Lyons. The 
act of organization also gave the new county two members of Assem- 
bly, and ordered the first election to be held on the first Tuesday of 
May, 1824, and the two succeeding days. It also made the county a 
part of the Twenty-sixth Congressional District, and of the Seventh 
Senatorial District, now in Twenty-eighth Senatorial District. The 
county received its name in honor of Gen. Anthony Wayne, of the 
Revolutionary Army. It is bounded on the north by Lake Ontario; 
east by Cayuga county; south by Seneca and Ontario counties, and 
west by Monroe county. 

The surface of Wayne county is level or slightly rolling, and is gen- 
erally admirably adapted to agriculture. It has a general slope north- 
ward towards the great lake. Proceeding southward from the lake a 
quite uniform rise continues to what is known as " The Ridge." This 
is an elevation extending across the county from east to west, follow- 
ing to a certain extent the shore conformation of the lake and continuing 
on westward through Monroe, Orleans, and Niagara counties. Its 
height is from 150 to 188 feet. This peculiar elevation, its situation 
with reference to the lake shore, its constituent soil, have revealed to 
ardent and persistent students of geology the assurance that in past 
ages it constituted the southern shore of Lake Ontario, the waters of 
which have since receded northward. J The accompanying outline 

1 Professor Hall, State geologist, says of this ridge: "It bears all the marks of 
having been the boundary of a large body of water, and of having been produced in 



WAYNE COUNTY. 3 

geological map indicates not only the line of the ridge, but also other 
interesting matters, with the probable location of the once great glacier 
that is believed to have existed to the northward. 




Map of Lake Iroquois. 

Showing the line of the present lake shore, the original shore line, the former supposed outlet of the 
lake by the Mohawk River, and the situation of the great northern ice sheet. 1 

On the Wayne county lake shore is by far the largest indentation on 
the southern shore of the lake — Sodus Bay. It is a safe as well as a 
beautiful harbor, its projecting headlands, varied shore line and 
pictnesque island commanding unqualified admiration. One traveler 
of early times described it as "rivalling the Bay of Naples in the purity 
of its waters and the romantic nature of its scenery." It was visited 



the same manner as the elevated beaches bordering the ocean or our larger lakes. 
. . Its seaward side is usually covered with coarse gravel and often with large 
pebbles, resembling the shingle of the sea beaches. The top is generally of coarse 
sand and gravel, though sometimes of fine sand, as if blown up by the wind, similar 
to modern beaches." 

1 From "The Niagara Book," Underhill & Nichols, Buffalo, 1893. 



4 LANDMARKS OF 

by the Jesuits and given by them the name "Assorodus," or "silver 
waters." It was also a noted loeality with the Indians, who made it a 
meeting place for various purposes. 

The ridge has an upper surface width of from fifty to two hundred 
feet, and southward of this the surface of the county is somewhat 
broken by north and south ridges, with rather abrupt northward head- 
ings and sloping of southward, rising in some places to the dignity of 
hills, but in almost all sections susceptible of tillage. These ridges are 
composed of clay, sand and gravel, and seem to be deposits from strong 
currents of water. 

The soil of the county generally is derived from drift deposits and 
composed of a sandy or gravelly loam, with minor intermixture of clay. 
Along the lake shore it is principally derived from the disintegration 
of the Medina sand stone, making a reddish, sandy loam. In the val- 
ley of Clyde River is a rich soil of gravelly loam and alluvium. There 
is considerable marsh land in the county, along the Clyde and Seneca 
Rivers and north of the ridge, the surface of which when drained is 
covered with a deep and rich vegetable mold, which is very fertile. 

The lowest rock in this county is the Medina sandstone, which is so 
extensively quarried in various localities in Western New York for 
building and paving purposes. It appears on the lake and in the ravines 
near to it, occupying a strip about two miles in average width and 
widest in the western part. This sandstone embraces four species, 
which are geologically described as the red marl, which decomposes by 
exposure and is the source of the red clay of this locality; the gray 
quartzose sandstone, which succeeds the one just mentioned, and is 
the hardest of the group; the red shale, or sandstone, a red shaly or 
marly mass, as its title indicates, mottled with spots of greenish gray; 
and the greenish -gray argillaceous sandstone, similar to the one last 
named, except in its color. The extent of the Medina group seems 
quite limited when compared with the remaining rocks of this period. 
It occurs through Western New York, thinning out to the eastward and 
is not found beyond Utica. Southward of the Appalachian region it 
extends through to Pennsylvania and Virginia, attaining in some places 
a thickness of 1,500 feet. On the Niagara River it is from 350 to 400 
feet thick, passes into Canada and has been found as far north as the 
Straits of Mackinac. 

Next above the Medina stone comes the Clinton group of limestone 
and shales, extending to the foot of the limestone ridge. Then sue- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 5 

ceeds the Niagara limestone, forming the summit ridge and occupying 
a strip about three miles in width. This gradually increases in depth 
to the westward; is thirty to forty feet thick in Wayne county, from 
seventy to eighty in Rochester, while at Niagara Falls it is more than 
160 feet thick. In Pennsylvania its thickness exceeds 1,500 feet. 
Minerals are found in this stone, but none of great value. South of 
the lim&stone in this county is the Onondaga salt group of red and 
green shales and gypsum, extending to the southern border and oc- 
cupying nearly one-half of the county. These rocks are mostly covered 
with thick deposits of drift, and are not extensively exposed except in 
ravines. Weak salt and sulphur springs are found in various localities 
in the Medina sandstone and the red shales of the Onondaga salt group. 

Wayne county is well watered Ganargwa, or Mud Creek, enters 
the southwest corner of the county from Ontario, flows in a general 
easterly course to Lyons, where it unites with the Canandaigua outlet 
and forms the Clyde River. This considerable stream received its name 
from William McNab, a Scotch settler; it continues eastward to the 
eastern bounds of the county, where it discharges its waters into Seneca 
River. The Clyde, like all other streams, was once of considerable 
more volume than it now has and was navigable as far as Lyons and 
the Ganargwa (Mud Creek), even farther, constituting a highway for 
the pioneers and a link in the chain of interrupted waterways from 
Albany westward. Mud Creek and the Clyde receive from the north- 
west Red Creek, East Red Creek, and Bear Creek, and several small 
brooks from the south. The streams flowing into Lake Ontario are 
Bear, Ueer, Davis, Salmon, Thomas, Wolcott, and Big and Little Red 
Creeks. First, Second, and Third creeks flow into Sodus Bay. The 
only considerable body of water in the county is Crusoe Lake, in the 
southeast corner. 

The climate of Wayne county is more equable and healthful than in 
many other localities of the same latitude. This was not fully under- 
stood in earl}'' years, and much of the sickness of those times was at- 
tributed to climatic influences. This was undoubtedly an error ; the 
causes of prevailing diseases were more specific and local, such as clear- 
ing the lands along streams like Ganargwa Creek, thus lowering the 
water and leaving decaying vegetation exposed to the sun; the plowing 
up of new lands, etc. With the termination of these causes, their ill 
effects also disappeared in large measure. The equable climate of this 
locality is rightly attributed to the proximity of the great lake, whose 



6 LANDMARKS OF 

waters it is believed absorb the excessive sun heat of summer and 
modify the severe cold of winter. The mean temperature here extend- 
ing over a period of several years has been shown to be a little over 
forty-eight degrees. No section of the State of New York at the present 
time has a more varied and at the same time delightful climate than 
Wayne county. 

The prevailing sickness of early years was fever, and it was wide 
spread and often fatal in all parts of the Genesee country. In an essay 
prepared by Dr. Ludlow on this subject he said: None were exempt 
from the intermittent fevers which prevailed (in 1801). Peruvian bark 
was generally a remedy, but was of rare use. When left to nature, 
the disease became typhoid, and endangered recovery. All fevers, 
except fever and ague, were called by the people, "Lake or Genesee 
fevers." 

After tracing the course of these diseases through several years, Dr. 
Ludlow said that the principal disease up to 1822 was dysentery, which 
was most fatal to children. While after 1828 fevers became rarely 
fatal, and that now records of health and longevity are favorable to 
Wayne county. 

Into this region came during the last decade of the preceding century 
and the early years of the present century, a class of pioneers who 
were, as a rule, well adapted to the work of founding homes and com- 
munities in the wilderness. They were men and women endowed with 
ambition, firmness of purpose, industrious, and frugal. Such qualifica- 
tions were necessary to enable them to succeed in their undertaking; 
and their success was in very many instances dearly bought, as the 
reader of these pages will learn. Aside from the natural sources of 
food before mentioned, provisions were scarce and costly. Even the 
necessary article of salt was almost impossible to obtain, except by a 
long and tedious journey to Onondaga. As an example of what it cost 
to secure a little salt, it is related that three men started from the town 
of Victor (Ontario county), in the fall of 1790 for Palmyra on their way 
to the salt springs, they and their neighbors being destitute of the 
article. At Palmyra they took a Schenectady boat and went their toil- 
some way. A little below the junction of Ganargwa Creek and the 
outlet, they encountered a stretch of drift wood fifteen rods or more in 
extent, and had to haul their boat up a steep shore and around the ob- 
struction on rollers, and re-embark below. After days of hard labor 
they reached the salt works of Asa Danforth at Salina, where they pro- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 7 

cured twelve barrels of salt and started homeward. While in Seneca 
River a snow storm came on and ice formed in the stream. Often the 
men were forced to get into the freezing water in order to proceed at 
all. Both boat and salt had to be transported around the driftwood, 
and at Lyon's landing boat and cargo were left, and later were carried 
from there to their destination by the aid of six yoke of oxen, wagons 
and sleds, through the wilderness. This is only an incident, but it 
clearly indicates what the pioneers often had to undergo to avoid suf- 
fering and keep their families in even tolerable comfort. 

Those who live in the comfortable homes of Wayne county to-day, 
and especially those of the younger generation, can scarcely realize the 
hardships endured by their ancestors, except as they may have heard 
their stories related, or have read them in the records that have been 
laboriously gathered and preserved in the few volumes devoted to local 
history. 

The lake shore in Wayne county is generally bold and varies greatly 
in height ; at the mouth of Salmon Creek it is ten feet high, a little 
lower in Williamston, and at Sodus Point, from eighty to a hundred 
feet. The Erie Canal is carried along the valley cf the Clyde, from 
both sides of which the surface rises very gradually. Canandaigua, 
Crooked, Seneca and Cayuga Lakes charge northwardly into the stream 
which traverses this valley. The stream is known first as Mud Creek, 
(it has recently taken the more euphonius Indian name of Ganargwa), 
until joined by the Canandaigua outlet, when it becomes Clyde River, 
and so continues eastward to Montezuma, where it receives through 
the Seneca outlet, the waters of Crooked, Seneca and Cayuga Lakes, 
continues east into Onondaga county, where it joins the outlet of Oneida 
Lake to form the Oswego River. 

The Cayuga (or Montezuma) marshes occupy a part of the town of 
Savannah, surrounding both sides of Crusoe Island, and extend into 
the south part of Butler. What is known as Cooper's swamp is situated 
in the south part of Williamston. There is also a cranberry swamp 
at the head of Port Bay. These swamps contain deposits of marl, in 
which are found quantities of fresh-water shells. 

There are several sulphur springs about one and a half miles south 
of Newark. Another is situated on Salmon Creek in Sodus; others 
near Palmyra, Clyde and Marion Center. The waters of these springs 
have not been used extensively. 



8 LANDMARKS OF 

111 the early history of this locality, a large salt spring was dis- 
covered in the town of Savannah on the western edge of the Cayuga 
marshes. Salt was manufactured here in limited quantities in early 
years. Salt springs were also discovered in the town of Wolcott, 
where an impure salt was made as early as L815. A salt spring was 
found on a small creek emptying into the bay near Sodus Point. Bor- 
ings were made many years ago for salt about two miles east of Lock- 
pit near the canal, and originally a spring existed at tins point. A 
limited product was manufactured here for a time. In 1832, a company 
was organized and borings for salt begun near Clyde village. The im- 
mediate locality showed no indications of salt, but at a depth of four 
hundred feet salt water was obtained of good strength, but in limited 
quantity. No salt is now made in the county. 

Iron ore has been discovered in various places. About a mile east of 
Lockpit bog-iron occurs near the surface. A bed of argillaceous oxide 
of iron crosses the county from east to west at about two miles from the 
lake. This ore has been worked in furnaces in the towns of Wolcott, 
Sodus and Ontario; it lias also been ground for paint. Further details 
of the iron manufacturing industry will be given in the later town 
histories. 

In the towns of Butler, Rose, Sodus, Marion and Walworth the 
Niagara limestone occurs and has been extensively burned for lime. 
A slaty limestone is found near Newark, and also in the southern part 
of Williamston, from which lime has been made. The Niagara lime- 
stone before mentioned furnishes in man}' localities excellent building 
stone. 

Wavne county contains 356,513 acres of land, of which about 275, 0(H) 
acres are improved. 

At the time of the first settlement of this locality by white men, the 
streams of the county abounded with fish. Salmon ran up Salmon 
Creek and other streams in great numbers, and they added much to the 
food supply of the pioneers. The land was covered with a thick forest, 
principally of hard wood trees, such as oak, hickory, beech, birch and 
maple, with some soft woods on the low lands. The cutting away of 
these forests by the pioneers was a task of great magnitude ; but it gave 
them a source of cash income at a time when there was almost no 
other, through the manufacture of potash from the ashes of the burned 
logs, and in later years from the timber and fire-wood. The forests 
were filled with wild animals — deer, bears, wolves, all of which were 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



numerous, with such smaller animals as the beaver in very early years, 
the raccoon, hedgehog, squirrels, etc. While the bears and wolves 
were destructive of domestic animals, they with the numerous deer 
furnished an ever-ready source of food to the settlers. 



CHAPTER II. 



Indian Occupation of Western New York— Treatment of Indians by White Men — 
Relation of the Indians to Wayne County — The Jesuits and their Work — Local 
Operations in the War of the Revolution — Indian Remains. 

The first white man who penetrated the wilderness which once 
covered what is now the State of New York, found its northern and 
western parts inhabited and dominated by nations of that remarkable 
race of copper-colored people whom we call Indians — in reality the 
native Americans. The question whence they originated is shrouded 
in mystery and so must remain ; but we well know whither they are 
going. Unnumbered ages hence their disappearance from the earth 
may be enveloped in the deep oblivion that now hides their origin. 

The detailed history of this race cannot be followed in this volume, 
nor is it desirable that it should be; for it is writ upon the glowing 
pages of the past by many gifted pens. As to the right or wrong of 
their conquest and rapidly approaching extinction, wise men differ. 
At the foundation of the question is the fact that in the world's history, 
civilization must advance at whatever cost to the uncivilized; the 
ignorant must go down before the educated; the weak before the 
strong; might, if not always right, will triumph. If the Indians with 
their undisciplined passions fired by the white man's rum, armed with 
the guns placed in their hands in exchange for valuable furs at a ten- 
fold profit, driven from their hunting grounds when no longer a source 
of gain to the invaders — if they finally retaliated and committed bar. 
barities, the record of which fills the pages of history with horror, what 
else should have been expected? The fact remains that there is not an 
instance on record where the natives did not receive the first visit of 
the white man with hospitality and kindness. We may well, there- 
fore, give a thought to what it was that produced the great change in 
2 



10 LANDMARKS OF 

the attitude of the Indian towards his Caucasian superior. The former 
never desired to part with his lands; and the latter stole what he could 
not buy. 1 The Indians retaliated by murdering" the thieves. With 
Champlain shooting with his terrorizing gunpowder upon the guileless 
Iroquois in 1600 on the lake that bears his name; 2 with the sancti- 
monious Jesuits beguiling the natives to secure their allegiance — and 
their furs — for France; with the sagacious Dutch following Hendrick 
Hudson up the great river that bears his name, within a year or two 
after Champlain killed his first Indian a little farther north ; and with 
the English landing on the Atlantic shores a few years later, to hood- 
wink the natives out of their lands — with all this going on it is scarcely 
a marvel that the gradually aroused Indians became revengful. The 
correspondence of that lifelong friend of the Indians, Sir William 
Johnson, with his superiors, is one long catalogue of remonstrances 
against the wrongs of every kind to which the natives were subjected. 
The Iroquois Indians, as they were first called by the French, known 
as the Five Nations (subsequently the Six Nations) by the English, 
were established across the State of New York beginning with the 
Mohawks on the east, with the ( hieidas (with whom the Tuscaroras 
were subsequently practically amalgamated), the Onondagas, the 
Cayugas, and the Senecas next, in the order named. What is now 
Erie county, and contiguous territory on the west and north, was oc- 
cupied by a nation called by the French the Neuter Nation, from the 
fact that they endeavored to and generally did, remain at peace with 

1 As late as July. 1755, an Iroquois chief, in addressing Sir William Johnson, said: 
"Brother — you desire us to unite and live together and draw all our allies near us; 
but we shall have no land left either for ourselves or them, for your people when 
they buy a small piece of land of us, by stealing make it large. We desire such 
things may not be done, and that your people may not be suffered to buy any more 
of our lands. Sometimes it is sought of two men who are not the proper owners of it. 
The land which reaches down from Oswego to Schanandowana (Wyoming) we beg 
may not be settled by Christians. The governor of Pennsylvania bought a whole 
tract and only paid for half, and we desire that you will let him know that we will 
not part with the other half, but keep it." This seems a reasonable speech for a 
savage, regarding what he believed to be his own property; and even an Indian is 
likely to light when he is robbed. 

- The moment they saw me they halted, gazing at me and I at them. 1 raised my 
arquebus, and aiming directly at one of the three chiefs, two of them fell to the 
ground by this shot; one of their companions received a wound of which he died 
afterwards. I had put four balls in my arquebus. The Iroquois were greatly aston- 
ished seeing two men killed so instantaneously. — From Champlain 's 'Journal. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 11 

the warlike Eries, still farther west, and the Iroquois on the east, until 
they were all finally subdued by the latter, long before the coming of 
white men. From that time onward until the natives were conquered 
by the new comers the Iroquois roamed over a large part of the country, 
conquering and triumphant, lords of the soil that bore them. 

As far as relates to the territory of which this work is to treat, it was 
shared alike by the Cayugas in its eastern part, and by the Senecas in 
the western part. "The Cayugas possessed the country between the 
Onondagas and the Senecas. It was laved on the north by Lake On- 
tario, and stretched southward about ninety miles. It contained all of 
the county of Seneca, the easterly half of Wayne, and western parts of 
Cayuga and Tompkins. Their main stations were on the east and 
west sides of Cayuga Lake a little south of the outlet. Canoga, their 
chief town, was on the east side of the lake. Here they had a castle." 1 
The Senecas possessed the whole country to the westward indefinitely. 
Among these nations of Indians came that remarkable order of 
French religious enthusiasts to convert them to Catholicism and secure 
their fealty to the French crown. From 1611 to towards the close of 
that century, priests of that order came over to Montreal and from 
there penetrated all sections of what is now Northern and Central New 
York, enduring almost unparalleled privations and often suffering death 
in the cause. They were the discoverers of the Onondaga Salt Springs 
and taught the natives how to boil the water to obtain the coveted 
article. In some instances they appear to have made religious impres- 
sions upon the Indians, but with little permanent results toward civiliz- 
ing them. With La Salle, in 1669, came two of the Jesuit missionaries, 
De Casson and De Galinee. The party landed on the 10th of August 
at the mouth of Irondequoit Bay. Father Chaumonot, who labored 
among the Onondagas, had been in this region thirteen years earlier. 
In November, 1668, the Senecas sent to Montreal a request that a 
mission be established among them. Father Fremin came on promptly 
and found a pestilence raging among the nation, and called Father 
Gamier from the Onondagas to his aid. Fremin established himself in 
what is now Ontario county four miles southeast from Victor, and there 
founded the Mission of St. Michael. He labored there until 1671, while 
Gamier founded the Mission of St. James, also in what is now Victor, 
and remained until 1683. 

1 History of the State of New York, James Macauley, 1829, Vol. II, p. 300. 



12 LANDMARKS OF 

It is not known that the Jesuits had a mission or a station in what is 
now Wayne county. It is extremely probable that they did not. But 
it is just as probable that their boats often landed on the shores of 
Sodus Bay, and possibly at other points along the present shore line of 
the county. With the decline of the French power and its final extinc- 
tion, the Jesuits were driven from the country, and were succeeded 
throughout the State by English missionaries, chief among whom was 
the Rev. Samuel Kirkland, who labored long among the Senecas and 
Cayugas. But it cannot be said that all the religious labor and sacri- 
fice that has been expended upon the Indians of the country has accom- 
plished much good. The Indian had his religion and his deity, the 
"Great Spirit," and it has been easier for the white man to exterminate, 
than to convert him. 

As far as relates to the immediate territory of which this work treats, 
it almost or quite wholly escaped the effects of the wars which at 
various times during more than one hundred and fifty years, were pros- 
ecuted between the French, the English and the Indians. Here the 
Senecas and the Cayugas trod the deep forest in quest of game, or 
followed the trails to and from the great lake; but as far as known no 
conflict occurred in this immediate region. While the Mohawks and 
other eastern nations of the Iroquious were, as a rule, loyal to the 
English, or neutral, in the long struggle with France, the power of the 
French constantly increased for many years among the Senecas; but in 
spite of this the French never obtained a firm foothold in what is now 
New York State. The English arms, allied with the greater part of 
the Iroquois, prevented such a result. With equal facility had France, 
England, and Spain as well, parceled out vast provinces in the new 
world. The French established a fortified trading post on the Niagara 
River in 1683—4, but it was captured for the English under Sir William 
Johnson in 1759, and surrendered to the United States in 1796, several 
years after the close of the Revolutionary War. In 1729 a trading post 
was built on the site of Oswego, under the administration of the colo- 
nial government of New York, and five years later it was strengthened 
into a considerable fortification. The place was captured by the French 
in 1750, and destroyed. The works were rebuilt in 1758 by the English, 
and continued in their possession until 1799. Bloody wars continued 
until the final extinction of French power in 1763. There was strife 
from the beginning to gain the fealty of the Indians. They were not 
only extremely useful as fighters for either power, but their friendship 



WAYNE COUNTY. 13 

was equally desirable for purposes of trade. (Of course they were 
regularly swindled by either party towards which they leaned. ) 

When the Revolutionary War broke out and England was to be 
taught that there were some small portions of the earth whose people 
would not submit to practical slavery, the provincials held a council 
with chiefs of the Six Nations at German Flats (now in Herkimer county) 
and secured from the Indians a promise that they would remain neutral 
through that struggle. But through the influence of the Johnsons and 
other prominent tories the Iroquois, with the exception of the Oneidas 
and Tuscaroras, violated their pledge and adhered to the English 
cause through the war. The barbarities of the tories and Indians in 
the Mohawk Valley and elsewhere in this State, are too familiar to need 
attention here. To punish the Indians, and especially the Senecas, 
and to capture Fort Niagara, Sullivan's expedition was organized in 
1779. Under that general a large force met the enemy near the site 
of Elmira and defeated them with great loss. Thence northward 
through the country of the Senecas the victorious Americans marched, 
destroying villages by the score and all other property belonging to the 
natives. Although not many of the Senecas were killed after the first 
battle, they were thoroughly humbled and frightened into submission. 
Abandoning from that time their villages east of the Genesee River, 
they settled down near Geneseo, Mount Morris and other points in 
Western New York. 

Indian relics and remains have been found in various parts of Central 
and Western New York, many of them merely indicating the former 
presence of the natives, while others of more permanent character, 
point to a very remote period of antiquity and to the possession of 
characteristics by their former owners differing in considerable degree 
from those of the Indians with whom the white men first became 
familiar. An account of these remains would be out of place in these 
pages, and the reader is referred to the various works on that and 
allied subjects which are to be found in every library. As far as relates 
to the territory of Wayne county, nothing has been found to lead 
to the belief that it was more than a part of the transient huntino- 
grounds of the Cayugas and the Senecas, or that it was ever the site of 
a permanent Indian village. 



14 LANDMARKS OF 



CHAPTER III. 

Early Conditions in Western New York — Sketches of the "Genesee Country" and 
the Phelps and Gorham Purchase — The Pre-emption Lines — Organization of Com- 
panies to Secure Lands in Western New York— A Very Extensive "Mill Yard"— The 
Morris Reserve— The Military Tract as Related to Wayne County. 

As we have before pointed out, the larger part of what is now Wayne 
county, formerly constituted the northeastern corner of the great 
county of Ontario ; while the larger part of the remainder of the 
county's territory lay in the northwest corner of the military tract. 
The territory of the county also formed a small part of that compara- 
tively vast and largely undefined section of the State long popularly 
known as "The Genesee Country," celebrated alike for its beauty and 
its fertility. Moreover, that part of the present county west of the 
new pre-emption line (see outline map) was the northeastern corner of 
the great Phelps and Gorham purchase. A brief description of these 
several divisions becomes pertinent to our purpose. 

Previous to the Revolution little was known in Eastern New York 
and New England, of the western part of the State. During the 
twenty-four years while it was in possession of the English, communi- 
cation had been kept open between western posts and the east by 
water via Niagara and Oswego. Through this channel and, possibly, 
from reports of the missionary, Samuel Kirkland, some slight knowl- 
edge of the afterwards famous locality reached eastward. 

Sullivan's campaign in 1779, directly into the heart of the Genesee 
country, gave it a wider fame. There were many soldiers and officers 
in his army who were eagerly watching for a desirable locality in which 
to settle when their services in the field were ended; and they were 
quick to discover the attractions of Central New York. "Returning 
to the firesides of Eastern New York and New England, they relieved 
the dark picture of retaliatory warfare — the route, the fighting, 
smouldering cabins, pillage and spoliation — with the lighter shades — 
descriptions of the lakes and rivers, the rolling uplands and rich val- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 15 

leys — the Canaan of the wilderness they had seen." 1 Less than four 
years after Sullivan's expedition, the war closed and the restive and 
ambitious American spirit began its westward progress. 

In the rather reckless division and gathering of the new world by 
European powers before their claims to it were fully established, the 
English king granted to the Massachusetts Colony a section of territory 
larger, propably, than his entire landed possessions, the boundaries of 
which grant neither he nor the colonists were then able to define. In 
brief, the territory chartered extended from the southern bounds of 
the colony to the northern, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean; 
but what the distance was between the two oceans no one then knew. 
To further complicate the situation, the king afterwards chartered to 
New York a section of the same territory previously granted to Mas- 
sachusetts. When the Revolutionary War ended and it became there- 
by wholly unimportant to the English monarch what should be the 
destiny of the country which he had claimed, abused, and lost, the 
thrifty Massachusetts colonists urged the validity of their rights as 
against New York; but a compromise was effected by a Board of Com- 
missioners on the 16th of December, 1786, which gave to New York 
the sovereignty of all the disputed territory within her chartered limits, 
at the same time giving Massachusetts title in the soil, or the right to 
buy the soil from the Indians, who were then in actual possession (the 
pre-emption right), embracing all the territory lying west of a line be- 
ginning at a point in the north line of the State of Pennsylvania, eighty- 
two miles west from the northeast corner of that State, and running 
due north through Seneca Lake, and on the north to Lake Ontario, 
excepting a strip one mile wide along Niagara River. Massachusetts 
was given also the pre-emption right to a tract of 230,400 acres between 
the Owego and the Chenango Rivers; this was equal to ten townships, 
each six miles square, and became known as "The Massachusetts Ten 
Towns." The north and south line above mentioned was nearly identi- 
cal with the east lines of Steuben and Ontario counties, and its north- 
ern continuation is shown on the outline map herein as "The Old Pre- 
emption Line. " The following account of the two ' 'pre-emption lines, " 
shown on the accompanying map, we transcribe from Turner's Phelps 
and Gorham's Purchase: 

Of course it was mere conjecture where this pre-emption line would fall as far 
north as Seneca Lake, and parties were interested to have the line fall west of 

1 Turner. 




c 



WAYNE COUNTY. 17 

Geneva, leaving that place and a considerable tract of land between the military 
tract and the Massachusetts lands. Seth Reed and Peter Ryckman, both of whom 
had been Indian traders, applied to the State of New York for remuneration for ser- 
vices rendered in some previous negotiations, with the eastern portion of the Six 
Nations, and proposed to take a patent for a tract the boundaries of which should be- 
gin at a tree on the bank of Seneca Lake and run along the bank of the lake to the 
south until they should have 16,000 acres between the lake and the east bounds of 
the lands ceded to Massachusetts. Their request was acceded to and a patent issued. 
Thus situated they proposed to Messrs. Phelps and Gorham to join them in running 
the pre-emption line, each party furnishing a surveyor. The line was run which is 
known as the old pre-emption line. Messrs. Phelps and Gorham were much disap- 
pointed in the result — suspected error or fraud, but made no movement to a resurvey 
before they had sold to the English association. Their suspicions had at first been 
excited by an offer from a prominent member of the lessee company for "all the 
lands they owned east of the line that had been run." They were so well assured of 
the fact that in their deed to Mr. Morris they specified a tract in a gore between the 
line then run, and the west bounds of the counties of Montgomery and Tioga, those 
counties then embracing all of the military tract. Being fully convinced of the inac- 
curacy of the first survey, Morris, in his sale to the English company, agreed to run 
it anew. They new survey was performed under the superintendence of Major 
Hoops, who employed Andrew Ellicott and Augustus Porter to perform the labor. 
A corps of axe-men were employed, and a vista thirty feet wide opened before the 
transit instrument until the line had reached the head of Seneca Lake, when night 
signals were employed to run down and over the lake. So much pains were taken 
to insure correctness that the survey was never disputed ; and thus the "new pre- 
emption line" was established as the true division line between the lands of the State 
of New York and those that had been ceded to Massachusetts. . . . The old pre- 
emption line terminated on Lake Ontario, three miles west of Sodus Bay, and the 
new line very near the center of the head of the bay. . . . The strip of land be- 
tween the two lines was called "The Gore." In addition to the patent granted to 
Reed and Ryckman, the State had presumed the original survey to be correct, and 
made other grants, and allowed the location of military land warrants upon what had 
been made disputed territory. As an equivalent to the purchasers of this tract, com- 
pensation lands were granted by the State in the present towns of Wolcott and 
Galen, in Wayne county. 

The foregoing- interesting description of the two pre-emption 
lines has taken us a little out of the chronological order of events. 
Previous to the establishment of the second pre-emption line, a com- 
bination, or a syndicate, as it would now be termed, was formed 
in New York and Canada to obtain control of the Indian lands 
in this State. Two companies were organized — "The New York and 
and Genesee Land Company," of which John Livingston was manager; 
and the "Niagara Genesee Company," composed chiefly of Canadians, 
with Col. John Butler at his head. As the State Constitution forbade 

3 



18 LANDMARKS OF 

the sale of Indian lands to individuals, these companies, working- in 
harmony, sought to evade the provision by a lease. So great was the 
influence of Butler and his friends that in 1787 representatives of the 
Indians gave the New York and Genesee Company a lease of all their 
lands (excepting some small reservations) for a period of 999 years. 
The consideration was $20,000 and an annual rental of $2,000. Who 
can say what would have been the effect of this stupendous deal, if it 
had been consummated! But when the lessees applied to the Legis- 
lature in the following winter for recognition of their lease, it was 
promptly declared void. The next scheme of these magnanimous pro- 
moters of early settlements in the Genesee country was to procure a 
conveyance by the Indians of all their lands in the State, provided the 
State would reimburse Livingston and his comrades for all their 
expenses, and convey to them one-half of all the land! As an example 
of unblushing business impudence, this proposition stands unrivaled, 
for by it Livingston, Butler and company would have secured a prac- 
tically free gift of four or five million acres of the best land in America! 
The proposition was promptly rejected. 

Oliver Phelps was a native of Windsor, Connecticut, and had been a 
contractor in the Revolutionary Army. He was a man of prominence 
and ability, and from Major Adam Hoops, who had been one of General 
Sullivan's aids, learned of the prospective value of the Genesee country. 
He determined to secure an interest in the lands over which Massa- 
chusetts held the right of pre-emption ; but before he matured his 
plans, Nathaniel Gorham had made proposals to the Legislature for the 
purchase of a portion of the Genesee lands. The two men met and 
after a conference, Mr. Gorham joined with Mr. Phelps and a few 
others to consummate the desired purchase. The first proposal was 
made in 1787 for the purchase of 1,000,000 acres, at one and sixpence 
currency per acre. The Senate refused to concur in the sale, and the 
matter was postponed until the session of 1788. Other persons had 
taken steps to secure tracts, and a compromise was therefore made 
admitting all such to the association, with Messrs. Phelps and Gorham 
as representatives. They made proposals for all the lands embraced 
in the cession to Massachusetts, which were accepted, the consideration 
being $1,000,000, payment to be made in a sort of scrip issued by 
Massachusetts and called "Consolidated Securities," which were worth 
at the time of the sale about fifty cents on the dollar. As this sale was, 
of course, made subject to the Indian rights, Phelps arranged with 



WAYNE COUNTY. 19 

Livingston to aid him in negotiating with the Six Nations for the release 
of their lands. This resulted in a council held on Buffalo Creek in July, 
1788, which was the most memorable of all the later large gatherings 
of the Indians. All of the famous chiefs of the Six Nations were 
present in at least a semblance of their past glory ; but with all their 
native sagacity, they were no match for the shrewd Yankees — the 
unscrupulous Butler, the thrifty Oliver Phelps, the greedy Livingston, 
and the rest. Rev. Samuel Kirkland, the noble old man, was also 
present as an agent for Massachusetts. The council was generally 
harmonious. The Indians were then ready to sell and not particular 
about the price; this was a strong influence for harmony. But they 
insisted that the west line of the territory to be sold should be along 
the Genesee Ri,ver, while Phelps desired that it should run several 
miles farther to the West. After days of discussion the Yankees out- 
witted the Indians by a request from Phelps that the Indians should 
let him have enough land west of the river for a mill-seat, or mill yard, 
so that he might build a mill at the falls (now Rochester) which would 
benefit the Indians and white men alike. It was a happy thought and 
silenced the opposition by the natives. They would let him have his mill 
yard ; and in response to an inquiry as to how much land would be 
required for the purpose, Phelps replied that he thought a strip twelve 
miles wide and extending from the site of Avon to the mouth of the 
river would be about right. The Indians finally consented to this, and 
thus disposed of about 200,000 acres — probably the largest mill-yard 
the world has ever known ! The west bounds of the Phelps and Gorham 
purchase have been thus described : 

Beginning in the northern line of Pennsylvania, due south of the corner or point 
of land made by the confluence of the Genesee River and the Canaseraga Creek ; 
thence north on said meridian line to the corner or point aforesaid ; thence north- 
wardly along the waters of the Genesee River to a point two miles north of 
Canawagus village; thence running due west twelve miles ; thence running north- 
wardly so as to be twelve miles distant from the western bounds of said river, to the 
shore of Lake Ontario. 

The reader will note the westward deviation in the line to include 
the "mill-yard." The eastern line of the purchase has been described 
and the accompanying map shows the whole purchase, with a black 
line cutting out the northeast corner that ultimately went into the 
formation of Wayne County. The names of many the purchasers of 
lots shown on this map are of considetable interest in this connection. 
The whole tract was surveyed into seven ranges, the lines running 



20 LANDMARKS OF 

north and south, and these into lots, as indicated on the map. When 
Mr. Phelps reached home after the purchase was effected he reported 
to his associates: "You may rely upon it that it is a good country; I 
have purchased all that the Indians will sell at present; and, perhaps, 
as much as it would be profitable for us to buy at this time." 

The Phelps and Gorham purchase embraced, as estimated, about 
2,600,000 acres; and the complaisant Indians left the fixing of the price 
to be paid them to Butler, Brant, and Elisha Lee, Mr. Kirkland's 
assistant. It was settled at $5,000 in hand and $500 annually forever. 
This was equal to about half a cent an acre! "The reader need hardly 
be told that the poor Indians never realized the sum promised by the 
lessees, except in the form of bribes to some of their chiefs; and in 
that form but a small portion of it. And yet the lessees, in one form 
or another, realized a large amount for their illegal 'long lease.'" 1 

The great sale to Phelps and Gorham had the effect of advancing the 
market price of the "consolidated securities" to such a figure that the 
association was unable to buy them to carry out their contract with the 
State. As a consequence about two-thirds of the original purchase 
was abandoned by Phelps and Gorham and reverted to the State of 
Massachusetts. It was resold by that State in 1701 to Robert Morris, 
for thirty thousand pounds New York currency, and a large part of the 
tract on its western side was subsequently sold to a company of Dutch 
and became the well known Holland Land Purchase. The remainder 
constituted the "Morris Reserve. " The east line of the Morris purchase 
commenced on the Pennsylvania line, forty-four and seventy-eight- 
hundredths miles west of the pre-emption line and ran due north to an 
elm tree at the forks of the Genesee River and Canaseraga Creek; 
thence northerly along the Genesee River to a point two miles north 
of Cannawagus village; thence due west twelve miles, and thence 
north twenty-four degrees east to Lake Ontario. The line forming the 
boundary between the Morris Reserve and the tract sold to the Holland 
Land Company began on the Pennsylvania line twelve miles west of 
the west line of the Phelps and Gorham Purchase, and thence ran due 
north to near the center of Stafford, Genesee County ; thence due west 
2.07875 miles, and thence due north to Lake Ontario; this last named 
line became and is known as the Transit Line, and crosses the county 
of Orleans on the western line of the east tier of towns. 

1 Turner. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 21 

The Morris Reserve was sold out in several large tracts. A tract 
containning 87,000 acres, lying just west of the Phelps and Gorham 
"Mill-Yard" was sold to Le Roy, Bayard and McEvers, and is known 
as the "Triangle," in the western part- of Monroe county. Imme- 
diately west of this, in Orleans county, is the "Connecticut Tract" of 
100,000 acres, which was purchased by the State of Connecticut and 
Sir William Pulteney, and divided between them. The Cragie tract 
of 50,000 acres joins the Connecticut tract on the south, and immedi- 
ately east of this is the "40,000 acre tract." Still other tracts were sold 
off from other parts of the original purchase; but in none of them are 
we directly interested in treating of Wayne County. 

The title which Mr. Morris acquired from Massachusetts was merely 
the right of pre-emption. The soil was still the property of the Seneca 
Indians, and it does not appear that Mr. Morris attempted after his 
purchase to obtain the extinguishment of the Indian title. If he did, 
he failed; for the Indian title was not wholly extinguished until 1797. 
In that year a council was held at "Big Tree" on the Genesee River, 
near the site of Geneseo, and a treaty was made under which the 
Indians sold to Morris all their remaining lands in New York west of 
Phelps and Gorham's Purchase, excepting the following reservations: 
Two square miles at Canawagus, near Avon; two squre miles at Big 
Tree; two square miles at Little Beard's Town; two square miles at 
Squakie Hill ; the Gardeau Reservation on the Genesee River, containing 
four square miles; the Canadea Reservation, extending eight miles 
along the Genesee River and two miles wide ; a reservation at Cat- 
taraugus Creek and Lake Erie ; another on the south side of Cattaraugus 
Creek; forty-two square miles on the Allegany River, and two 
hundred square miles to be laid out parti y at Buffalo and partly at 
Tonawanda Creek. At various times since then these reservations have 
been sold to the State of New York, except a few insignificant tracts. 

A short sketch of the military tract, a part of which went into the 
formation of Wayne county, will close these brief notes of the early 
territorial divisions in which readers of this work will be interested. 

On the 16th of September, 1770, while war measures were under 
consideration in Congress, the following resolutions were adopted: 

That eighty-eight battalions be enlisted as soon as possible, to serve during the 
present war; and that each State furnish their respective quotas in the following 
proportions, viz: [The quota of New York was four battalions ; those of other States 
may be omitted here.] 




■- a 



o 



'J 2 



C O 



> z 



u 



^ 



WAYNE COUNTY. 23 

That twenty dollars be given as a bounty to each non-commissioned officer and 
private soldier who shall enlist to serve during the present war, unless sooner dis- 
charged by Congress. 

That Congress make provisions for granting lands in the following proportions to 
the officers and soldiers, who shall so engage in the service, and continue therein 
until the close of the war, or until discharged by Congress, and to the representatives 
of such officers and soldiers as shall be slain by the enemy. 

Such lands to be provided by the United States ; and whatever expenses shall be 
necessary to produce such lands, the said expenses shall be borne by the States in 
the same proportion as the other expenses of the war, viz. : to a colonel, 500 acres ; to 
a lieutenant-colonel, 450 acres; to a major, 400 acres; to a captain, 300 acres; to a 
lieutenant, 200 acres; to an ensign, 150 acres; to each non-commissioned officer and 
soldier, 100 acres. 

By an act of 12th of August, 1780, Congress also made provision for 
land bounties for major-generals, 1,100 acres, and brigadier-generals, 
850 acres. 

When the war closed, in 1783, the New York Legislature undertook 
the discharge of this obligation, and also granted gratuities in lands on 
its own account. This was accomplished by a resolution granting 
lands in addition to the before- mentioned bounties, in the following 
proportions: To a major-general, 5,500 acres; to a brigadier-general, 
4,250 acres; to a colonel, 2,500 acres; to a lieutenant-colonel, 2,250 
acres; to a major, 2,000 acres; to a captain and regimental surgeon, each 
1,200 acres; to each chaplain, 2,000 acres; to every subaltern and sur- 
geon's mate, 1,000 acres; to every non-commissioned officer and private, 
500 acres. 

Another resolution contains the following provisions: 

That the lands so to be granted as bounty from the United States, and as gratuity 
from the State, shall be laid out in townships of six miles square; that each township 
shall be divided into 156 lots of 150 acres each, two lots whereof shall be reserved for 
the use of a minister of the gospel, and two lots for the use of a school or schools; 
that each person above described shall be entitled to as many such lots as his bounty 
and gratuity will admit of ; that one-half the lots each person shall be entitled to 
shall be improved at the rate of five acres for each one hundred acres, within five 
years after the grant, if the grantee shall retain the possession of such lots; and that 
the said bounty and gratuity lands be located in the district of this State reserved for 
the use of the troops by an act entitled, "An act to prevent grants or locations of the 
lands therein mentioned, passed the 25th day of Juy, 1782. '^ 

1 These lands are bounded on the east by the country of the Oneidas ; north by 
Lake Ontario ; on the west by a line drawn from the mouth of Great Sodus Bay, 
through the most westerly inclination of the Seneca Lake ; and on the south by a line 



24 LANDMARKS OF 

On the -20th of March, 1781, the State Legislature passed an act 
which further provided for the raising' of troops to complete the "line" 
of this State in the United States service, and for two regiments to be 
raised on bounties of lands, for the further defence of the frontiers of 
the State. The land granted by these last mentioned acts was known 
as "bounty" land, and those granted under the previous action of the 
State government were known as "gratuity" lands. 

The original acts granting these lands were afterward modified and 
amended until finally it was ordered by an act passed February 28, 1789, 
"that the commissioners of the land office shall be, and they are here- 
bv authorized to direct the surveyor-general to lay out as many town- 
ships in tracts of land set apart for such purpose, as will contain land 
sufficient to satisfy the claims of all such persons who are or shall be 
entitled to grants of land by certain concurrent resolutions, 
which townships shall respectively contain GO, 000 acres of land, and be 
laid out as nearly in squares as local circumstances will permit, and be 
numbered from one progressively to the last inclusive; and the com- 
missioners of the land office shall likewise designate every township by 
such names as they shall deem proper." 

The same act ordered the surveyor-general to make a map of these 
townships, dividing each into one hundred lots of six hundred acres 
each, and number them from one upwards. The same act ordered : 

All persons to whom land shall be granted by virtue of this act, and who are en- 
titled thereto by any act or resolution of Congress, shall make an assignment of his, 
or her, proportion and claim of bounty or gratuity lands under any act or acts of 
Congress, to the surveyor-general, for the use of the people of this State. It was 
also provided that for all lands thus assigned, an equal number of acres should be 
given by the State, and so far as possible in one patent, "provided the same does 
not exceed one-quarter of the quanity of a township." 

These grants were to be settled within seven years, or the lands 
would revert to the State. A tax was laid upon fifty acres in one cor- 
ner of each six hundred acre lot, of forty-eight shillings, as compensa- 
tion for the survey, which tax was to be paid in two years, or the lot 
would revert to the State and be sold at public auction. The proceeds 

drawn through the most southerly inclination of the Seneca lake, embracing to the 
country of the Oneidas 1,800,0(1(1 acres. It comprises, generally speaking, the coun- 
ties of Onondaga, Cortland, Cayuga, Tompkins, and Seneca, and the east half, or 
nearly so, of the county (if Wayne, and that part of Oswego county west of the Os- 
wego River." — M acanley s History of Nev York, /Ssg. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 25 

of the sale were to be devoted to the payment of the expenses of the 
survey and sale, and any surplus funds to be expended "in laying out 
and making- roads in the said tract." 

By an act of February 28, 1789, six lots in each township were re- 
served, "one for promoting the gospel and a public school or schools, 
one other for promoting literature in this State, and the remaining 
four lots to satisfy the surplus share of commissioned officers not cor- 
responding with the division of six hundred acres, and to compensate 
such persons as may by chance draw any lot or lots, the greater part 
of which may be covered with water." 

It was provided also, "that whenever it appeared that persons ap- 
plying for bounty or gratuity land, had received from Congress the 
bounty promised by that body, or in case they failed to relinquish their 
claims to such land, then the commissioners were to reserve for the 
use of the people of the State, one hundred acres in each lot to which 
such persons were entitled; designating particularly in which part of 
said lot such reserved part was located." This action gave rise to the 
term, "State's hundred," so frequently heard in connection with the 
military tract. 

At a meeting of the land commissioners held at the secretary's office 
in New York city, on Saturday, July 3, 1790, there were present, "his 
excellency, George Clinton, esq., treasurer; Peter T. Curtenius, esq., 
auditor." 

The secretary laid before the board maps of twenty-five townships, 
made by the surveyor-general, Simeon De Witt. These townships 
were named as follows and numbered from one upward in the order 
given: Lysander, Hannibal, Cato, Brutus, Camillus, Cicero, Manlius, 
Aurelius, Marcellus, Pompey, Romulus, Scipio, Sempronius, Tully, 
Fabius, Ovid, Milton, Locke, Homer, Solon, Hector, Ulysses, Dryden, 
Virgil, and Cincinnatus. To these were afterwards added the town of 
Junius (Seneca county), to compensate those who drew lots sub- 
sequently found to belong to the "Boston ten towns." 

From Junius was taken Wolcott, in 1807; and Galen in 1812. Wol- 
cott then included the present towns of Huron, Rose and Butler, and 
Galen included the present town of Savannah. Galen was also added 
to the military tract, to supply lands to those who belonged in the hos- 
pital department of the army. This gave substantially what are now 
the six eastern towns of Wayne county, to the military tract. The 

4 



26 LANDMARKS OF 

town of Sterling, Cayuga county, was added to the tract to satisfy all 
other unsettled claims. 

( )n January 1, 17'.) 1, the commissioners began to determine claims 
and ballot for individual shares. Ninety-four persons drew lots in 
each of the townships, and the reservations before alluded to were 
made. The adjustment of these individual claims was a source of al- 
most infinite perplexity to the commissioners, as well as to the real 
owners. On account of the many frauds committed respecting the land 
titles, an act was passed in 1794, requiring all deeds and conveyances 
executed prior to that time to be deposited with the county clerk of 
Albany county, and such as were not so deposited were to be considered 
fraudulent. But the trouble did not end here, and the courts over- 
flowed with business relating to the claims. Soldiers coming in to 
take possession of their lots often found them occupied by pugnacious 
squatters, and discouraging and costly litigation followed. Finally the 
inhabitants of the tract became so wearied and exasperated with con- 
tinued contentions that, in 1797, they united in a petition to the Legis- 
lature for a law under which the whole matter could be equitably ad- 
justed. An act was accordingly passed appointing Robert Yates, 
Tames Kent, and Vincent Mathews a Board of Commissioners, with 
power to settle all disputes respecting the land titles. After laborious 
investigation the vexatious differences were all adjusted with reason- 
able satisfaction to all concerned. 



CHAPTER IV. 



Early Conditions in the "Genesee County" — Efforts of Great Britian to Retain the 
Territory — Fears of Indian Invasion — Lack of Means of Communication with the 
East — Charles Williams and his Work — Colony on the Genesee River — Quaker Settle- 
ment at Jerusalem — Settlement at Canandaigua — List of Settlers West of Pre- 
emption Line — Opening of Roads — A Journey Westward from Albany — Privations 
of Pioneers. 

Before proceeding to separately consider the pioneer settlement of 
what is now Wayne county, a brief chapter may be profitably devoted 
to early conditions in the great Genesee country as a whole. 

The treaty of peace made at the close of the Revolutionary War did 
not by any means end the difficulties and anxieties of the pioneers in 



WAYNE COUNTY. 27 

Western New York. The English king and his chief councillors could 
scarcely realize, and were reluctant to admit, they were whipped by a 
few weak colonists, and deprived of a prospectively vast and rich ter- 
ritory. Their only solace lay in the confident hope that our efforts to 
establish a free government would fail, in which contingency they be- 
lieved they might retain the allegiance of the Indians and renew the 
struggle. When this prospect began to fade away, they turned their 
attention and hopes in another direction. By continuing their alliance 
with the Six Nations and the Western Indians, with the latter of whom 
the Americans were still fighting, the English would endeavor to re- 
tain all of Canada that had been under French dominion, with Western 
New York and the lake and Mississippi country. To carry out this de- 
sign England, through various flimsy pretexts, disregarded the plain 
terms of the peace treaty, withheld the posts on Lake Ontario and at 
other points and steadily followed a policy of commercial outrage and 
annoyance, influenced the Indians against us in our negotiation with 
them, and in many other ways exhibited a spirit of revenge and irrita- 
tion. Lord Dorchester, governor-general of Canada; his deputy -gen- 
eral, Simcoe; Sir John Johnson, the notorious tory; Col. John Butler, 
then living at Niagara and occupying a position of great influence with 
the Senecas, all united in efforts to breed and continue hostility. 
Valuable presents of goods and arms were made to the Indians to win 
their favor and incite them against the settlers. "There was a long 
period of dismay and alarm, in which the new settlers of the Genesee 
country deeply and painfully participated; every movement in the west 
was regarded with anxiety ; and the Senecas in their midst were, watched 
with jealously and distrust. . . The hindrances to peace negotia- 
tions with the Indians were vastly augmented by British interference. 
Not content with encouraging the Indians to hold out, and actually 
supplying them with the means for carrying on the war, on one occa- 
sion they refused to let a peace embassy proceed by water via Oswego 
and Niagara ; and on another occasion, with a military police, prevented 
commissioners of the United States from proceeding to their destina- 
tion — a treaty ground." 1 

These shameful acts on the part of the British were opposed by 
Colonel Pickering, Samuel Kirkland, and particularly by Gen. Israel 
Chapin, who had been a brigadier-general in the Revolutionary War 

1 Turner's Phelps and Gorham's Purchase, p. 295. 



28 LANDMARKS OF 

and was afterward appointed agent among the Six Nations. He was 
fully qualified for the difficult office and took up his residence in Canan- 
daigua. The season of 1794 opened amid gloomy prospects. Negotia- 
tions with the western Indians had failed, and their atrocities on the 
borders continued, while war with England was considered not improb- 
able, and her agents continued their iniquitous work. General Chapin 
did all in his power to quiet apprehension and keep the settlers from 
fleeing from their homes. Throughout all the country west of Utica, 
danger was feared. A boat load of stores belonging to Sir [ohn 
Johnson, which he was attempting to take from Albany to Canada, was 
waylaid at Three River Point, in Onondaga county, and captured; this 
was in retaliation for British annoyance of lake commerce at Oswego 
and in hatred of Johnson. The lawless act led to threats of an invasion 
of Onondaga by a force which would land at Oswego, and rumors that 
Johnson and Brant were organizing for that purpose. 

But the time at last came when the settlers in Western New York could 
pursue their peaceful avocations without fear. General Chapin made 
arrangements for a council with the Indians to be held at Canandaigua 
on the 8th of September, 1794; but it was far into October before the 
Indians could be gathered, their final assembling being stimulated by 
the victory of Wayne in the West. By this time, also, all anticipations 
of war with England were quelled. In speaking of the treaty made at 
this council, General Chapin said: 

Since the Indians were first invited to it, the British have endeavored, if possible, 
to prevent their attendance, and have used every endeavor to persuade them to join 
the hostile Indians, till at last they found the Indians would not generally join in 
the war; the governor told them in the council at Fort Erie that they might attend 
the treaty, and if anything was given them by the Americans to take it. 

A successful treaty was concluded and mutual pledges of peace and 
friendship made which led to enduring quietude. 

The great purchase made by Robert Morris in 1791 has been men- 
tioned. Morris was the celebrated financier of the Revolution, his 
personal credit alone being sufficient to carry Washington and his army 
through the period of danger and distress. He was also the owner of 
immense tracts of land, for the sale of which he had numerous agents 
in Europe. His agent in London was William Temple Franklin, a 
grandson of Benjamin Franklin, to whom he wrote after he had made 
his purchase, that " Ebenezer Allan, the oldest settler in the country, 
had assured him that hemp grows like young willows, it is so rampant 



WAYNE COUNTY. 29 

and strong, and that he has raised forty bushels of the finest wheat he 
ever saw, and so of other articles in like abundance." In another letter 
he assured his agent that he had the most flattering reports concerning 
his lands in the Genesee country. At just about the time that Mr. 
Morris had become thoroughly convinced of the fertility and beauty of 
his great purchase, he received word from Franklin that he had sold it 
to an "Association" consisting of Sir William Pultney, John Hornby, 
and Patrick Colquhoun. Sir William Pultney was a London capitalist 
and occupied a high position as a citizen and a statesman ; the other 
two were also men of character and wealth. The price paid for what 
was supposed to be about 1,100,000 acres, but was in reality, almost 
1,200,000 acres, was ^35,000. The sale included, of course, the terri- 
tory of Wayne county west of the pre-emption line. 

As bearing upon what has been stated in respect to apprehensions of 
danger from the Indians and British the following extract from a letter 
written by Mr. Morris to Mr. Colquhoun, soon after the sale to the 
association, is given. He said: 

These worthy but timid people had grown afraid 'since the Indian war at the 
westward had become so general as it is, to let their sons go out even to the town- 
ships they have bought, lest the Six Nations should become parties, and attack the 
Genesee settlements. Now as there is not the least danger of this happening, the 
Six Nations having already decided for peace, yet these timid people will await their 
own time. I will, however, announce to them that I can supply them with the lands 
they wanted, and as I think the Indian war will be of short duration, there is little 
doubt but they will buy when it is over." 

The London association who purchased of Mr. Morris took imme- 
diate steps towards sale and settlement on their lands. In this work 
Mr. Colquhoun seems to have been the most conspicuous of the three. 
As their active agent they secured. Charles Williamson, a native Scot, 
who had held a captain's commission in the British army at the 
outbreak of the Revolutionary War, but the ship in which he sailed for 
this country was captured and he was taken to Boston and held a 
prisoner until the close of the war. He returned to England with a 
valuable store of information relating to this country, and when the 
attention of European capitalists began to be drawn in this direction, 
he very naturally became associated with them. After his appointment 
as agent by the association he sailed for America with his family and 
two intelligent Scotchmen, John Johnstone and Charles Cameron, who 
came as his assistants. From the day of his arrival in this country 
Charles Williamson became a most important factor in the settlement 



30 LANDMARKS OF 

of the Genesee country. He learned from various sources of the great 
beauty, fertility, and value of the lands placed in his hands, and began 
energetically and intelligently to push forward the work expected of 
him by his employers. "Want of communication," he wrote to the 
association, "is the great draw back on back settlements distant from 
the rivers that run into the Atlantic. Remove this difficulty and there 
can be no doubt that the gentlemen of the association will reap an 
advantage fifty times their outlay; and come to their purpose many 
years sooner. Nothing will draw the attention of the people of 
America more readily than the idea of their settling under the protec- 
tion of an association who will take every means to render their farms 
convenient an profitable." 

In the winter of 1701-2, leaving his party in Northumberland, Pa., 
he made a hurried trip through the Genesee country. Of this trip he 
wrote Mr Colquhoun that he passed through an uninhabited wilderness 
more than one hundred miles before reaching Geneva, " which consisted 
of a few straggling huts." " There is not a road within one hundred 
miles of the Genesee country," said he, "that will admit of any sort 
of conveyance, otherwise than on horseback, or on a sled, when the 
ground is covered with snow." "The price of land has, in a few 
instances, exceeded two shillings per acre; some few farms of 
first rate quality have been sold on a credit for four shillings per 
acre. " 

After full consideration of the subject of opening communications 
between the east and the Genesee country, Mr. Williamson determined 
that the proper outlet for the country was southward to the Susque- 
hanna River. He accordingly took steps to construct a road from what 
is now Williamsport, Pa., to the mouth of the Canaserga Creek on the 
Genesee River, a distance of about 150 miles. Before the road could 
be opened, a ship load of goods reached Baltimore consigned to Will- 
iamson by Mr. Colquhoun. The heaviest of the cargo was sold off in 
Baltimore, and the lighter portion sent westward via Albany. Before 
the close of 1792, Mr. Williamson had determined to make his first 
settlement at the termination of his road on the Genesee River; in 
pursuance of this plan he laid out a village there and called it Williams- 
burg; he built a long row of structures, plowed some land and pre- 
pared for the reception of a proposed German colony. Here were 
settled a large colony who came over through the immediate influence 
of one Berezy, who gained the confidence of Mr. Coloquhoun. While 
they proved useful to Mr. Williamson in building his road, before men- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 31 

tioned, they proved an undesirable acquisition in every other way. 
They remained in Pennsylvania until the spring of 1703, when they 
removed to Williamsburg. Each family had a house, fifty acres of 
land, tools, stock, and provisions appropriated to its use ; but they 
developed into an idle and more or less dissolute colony, with Berezy 
at their head. Mr. Williamson finally determined to rid his country of 
their presence, and in his efforts to accomplish this result, provoked a 
riot and had to call on the authorities of Ontario county to aid him and 
his friends. The Germans were at last scattered, many of them 
ultimately settling in Canada. Other attempts to colonize Europeans 
were scarcely more successful. 

Previous to and during the course of the events we have briefly 
chronicled, a colony of Quakers, or "Friends," under the leadership of 
a woman, a native of Rhode Island, whose correct name was Jemima 
Wilkinson, had settled in 1787-88 in what is now Yates county, about 
a mile south of the site of Dresden village. The original party con- 
sisted of twenty-five members, who had sent delegates ahead to search 
for an eligible location. Their first land purchase was on "The Gore," 
previous to the establishment to the new pre-emption line, and comprised 
a tract of 14,000 acres lying in the east part of the present town of 
Milo, and a part of Starkey, in Yates county. Soon afterward their 
delegates purchased what is now the town of Jerusalem, in that county. 
It was through the agency of these settlers that the first grist mill was 
built in Western New York ; it was situated two and a half miles from 
Penn Yan, and turned out flour in the year 1789. The woman 
"Jemima," as she was known, exercised a powerful influence over her 
followers in all their affairs, public and private. The community, 
while apparently thriving and successful for a time, showed evidences 
of decline before many years. They had settled there in quest of 
seclusion from the world and its wickedness; but their selection of 
lands was too wise to enable them to long hold a monopoly over the 
region ; and they soon found themselves in a thickly settled neighbor- 
hood. Jemima died in 1819, and was succeeded by Rachel Malin; but 
their teachings were long ago forgotten, though their descendants are 
still numerous in that section of the State. 

In 1793 operations towards settlement began at Bath and rapidly 
progressed under Mr. Williamson's energetic direction. 1 Mills were 

1 In 1799 an advertisement of the "Bath Theater" appeared in the Bath Gazette; 
the plays announced were "The Mock Doctor, or The Dumb Lady Cured." "A 



32 LANDMARKS OF 

built there and immigration from Pennsylvania and Maryland became 
active. l In the following- year (17 ( .)-t-) improvements were begun at 
Geneva, a feature of which was the building of the Geneva Hotel, 
which was finished in December and soon gained a widespread fame. 
It had no competitor for some time between there and Qtica. 

Canandaigua, also, was a point of importance in the early settlement 
of the Genesee country and the great county of Ontario — mother of 
Wayne and many other counties. After Mr. Phelps had decided on 
the foot of Canandaigua Lake as a desirable and central point for the 
founding of a village, he took measures to open primitive roads over 
which to reach the site. Operations were begun at Geneva and a pass- 
age way opened to the foot of Canandaigua Lake, following substan- 
tially the old Indian trail. Joseph Smith was the first settler west of 
Seneca Lake and located at Canandaigua in the spring of 1789. He 
built a block house and opened a tavern. In May of that year Gen. 
Israel Chapin arrived at the outlet and built his log house. With him 
and interested in surveys and land sales w r ere eight or ten others, and 
they were soon followed by a Mr. Walker, agent of Phelps and Gorham. 
The settlement progressed rapidly, much of its growth and the toler- 
ably peaceful relations with the Indians being due for a number of 
years to General Chapin. In 1700 the heads of families on township 
10, range 3, were as follows: Nathaniel Gorham, jr., Nathaniel San- 
born, John Fellows, James D. Fish, Joseph Smith, Israel Chapin, John 
Clark, Martin Dudley, Phineas Bates, Caleb Walker, Judah Colt, Abner 
Barlow, Daniel Brainard, Seth Holcomb, James Brocklebank, Lemuel 
Castle, Benjamin W T ells, John Freeman. To these were added quite a 

Peep into the .Seraglio." The prices of admission were: "Pit six shillings; Gallery 
three shillings." The Bath Races were also advertised. 

1 The proprietors of the Pultney estate indulged in visions of boundless wealth to 
result from the settlement of their lands. They supposed that the natural avenue to 
market from the rich Genesee country was down the Susquehanna, and that a city 
might be founded upon some of the headwaters of that stream which would command 
the entire trade of the West. After a survey of the region, the present site of Hath 
was selected as the location of the future city. Every inducement was held out to 
lure settlers; and for several years the markets of Bath proved a mine of wealth to 
the few who raised more grain than enough for their own use. Williamson erected 
a theater within a few years after the first settlement, in anticipation of the future 
metropolitan character of the place. A race course was also established, which for 
many years attracted sportsmen from all parts of the country. The golden visions 
of civic grandeur were never realized. — French 's Gazetteer, />. (>jj. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



33 



number of settlers during L790-1. The place was made the county 
scat in L793, and in the same year a court house, jail and clerk's office 
were built; and here the first courts were held, as described further on 
in these pages. 

To conclude this necessarily brief description of the early settlement 
at various points in the old county of Ontario, before turning our at- 
tention to the immediate locality in which our readers will be more 
deeply interested, it will be desirable to reproduce from the census 
report of 1700 a list of all the heads of families who had settled west of 
the old pre-emption line, as follows; the list is given by townships and 
ranges as shown in the abbreviated headings: 



No. 9, 7th R. 
William Wadsworth 
Phineas Bates 
Daniel Ross 
Henry Brown 
Enoch Noble 
Nicholas Rosecrantz 
David Robb 
Nahum Fairbanks 

No. 1, 2d R. 
Eleazer Lindley 

Daniels 

Samuel Lindley 
John Seely 
Ezekiel Mumford 
Eleazer Lindley, jr. 

No. 2, 2d R. 
Arthur Erwine 
Henry Culp 
William Anchor 
Martin Young 
Peter Gardner 

Nos. 3 & 4, 5th & 6th R's. 
James Headley 
William Baker 
Jedediah Stevens 
Uriah Stephens 
Uriah Stephens, jr. 
John Stephens 
Richard Crosby 
Solomon Bennett 
Andrew Bennett 
John Jameson 

5 



No. 11, 2 R. 

Sweet 

Ezra Phelps 

No. 10, 3d R. 
Nathaniel Gorham, jr. 
Nathaniel Sanborn 

No. 11, 5th R. 
Jonathan Ball 
William Moores 

No. 13, 5th R. 
John Lusk 
Chauncey Hyde 
Timothy Allen 
Jacob Walker 

No. 10, 6th R. 
John Minor 
Asel Burchard 
Abner Miles 
Davison 

No. 11, 6th R. 
John Ganson 
Philemon Winship 
Abel Wilsey 
Elijah Morgan 
Solomon Hovey 
John Morgan 
William Webber 
William Markham 
Abraham Devans 

No. 7, 7th R. 
Niel 

No. 9, 1st R. 
James Latta 



David Benton 
Samuel Wheaton 
Rice 

No. 10, 3d R. 
John Fellows 
Joseph Smith 
James D. Fisk 
Israel Chapin 
John Clark 
Martin Dudley 
Phineas Bates 
Caleb Walker 
Judah Colt 
Abner Barlow 
Daniel Brainard 
Seth Holcomb 
James Brocklebank 
Lemuel Castle 
Benjamin Wells 
John Freeman 

No. 11, 3d R. 
Abraham Lapham 
Isaac Hathaway 
Nathan Harrington 
John McCumber 
Joshua Harrington 
Elijah Smith 
John Paine 
Jacob Smith 
John Russell 
Nathan Comstock 
Israel Weed 



34 



LANDMARKS OF 



Reuben Allen 

No. L2, 3d R. 
Webb Harwood 

David White 
Darius Com stock 
Jerome Smith 

No. 8, 4th R. 
Gamaliel Wilder 
Ephraim Wilder 
Aaron Rice 
Aaron Spencer 

No. 9, 1st R. 
David Smith 
Phineas Pierce 
Esther Forsyth 
Thomas Smith 
Harry Smith 
Thomas Barden 

No. 10, 1st R. 
Seth Reed 
Thaddeus Oaks 
Jonathan Whitney 
Solomon Warner 
Jonathan Oaks 
Joseph Kilbourne 
John Whitcomb 
Phineas Stevens 
Benjamin Tuttle 

No. 11, 1st R. 
John D. Robinson 
Pierce Granger 

No. 8, 2d R. 
Francis Briggs 
Michael Pierce 
Benjamin Tibbits 
Henry Lovell 
John Walford 

In order to give 
families by towns, 
what is now Wayn 
census of 1790 : 



William Hall 
Arnold Potter 

No. 10, 2d R. 

Sweet 

No. 9, 4th R. 
James Goodwin 
William Goodwin 
Nathaniel Fisher 

No. 10, 4th R. 
Ephraim Rew 
Lot Rew 
Matthew Hubble 
John Barnes 
Oliver Chapin 
Nathaniel Norton 
John Adams 
Michael Rodgers 
Allen Sage 

No. 11, 4th R. 
Seymour Boughton 
Jared Boughton 
Zebulon Norton 
Elijah Taylor 

No. 9, 5th R. 
Gideon Pitts 

No. 10, 5th R. 
Peregrine Gardner 
Amos Hall 
Benjamin Gardner 
Peck Sears 
Samuel Miller 
John Alger 
Sylvanus Thayer 

No. 12, 5th R. 
Jared Stone 
Simon Stone 
Israel Pan- 
tile reader a clearer idea of 
and to aid him in locating 
e county, we reprint the fol 



Thomas Cleland 
Silas Nye 
Josiah (iiminson 
Alexander 1 )unn 
1 )avid Davis 

No. 10, 2d R. 
Daniel Gates 
Thomas Warren 
Israel Chapin 

Piatt 

Day 

West of Genesee River 
Gilbert R. Berry 
Darling Havens 
1 )avid Bailey 
William Rice 
Gershom Smith 
Hill Carney 
Morgan Desha 
William Desha 
Horatio Jones 
William Ewing 
Nathan Fowler 
Jeremiah Gregory 
Nicholas Philips 
Jacob Philips 
Caleb Forsyth 
Nathan Chapman 
Nicholas Miller 
Asa Utley 
Peter Shaeffer 
Ebenezer Allen 
Christopher Dugan 
Zephaniah Hough 
Edward Harp 
[oscph Skinner 

the distribution of these 
those who had settled in 
owing: list, also from the 



Painted Post ID 

Milo 11 

Benton 3 

Seneca, including Geneva is 



59 
65 



115 



Phelps 2 11 

Middlesex T 38 

Hopewell II 14 

East Farmington 2 4 



WAYNE COUNTY. 35 

West Farming-ton 12 55 Brighton 4 20 

Canandaigua 8 106 Lima 4 23 

West Palmyra 4 14 Rush 9 :,(; 

South Bristol 4 20 Henrietta 1 s 

North Bristol 4 13 Sparta 1 5 

East Bloomrield 10 65 Geneseo s 34 

West Bloomfield 7 26 Wayne 1 9 

Indian Lands (Leicester) 4 17 Erwin 11 59 

Victor 4 2(1 Canisteo 10 50 

Richmond... ... 1 2 Avon 10 W 

Mendon 2 10 Caledonia 10 44 

Pittsford 8 28 

Total 205 1081 

Most of the pioneers of Ontario county and the military tract who 
came in prior to the beginning- of the present century, and who did not 
come from southward, as before mentioned, took the water route from 
Albany, by way of the Mohawk River, Wood Creek, Oneida Lake, Os- 
wego River, and the Clyde. In 1701 what was called the "Geneva 
road" was built, extending from Whitestown to Geneva, and thence on 
to Canandaigua. It was for much of the distance merely a cleared 
track through the forest ; but bad as it was it was influential in pro- 
moting the western settlements. Here is what Charles Williamson 
wrote to England regarding it : 

To improve our communication with the coast seemed to be all that was necessary 
to render the country equal to any part of America for comfort and convenience ; in 
many things, particularly the climate, we had much the advantage. To remedy this 
inconvenience as to roads, the Legislature of the State had, tw an act passed 
in the Sessions of 1797* taken the road from Fort Schuyler to Geneva under their 
patronage. A lottery had been granted for the opening and improving of certain 
great roads ; among these this road was included. The inhabitants made a volun- 
tary offer of their services, to aid the State commissioner, and subscribed 4,000 days 
work, which they performed with fidelity and cheerfulness. By this generous and 
uncommon exertion, and by some other contributions, the State commissioner was 
enabled to complete this road of near one hundred miles, opening it sixty-four feet 
wide, and paving with logs and gravel the moist parts of the low country. Hence 
the road from Fort Schuyler on the Mohawk River, to Genesee, from being in the 
month of June, 1797, little better than an Indian path, was so far improved that a 
stage started from Fort Schuyler on the 30th of September, and arrived at the hotel 
in Geneva, in the afternoon of the third day, with four passengers. 

Settlements along this road were rapidly increased after its opening. 
This highway was greatly improved within a few years, particularly in 
1794, when a commission was appointed to open " The Great Genesee 



36 LANDMARKS OF 

Road" six rods wide from old Fort Schuyler to the Cayuga Ferry; and 
again in L796-7, when a considerable sum was expended in improving 
the road. In the year 1800, what was called "The Seneca Road Com- 
pany " was chartered for the improvement of the highway from Utica 
to Canandaigua. The capital stock of the company was $11,000, and 
[edediah Sanger, Charles Williamson, Benjamin Walker, and Israel 
Chapin were appointed commissioners. In L798 the first State roads 
were laid out from Conewagas, on the Genesee River, to the mouth of 
Buffalo Creek, and to Lewiston, on Niagara River. Other early roads 
more directly connected with the settlement of Wayne county will be 
described in the next chapter. 

This chapter may be properly closed with a quotation from a descript- 
ive letter on the Genesee country written in 1792, as follows: 

On the 12th of February, 1792, I left Albany on my route to the Genesee country; 
but the country was thought so remote and so very little known, that I could not 
prevail on the owner of the sled I had engaged to go further than Whitestown, a new 
settlement on the head of the Mohawk River, one hundred miles west of Albany. 
The road, as far as Whitestown, had been made passable for wagons, but from that 
to the Genesee River it was little better than an Indian path, just sufficiently opened 
to allow a sled to pass, and the most impassable streams bridged. At Whitestown I 
was obliged to change my sled; the Albany driver would proceed no further. He 
found that the next 150 miles we were not only obliged to take provision for our- 
selves and our horses, but also blankets as a substitute for beds. After leaving 
Whitestown we found only a few straggling huts scattered along the the path at the 
distance of ten to twenty miles, and they affording nothing but the convenience of 
fire and a kind of shelter from the snow. On the evening of the third day's journey 
from Whitestown we were very agreeably surprised to find ourselves on the east side 
of Seneca Lake, which we found perfectly open and free from ice as in the month 
of June; and what added to our surprise and admiration, was to see a boat ami 
canoe plying on the lake This, after having passed from New York over 360 miles 
of country completely frozen, was a sight pleasing and interesting. 

We then crossed the outlet of the lake, and arrived at the settlement of Geneva, 
consisting of a few families, who had been drawn thither from the convenience of the 
situation and the beauty of the adjoining country. . . . From Geneva to Cana- 
darqua the road is only the Indian path, a little improved the first five miles over 
gentle swellings of land, interspersed with bottoms seemingly rich; the remainder of 
the road to Canadarqua, the county town, sixteen miles, was, the greatest part of the 
distance, through a rich, heavy-timbered land. On this road there were only two 
families settled. Canadarqua, the county town, consisted of only two small frame 
houses and a few lints, surrounded with thick woods. The few inhabitants received 
me with much hospitality 1 found there abundance of excellent venison. From 
Canadarqua to the Genesee River, twenty-six miles, it is almost totally uninhabited, 
only four families residing on the road. The country is beautifully diversified with 
hill and dale, and, m many places, we found openings of two and three hundred 



WAYNE COUNTY. :!? 

acres, free from all timber and even bushes, which, on our examining, proved to be 
of a rich, deep soil. It seemed that, by only enclosing with one of these openings a 
proportionable quantity of timbered land, an enclosure might be made similar to the 
parks of England. 

At the Genesee River I found a small Indian store and tavern; the river was not 
then frozen over, but was low enough to be forded. As yet there are no settlements 
of any consequence in the Genesee country. That established by a society of 
Friends, on the west side of the Seneca Lake, is the most considerable ; it consists 
of about forty families. But the number of Indians in the adjoining country, when 
compared with the few inhabitants who ventured to winter in the country, is so 
great, that I found them under serious apprehensions for their^safety. Even in this 
state of nature, the county of Ontario shows every sign of future respectability. 

In subsequent letters descriptive of the county in 1796, four years 
later, the same writer pictures the country under somewhat different 
conditions. Various settlements, he said, "had begun to assume an 
appearance of respectability never before instanced in so new a country." 
It is probably true that not in the history of the country has a wil- 
derness country been so rapidly peopled and improved as the old county 
of Ontario. " Much pains had been taken," continued the writer, "to 
induce the different settlers at an early period to build mills, and every 
encouragement was given them." A newspaper had been established 
at Bath. The town of Canadarqua (Canandaigua), had assumed the 
appearance of a handsome village. The town of Geneva in that year 
had received a great addition by the laying out of a street on the sum- 
mit of a rising ground, along the west bank of the lake ; at the present 
day one of the handsomest village streets to be found anywhere. A 
sloop was on the stocks to run between Geneva and Catharine's Town, 
at the head of the lake. A printing office was established in Geneva, 
and several new settlements had been begun. The Mud Creek region 
in which we are especially interested, received the writer's attention 
also. Speaking of new mills, he said that one was built on the outlet 
of Canadarqua Lake near its junction with Mud Creek (Lyons), both 
of which are very considerable streams, and "run through a great 
extent of country already well settled." "In the settlement of Mud 
Creek alone, there were for sale, last fall, not less than 10,000 bushels 
of wheat, of an excellent quality." 

The settlers on the Genesee River were then receiving their salt 
from the Onondaga works, and their stores from Albany. "Mr. 
Granger," he continues, "last winter built a schooner of forty tons 
which was launched early in April; before the middle of May she made 
a trip to Niagara, with two hundred barrels of provisions, and there 



38 LANDMARKS OF 

were then laying on the beach two hundred barrels more, ready to be 
put on board on her return." As to the character of the people who 
were settling in this section the writer said: "The rapid progress of 
this new country, in every comfort and convenience, has not only 
caused the emigration of vast numbers of substantial farmers, but also 
of men of liberal education, who- find here a society not inferior to that 
in the oldest country settlements in America. The schools are far 
from being indifferent, and even the foundations of public libraries are 
already laid." After describing the climate and soil of the country in 
favorable terms, the writer continues: "The settlements already 
formed on the principal navigations, and whose inhabitants are used to 
business, and respectably connected, find, at an early period, the most 
advantageous markets for their surplus produce. To Canada, beef, 
salt, pork, flour, and whisky, are already sent to a great amount." 
" The success of every individual who has emigrated to the Genesee 
country, has stamped a greater value on the lands than was ever known 
in any place so recently settled, and so distant from the old settled 
country." 

As to the facilities for reaching this section near the close of the cen- 
tury, the writer said: "The most convenient route for Europeans to 
come to the Genesee country will be to land at New York; they will 
with much ease reach Albany by water, and from thence they can 
either hire wagons or take navigation by the canals (the canal of the 
Inland Lock Navigation Company), or the Mohawk river, to Geneva. 
Unless the water be in good order, I should certainly prefer the land 
journey. A wagon, with two oxen and two horses will go twenty miles 
per day with a load of ">(> ewt." 

It is unnecessary to continue these extracts further, and we need 
only add that the writer of that earl}- da}-, now almost a century ago, 
could as a rule find no terms too complimentry in describing the region 
of which Wayne county now forms a part. It was, indeed, a settlers' 
paradise, and to-day will compare favorably with any other section of 
the country. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 39 



CHAPTER V. 

Beginning of Settlement in the Territory of Wayne County — Early Map of Western 
New York — Map of the "Genesee Lands" — Localities First Settled in Wayne County 
—Beginning at East Palmyra — Importance of Ganargwa Creek — First Improvement 
at Sodus Bay — Improvement of Highways — Settlements in Various Localities — The 
Threatened Canadian Invasion — Final Establishment of Peaceful Conditions — 
Estimate of Williamson's Policy. 

From the foregoing pages the reader should have gained a general 
knowledge of the progress of settlement in the Genesee country down 
to near the beginning of the present century (aside from that portion 
now embraced in Wayne county), and the bright prospects offered by 
this favored region to further immigration. We may, therefore, now 
turn our attention to the story of the first settlements in what is Wayne 
county, which carries us back to a few years earlier date than the 
period under consideration in the final pages of the preceding chapter. 

It is not surprising that the pioneers of our county settled where they 
did — on or near the banks of the Ganargwa. It was a picturesque 
stream, winding its devious way through the thick forest; its waters 
teemed with fish ; there were available mill sites along its course ; the 
land along its valley was fertile and easily tillable ; and, moreover, its 
generally sluggish stream was a highway on which the pioneer could 
bring to his wilderness home his household goods far more easily than 
by any other method. 

It must be remenbered that the first road opened (1796) westward 
from Whitestown, near Utica, came on to Geneva, and that the Cayuga 
bridge was built in 1800, making that route the one selected for nine- 
tenths of the westward travel. This highway left the territory of 
Wayne county in a measure isolated and added to the importance of 
the water way that was followed by many of the pioneers of thiscountv 
— up the Hudson or to Albany from New England points; thence to 
Schenectady by land; up the Mohawk to the site of Rome; a short 
portage to Wood Creek; down Oneida Lake to the Oswego River; 
thence to the Seneca River, up the Clyde, and from the "Forks" 



WAYNE COUNTY. 11 

(Lyons) along- the Ganargwa (Mud) Creek and the outlet. It was a 
toilsome journey, but was generally preferable to the overland route, 
especially in summer or autumn, for several years after settlement 
began. The accompanying map shows the earl)' lines of travel across 
the State, and other interesting" facts. 

It was only a very short time after the beginning of improvements 
at Canandaigua and Geneva, noticed in the preceding chapter, when 
preparations were made to open up the rich lands along the Ganargwa. 
What is called "The New State Road" on the map of 1809 was built 
during the first decade of the century, and passed directly across Wayne 
county. A glance at the accompanying map of the Phelps and Gorham 
purchase will show that in the part which finally became Wayne county, 
in township 12, range 1, William Bacon and others were purchasers; 
township 13, range 1, was sold to Elijah Austin or George Joy, his 
assignee; township 12, range 2, was purchased by John Swift and 
John Jenkins; and township 12, range 3, by Warner, Comstock and 
others. 

It was in township 12, range 2, that settlement in Wayne county 
began. John Swift and Col. John Jenkins, who bought it, began its 
survey into farm lots in March, 1789. Jenkins was a practical surveyor 
and built a cabin on the bank of Ganargwa Creek, about two miles 
below the site of Palmyra village. His assistants were Alpheus Harris, 

who was a nephew, Solomon Earle, Baker, and Daniel Ransom. 

A tragedy was at hand. One morning while the party were asleep in 
their cabin, beside a fire, a party of four Tuscarora Indians crept up, 
fired their guns through spaces between the logs, killed Baker and 
severely wounded Earle ; the other two escaped unhurt, encountered 
the murderers, secured two of their rifles and a tomahawk and drove 
them away. In the morning after burying Baker, they took Earle and 
started for Geneva to give an alarm. The Indians were pursued, two 
of them captured and executed at what is now Elmira. They were 
killed with the tomahawk. The trial was by a sort of lynch court, but 
the whole proceeding and the bloody method of execution seem to have 
been justified. 

During the summer of 1789, John Swift moved into the township, 
and built a log house and storehouse at "Swift's Landing," as it was 
called for a time, a little north of the lower end of Main street, Pal- 
myra. He was not long alone, for before the close of the year 1789, 
Webb Harwood, from Adams, Mass., came in with his wife and built a 
6 



49 LANDMARKS OF 

cabin on high ground near the site of the first lock west of Palmyra. 

He was accompanied by Noah Porter, Jonathan Warner and Bennet 
Bates, all single men. Mr. Turner collected the following" names of 
settlers who came in during 1790, 1791, and 1792, giving them in the 
order of their arrival as nearly as possible: Lemuel Spear, David Jack- 
ways, James Galloway, Jonathan Millet, the Mattisons, Gideon Durfee 
the elder, and his sons, Gideon, Edward, Job, Pardon, Stephen, and 
Lemuel; Isaac Springer, William, James and Thomas Rogers, John 
Russell, Nathan Harris, David Wilcox, Joel Foster, Abraham Foster,Elias 
Reeves, Luther Sanford ; and in addition to these there came to what is now 
Macedon, but then in Palmyra, Messrs. Reid, Delano, Packard Barney, 
Broan, Adam Kingman, Hill, Lapham, Benjamin and Philip Woods. 

What became East Palmyra was settled in 1791 by a company which 
took the name of the Long Island Company, through their agents, Joel 
Foster, Elias Reeves, and Luke Foster. The company sailed from 
Long Island in April, 1792. The located on or near Ganargwa 1 Creek. 
The details of this settlement, and all others in this town will be found 
in the later history of the town of Palmyra. 

Soon after Mr. Williamson had perfected his title to the "Gore" 2 his 

1 Mud Creek until recently, The old name was blended with the recollection of 
stagnant waters, bogs, chills and fevers. When its whole aspect had been changed 
by the hand of improvement, and it became even picturesque and beautiful in its 
meanderings through cultivated fields, and a rural scenery seldom equaled, the 
dwellers in its valley were enabled, with the help of Lewis Morgan, esq., of 
Rochester, to come at its ancient Seneca name, which they adopted. — Turner' s 
1' helps and Cor ham' s Purchase, foot note, p. 263. 

2 Before the State had acknowledged the correctness of the new pre-emption line, 
patents had been issued covering nearly the whole of "The Gore." Mr. Williamson 
having purchased through the agency of Johnstone, all the patents, had so fortified 
the claim of his principals, that he had ventured upon exercising ownership; though 
title was yet an open question. In March, 1795, while a bill was pending in the 
Legislature, providing for running a third line, by the surveyor-general, and if the 
one run by Mr. Ellicott should prove correct, to give the associates other lands in 
lieu of those that had been patented upon the gore; Philip Schuyler introduced 
amendments, which prevailed, making it discretionary with the surveyor-general, 
allowing him to waive the running of a new line, if he satisfied himself that Mr. Elli- 
cott's line was correct; and leave it to the commissioners of the land office to ar- 
range matters between the holders of the patents and the associates, or, Mr. Will- 
iamson, holding, as he did, by purchase, most of the patents, t<> perfect the title to 
"The (lore," nearly 84,000 acres. As an equivalent for what he had paid in the pur- 
chase of patents, the commissioners of the land office conveyed to him about the 
same quantity of land embraced in the patents, off from the military tract, in what is 
now Wolcott arid Galen. — Turner's Phelps and Gor ham's Purchase, p. 261-62. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 48 

attention was drawn to the conditions surrounding" the region at the 
junction of Ganargwa Creek and the Canandaigua outlet. He saw the 
natural beauty and desirability of the locality and determined to im- 
prove it. The two streams at this point reminded him of the Rhone 
and the Saone, which, with a certain similarity in the landscape, led 
him to give the place the name of Lyons. In May, 17^9, a small 
colony, made up of the families of Nicholas Stansell, William Stansell, 
and a brother-in-law, John Featherly, had reached that point by the 
water route already described and built log huts half a mile south of 
the site of Lyons' village. William Stansell had been here as one of 
Sullivan's expedition. The Stansells and Featherly were the pioneers 
of that region. Joining with the pioneers of Phelps they opened a 
road to that neighborhood and in the direction of the mill at Waterloo 
(now in Seneca county). A little corn and potatoes was raised by 
them in 1789, which were the first crops raised in the county. They 
suffered severe hardships for a time, and a son of one of the first Stan- 
sell families told Mr. Turner that they once got out of corn and bought 
some of the Onondaga Indians ; for days they were without provisions, 
only such as could be obtained from the forest, the streams, and their 
cows. Mr. Williamson made Charles Cameron his agent at Lyons and 
began operations there in the summer of 1794 The first framed house 
in that region was built for Mr. Cameron, with a barn. Nearly 1,000 
acres of land was reserved and afterwards sold to Judge Tower. Be- 
fore the close of 1790, Henry Tower, then agent for Mr. Williamson, 
built what was long known as Tower's mills at "Alloway, " as the place 
was then called. 

Meanwhile Williamson had also selected Sodus Bay as a point for 
establishing what he hoped would prove a great commercial center. 
His hopes were based largely upon the belief that the waterway already 
described, with Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River would be 
the future paths of transportation for all this region. In the spring of 
1794 he had roads cut out from Palmyra to Phelpstown. His presence 
at Sodus Bay with a corps of surveyors, road makers, and other aids, 
convinced the settlers that they were to witness the planting of a vil- 
lage that would some day be a city. Williamson preceded the improve- 
ments by a written announcement of his plans. These contemplated 
the survey of "a town between Salmon Creek and Great Sodus Bay, 
and a spacious street, with a large square in the center, between the 
falls of Salmon Creek and the anchorage in the bay, and mills are to be 



44 LANDMARKS OF 

built at the falls on Salmon Creek." To this somewhat inspiring- 
declaration he added: "As the harbor of Great Sodus is acknowledged 
to be the finest on Lake Ontario, this town, in the convenience of the 
mills and extensive fisheries, will command advantages unknown to 
the country, independent of the navigation of the Great Lake and the 
.St. Lawrence." There is a vein of similar enthusiasm running through 
all of Williamson's operations, and it must be said that many of the 
plans of himself and the association were more or less visionary. This 
is not to be wondered at, when we consider the wholly undeveloped 
condition of the country, and the primitive modes of travel and trans- 
portation. 

The new town was to be surveyed by Joseph Colt. The in-lots con- 
tained a quarter of an acre, and the out-lots ten acres. The in-lots 
were offered for one hundred dollars, and the out-lots for four dollars 
per acre ; the farming lands in that region at one dollar and fifty cents 
an acre. Thomas Little and a Mr. Moffat were made the local agents. 
A hotel was built at a cost of over $5, (Kin, and opened by Moses and 
Jabez Sill. Mills were built at the falls on Salmon Creek, a pleasure 
boat placed on the bay, and other minor improvements made. In 
making roads, surveys, and erecting buildings, etc., more than $20,- 
ooo were expended in the first two years. It was a characteristic of 
Mr. Williamson to be liberal in the use of money and sanguine of the 
results; but as we have before intimated, there was much to justify his 
enthusiasm regarding this particular locality. 

While Williamson and others named were thus actively engaged in 
promoting the early settlements of Wayne county, this energetic agent 
was no less industrious in other parts of the purchase. He was con- 
spicuous in the measures adopted for opening the old road from Fort 
Schuyler to Geneva, and in 1 7 i » 8 joined with Ellicott in making the 
"Niagara road, " from the Genesee River westward (the new "State 
road" on the map of 1809). He was also active in the building of the 
roads from Lyons to Palmyra; from "Hopeton to Townsend's;" from 
"Seneca Falls to Lyons mills;" and other early highways. He was 
elected to the Legislature from Ontario county in 1796, and in that 
body for three years devoted his great energy to the advancement of 
the interests of Western New York. 1 

1 About the time of the projection of the State road west from Rome, Mr. William- 
son was riding upon Long Island, in company with De Witt Clinton, who, remark- 
ing upon the smoothness of the road, said to Mr. W. : "If you had such roadstoyour 



WAYNE COUNTY. 45 

It was fortunate for the rapid settlement of this region that Mr. 
Williamson was backed by men with ample means. They could, and 
did, sell their lands with little or no cash payments, and advanced 
large sums for improvements, as we have noted. So liberal had been 
the expenditures that as late as 1800 the entire enterprise seemed a 
doubtful one as to ultimate profits. Mr. Williamson's first engagement 
with the London Associates was for seven years, though he remained 
considerably longer. Those who came with him from vScotland, were 
Charles Cameron, who has been mentioned, as assisting Mr. William- 
son in many of his early undertakings. He was the local agent at 
Lyons and probably shipped from there the first produce sent to an 
eastern market from the Genesee country. He was afterwards a mer- 
chant at Canandaigua; John Johnstone, also an employee of William- 
son; Henry Tower, an agent in the building of the mills at "Allo- 
way" — Lyons, and afterwards purchased them and lived there man3 T 
years; Hugh McCarthy, settled in Sparta. Besides these there were 
James Tower and Andrew Smith. When Sir William Pulteney and 
Governor Hornby made a division of their lands, John Johnstone be- 
came agent for the Hornby estate, and thus continued until 180G. Mr. 
Williamson died in London in 1808. 

Besides the settlements at the three points named — Palmyra, Lyons, 
and Sodus — the pioneers who came into the county prior to the year 
1800 located chiefly along the Ganargwa. Even in this favorite locality 
there was as late as 1819, according to Mr. Turner, a space of several 
miles where farm improvements were insignificant and log houses pre- 
dominated. Some of the earliest settlers along the creek, besides the 
.Long Island colony, were Thomas Goldsmith, Philip Lusk, Jacob Lusk, 
Isaac Lusk, John Tibbits, Oliver Sanford, Luther Sanford, Oliver 
Clark, James Parshall, Thomas Cornell, James Galloway, Humphrey 
Sherman, Reuben Starks. John Spoor settled early where " Lockpitt " 
was founded, and was succeeded there by Nicholas Stansell. The 
Lusks settled where Newark has grown up. Other settlers in old Pal- 
myra were: Thaddeus Taft, Joshua Bridge, Weaver Osborne, Cyrus 
Foster, Jeremiah Smith, Caleb McCumber, Israel Parshall, Joseph 

country I would make you a visit." "It can be done with proper exertions." Mr. 
Clinton promised him his co-operation, and afterwards assisted in procuring the in- 
corporation of the Seneca Turnpike Company, in which the State road was merged. 
Mr. Clinton's first visit to this region was in 1810. — Foot Note, Tin-tier' s Phelps 
and Gorham s Purchase, p. 2-J2. 



46 LANDMARKS OF 

Shoemaker, Oliver Booth, Ahaz Aldrieh, Samuel Millet, John Sher- 
man, Silas Hart, Thomas Glover, Joseph Tinkum, James Galloway 
and William Starks. What is now the town of Walworth was first set- 
tled in 1799, by the families of Andrew, John, Samuel and Daniel Mil- 
ler: a younger brother of these named Alexander, also came in at that 
time, and two years later, in 1801, Stephen and Daniel Douglass moved 
into the town. 

In what is now the town of Williamson, and near the village of the 
same name, were located a little prior to 1794 the families of Timothy 
Smith and Henry Lovell ; the latter was one of the first Board of As- 
sessors of the town. 

Maeedon was settled in 1789 and 1790 by Webb Harwood, Ebenezer 
Reed, Israel Delano, Darius Comstock and Paul Reed. Settlement in 
Huron began in 1796, when Col. Peregrine Fitzhugh and William 
Helms came in. 

Other towns as at present constituted were first settled a little later; 
but it is not our purpose to continue details of pioneer arrivals at this 
point in the narrative, as they will all be described in the subsequent 
town histories. An early road was opened along the' lake shore, fol- 
lowing generelly the Indian trail, from Pultneyville to Irondequoit; 
this preceded the Ridge road. Many of the settlers in the northern 
part of the count}" located along this road. 

The condition of the pioneers of Wayne county was not in all respects 
a happy one, notwithstanding that they were greatly favored in others. 
During the first five or six years there was ever present the harassing 
fear of Indian attacks, to which we have alluded in a preceding chap- 
ter. This was not wholly dissipated until the successful conclusion of 
the Pickering treaty in the fall of 1794 at Canandaigua. This, with 
Wayne's victory in the W r est, brought substantial peace. A brief refer- 
ence, however, should be made to an attempted invasion of the Genesee 
country from Canada, which was projected even while the arrange- 
ments for the Pickering conference were in progress. Governor Sim- 
coe was in power at that time in Canada, and evinced a contemptible 
jealous)' and hatred of the people who were so rapidly coming into 
Western New York. It is said that he threatened to send Mr. William- 
son to England in irons if he ever ventured into Canada. In August, 
I 79 I, Simcoe sent a representative to Williamson with a protest against 
his work in establishing the settlement at Sodus Bay, pending the com- 
plete execution of the treaty terminating the Revolutionary War. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 47 

Williamson was absent at Bath and the messenger left his errand with 
Mr. Moffat, with notice that he would return in ten days for a reply. 
Williamson arranged to go at once to Sodus and meet Simcoe's messen- 
ger. It developed that Mr. Williamson had known the messenger in 
England and their interview was friendly; at the same time the mes- 
senger was directed to inform Governor Simcoe that no attention would 
be paid to his message and that Mr. Williamson would proceed, as he 
had before, with his work at settlement; that if interfered with, the 
invaders would be met with forcible resistance. It should be explained 
that after the declaration of peace following the Revolution, Great 
Britain complained that those parts of the treaty which required that 
those States in which British subjects were prevented by law from re- 
covering debts due to them prior to the Revolution, had been repealed 
(as by the treaty they ought to have been), and also that British prop- 
erty had been confiscated since the period limited in the treaty for such 
confiscations, and no compensation had been allowed to those who had 
suffered thereby. On the other hand, the Americans complained that 
after the cessation of hostilities, negroes and other property were carried 
away by the British soldiers, contrary to stipulations in the preliminary 
peace treaty. The British retained possession of posts on our borders 
until the settlement of all these matters in 1796. 

All the settlements in the Genesee country soon learned of the threat- 
ened invasion; and at the same time it was noticed that the conduct of 
the Indians seemed to favor such a movement. Harmar and St. Clair 
had been defeated in the West, and Wayne's success was yet problem- 
atical. It was well known that the British were aiding and abetting 
the Indians against Wayne, and many of the Senecas had armed and 
gone to join the forces in the West. Should Wayne be defeated, as all 
the settlers thought extremely probable, what would be more likely 
than that the Senecas and their allies would return flushed with victory 
to lay waste the new country? With these things in view, it is not sur- 
prising that the landing of the messenger from Simcoe and his little 
party created widespread dismay. 

Immediately after the departure of Simcoe's messenger, Mr. William- 
son and his coadjutors took immediate steps to prepare for possible 
trouble and to assure the settlers of protection. He sent a post rider 
to both Albany and Philadelphia, with messages explaining the whole 
situation. In one of the letters he said: 



48 LANDMARKS OF 

It is pretty well ascertained that for some time past, quantities of military stores 
and ammunition have been forwarded to Oswego. This makes me think it not im- 
probable that Lieutenant Sheafe (he was Simcoe's messenger) will take a forcible 
possession of Sodus on his return. I shall, however, without relaxing, go on with 
my business there, until drove off by a superior force. It is needless for me to trouble 
you with any com meDts on this unparalleled piece of insolence, and gross insult to 
the government of the United States. l 

While Mr. Williamson was thus exerting- himself to support his posi- 
tion in his settlement and to provide for adequate protection by the 
government, affairs were reaching a climax in another direction. 
" Mad Anthony Wayne " was on the war-path and four days after Sim- 
coe had sent his message to Mr. Williamson, met the Indians in the 
West and crushed them. The importance of this victory, both to the 
settlers in the (ienesee country and to the country at large, was great 
It gave security and hope to the harassed settlers and permanently 
ended the long succession of Indian treaties that had been more or less 
fruitless. The Senecas returned to their homes humbled and subdued, 

1 It is worth while to gain a new knowledge of Simcoe's operations during the 
year in question (1794), as detailed in another letter from Mr. Williamson to Sir 
William Pulteney, in which he wrote as follows: " I shall make no further comment 
on this business, than to observe, that anything short of actual hostilities, it com- 
pletes the unequalled insolent conduct of Mr. Simcoe toward this government. Mr. 
vSimcoe's personal treatment of myself and you, I treat with the scorn it deserves, but 
I beg leave to give you a sketch of his political conduct. On his first arrival in this 
country, by deep-laid schemes he has prevented every possibility of an accommoda- 
tion between the country and the hostile Indians, and this summer, by his intrigues, 
he has drawn several tribes of friendly Indians from the territory of the United States 
to the British side of the lines, and left nothing undone to induce the Six Nations, 
our neighbors, to take up the hatchet the moment he gives the word. You must be 
acquainted with his marching a body of armed troops, and erecting a fort at the rap- 
ids of the Miami seventy miles within the territory of the United States, but this 
being an extensive wilderness, seemed of less importance. Not content with this, 
he has now interfered with our settlements, in a manner so unlike the dignity of a 
great nation that it must astonish you. If it is the intention of the British ministry, 
by low and underhanded schemes, to keep alive a harassing war against helpless 
women and children, or by murders on the frontier, to add to the list of the murders 
already committed by the influence of their servants here, and to treat this govern- 
ment with the most unwarrantable insolence and contempt, I allow that Mr. Simcoe 
is a most industrious and faithful servant the British government ever had. But if 
it is their intention to cultivate a friendly intercourse with this country, it never can 
take place while such is the conduct of their governor here. . . . If these trans- 
actions are in consequence of orders from Great Britain, and their views are hostile, 
there is nothing further to be said. 




5 {, o fr \ 



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It 



sJ-0LA?!t c/~L< 



WAYNE COUNTY. 49 

and entertaining ideas of Wayne born in the consternation and awe 
that fell upon them when they saw the warriors fall like leaves before 
his onslaught. 

Prior to the visit of Lieutenant Sheaffe to Mr. Williamson with Sim- 
coe's message, and on the 3d of July, the War Department had been 
specifically informed of the exposed condition of the settlers in the 
Genesee country. The acts of the British to which we have alluded 
were made the subject of a letter from General Washington to John 
Jay, then minister in London, in which he wrote as follows: 

( )f this irregular and high-handed proceeding of Mr, Simcoe, which is no longer 
masked, I would rather hear what the ministry of Great Britain will say. . . This 
may be considered as the most open and daring act of the British agents in America, 
though it is not the most hostile and cruel ; for there does not remain a doubt in the 
mind of any well informed person in this country, not shut against conviction, that 
all the difficulties we encounter with the Indians, their hostilities, the murders of 
helpless women and children, along our frontiers, result from the conduct of agents 
of Great Britain in this country. 

In the same letter Washington predicted that it would be impossible 
to keep this country on peaceful terms with England long, unless the 
various posts were surrendered to us. 

Congratulations upon Wayne's victory and the resultant peace were 
general, and nothing more was heard of invasions from Canada. 

There were other hardships which the early settlers were forced to 
endure, but they were mostly men of stability, perseverance and energy. 
Buying his land on easy terms at a low price, and inspired with the 
vigor of young manhood, the pioneer thought the road to independence 
would not be a long nor a very hard one ; but many were grievously 
disappointed. The meager crops raised on the small clearing were 
needed for home consumption ; or, if there was a small surplus, it was 
difficult to dispose of it. The roads to a market were often impassable 
for teams ; interest accumulated, and what was worse than all else, 
sickness was very prevalent in many localities, and good medical 
attendance almost impossible to obtain. Fever and ague was espe- 
cially afflicting and disheartening. This intermittent disease gave the 
settlers their "sick days" and their "well days," * and they could work 

1 Dr. Coventry, who lived near Geneva in 1792-4 said that those seasons were very 

sickly in proportion to the population, in all the Genesee country. "I remember," 

said he, "when in Geneva there was but a single individual who could leave her bed. 

In 1795 no rain fell in June or July; water in the lakes was lowered ; every inlet 

7 



50 LANDMARKS OF 

only on the latter. These troubles, with the others we have described, 
would doubtless have driven many away from their homes, had it not 
been for the liberal, energetic and protective policy adopted by Mr. 
Williamson. 

This chapter may be closed with an original article, showing clearly 
the policy of Mr. Williamson, and its effects on settlements, which was 
printed in the Commercial Agricultural Journal, in London, England, 
in August, 1799. It was as follows: 

This immense undertaking' is under the direction and in the name of Captain 
Williamson, formerly a British officer, but is generally supposed in America to be a 
joint concern between him and Sir William Patence, of London; in England Patence 
is believed to be the proprietor and Williamson his agent. The land in the Genesee 
country, or that part of it which belongs to the State of Massachusetts, was sold to a 
Mr. Phelps for five pence per acre; by him in 1790, to Mr. Morris, at one shilling per 
acre, being estimated at a million of acres, on condition that the money was to be 
returned provided Captain Williamson, who was to view the lands, should not find 
them answerable to the description. He was pleased with them, and, on survey, 
found the tract to contain one hundred and twenty thousand acres more than the 
estimate, the whole of which was conveyed to him. This district is bounded on one 
side by Lake Ontario, and on the other by the River Genesee. Williamson also 
bought some other land of Mr. Morris, so that he is now proprietor of more than a 
million and a half aci'es. After surveying the whole, he resolved to found at once 
several large establishments rather than one capital colony. He therefore fixed on 
the most eligible place for building towns, as central spots for his whole system. 
These were Bath, on the Conhockton, Williamsburg, on the Genesee; Geneva, at 
the foot of Lake Seneca; and Great Sodus, on Lake Ontario. The whole territory 
he divided into squares of six miles. Each of these squares he forms into a district. 
Sure of finding settlers and purchasers when he had established a good communica- 
tion between his new tract and Philadelphia, and as the old road was by way of 
New York and Albany, Williamson opened a road which has shortened the distance 
three hundred miles. He has also continued his roads from Kath to Geneva, to 
Canandaigua, and to Great Sodus, and several roads of communication. He has 
already erected ten mills — three corn and seven sawing — has built a great many 
houses, and has begun to clear land. He put himself to the heavy expense of trans- 
porting eighty families from Germany to his settlements; but owing to a bad choice 
made by his agent at Hamburg, they did little, and after a short time set off for 
Canada. He succeeded better in the next set, who were mostly Irish. They put 
the roads into condition, and gave such a difference to the whole that the lands which 
he sold at one dollar an acre was soon worth three and he disposed of eight hundred 
thousand acres in this way so as to pay the first purchase, the whole expense incurred, 
and has made a profit of fifty pounds. The rapid increase of property is owing to 
to the money first advanced, but the great advantage is Williamson's constant 

became a seat of putrefaction. . . In the Autumn of 1796 along an extent of four 
miles of a thinly-inhabited road, '24 deaths took place from dysentery." 



WAYNE COUNTY. 51 

residence on the settlement, which enables him to conclude any contract or to remove 
any difficulty which may stand in the way; besides, his land is free from all dispute 
or question of occupancy, and all his settlement is properly ascertained and marked 
out. There has been a gradual rise in values, and a proviso is always inserted 
in the deed of sale to those who purchase a large quantity, that a certain 
number of acres shall be cleared, and a certain number of families settled, within 
eighteen months. Those who buy from five hundred to one thousand acres are only 
obliged to settle one family. These clauses are highly useful, as they draw an 
increase of population and prevent the purchase of lands for speculation only. 

Captain Williamson, however, never acts up to the rigor of his claim where any 
known obstacles impede the execution. The terms of payment are to discharge half 
the purchase in three years, and the remainder in six, which enables the industrious 
to pay from the produce of the land. The poorer families he supplies with an ox, a 
cow, or even a home. To all the settlements he establishes, he takes care - to secure 
a constant supply of provisions for the settlers, or supplies them from his own store. 
When five or six settlers build together, he always builds a house at his own expense, 
which soon sells at an advanced price. Every year he visits each settlement, which 
tends to diffuse a spirit of industry and promote the sale of lands, and he employs 
every other means he can suggest to be useful to the inhabitants. He keeps stores 
of medicines, encourages races and amusements, and keeps a set of beautiful stallions. 
He has nearly finished his great undertaking, and proposes to take a voyage to Eng- 
land to purchase the best horses, cattle, sheep, implements of agriculture, etc. 
Captain Williamson has not only the merit of having formed, and that in a judicious 
manner, this fine settlement, but he has the happiness to live universally respected, 
honored and beloved. Bath is the chief settlement, and it is to be the chief town of 
the county of the same name. At the town he is building a school, which is to be 
endowed with some hundred acres of land. The salary of the master, Williamson 
means to pay until the instruction of the children shall be sufficient for his support. 
He has built a session house and a prison, and one good inn, which he has sold for a 
good profit, and is now building another which is to contain a ball-room. He has 
also constructed a bridge, which opens a free and easy communication with the other 
side of the river. He keeps in his own hands some small farms in the vicinity of Bath, 
which are under the care of a Scotchman, and which appear to be better plowed and 
managed than most in America. In all the settlements he reserves one estate for 
himself, the stock on which is remarkably good. These he disposes of occasionally 
to his friends, on some handsome offers. To the settlements already mentioned he 
is now adding two others, one at the mouth of the Genesee the other at Braddock, 
thirty miles farther inland. Great Sodus, on the coast of this district, promises to 
afford a safe and convenient place for ships, from the depth of water, and it may be 
easily fortified. The climate here is much more temperate than in Pennsylvania. 
The winter seldom lasts more than four months, and the cattle even in that season, 
graze in the forest without inconvenience. These settlements are, however, rather 
unhealthy, which Captain Williamson ascribes to nothing but the natural effects of 
the climate on new settlers, and is confined to a few fits of fever with which 
strangers are seized the first or second year of their arrival. The inhabitants all 
agree, however, that the climate is unfavorable, and the marshes and pieces of 



52 LANDMARKS OF 

stagnant water are thickly spread over the country ; but these will be drained as 
the population increases. On the whole, it promises to be one of the most con- 
siderable settlements in America. 



CHAPTER VI. 



Circumstances of the Pioneers — Current Prices of Produce — Inconvenience of Dis- 
tant Markets — Gradual Improvement of Roads — Old Stage Lines — Erection of Early 
Mills— Outbreak of the War 1812— Effects of the Conflict in Wayne County— Military 
Operations at Sodus Bay — Account of a Skirmish — Descent Upon Pultneyville — 
General Improvements Following the Close of the War. 

With the establishment of peaceful relations with the Indians and the 
British, the further opening of roads, and the rapid influx of settlers 
during the first ten years of the present century, came an era of com- 
parative prosperity to the pioneers of Wayne county. J Hardships and 
privation were, of course, still common to all. The area of cleared 
land was yet small, and difficult of tillage; prices of crops were low 
and markets far distant ; and sickness, which seems to prevail in all 
new settlements, was still general in many localities. A partial idea 
of what the community had to contend with in some respects may be 
gained from the following list of prices of 1801: Wheat, seventy-five - 
cents; corn, three shillings; rye, fifty cents; hay, six to twelve dol- 
lars per ton ; butter and cheese, eleven to sixteen cents a pound ; salt 
pork, eight to ten dollars per cwt. ; whisky, fifty to seventy-five cents 
per gallon; salt, five dollars per barrel; sheep, two to four dollars per 
head; milch cows, sixteen to twenty-five dollars a head ; horse, 10<> to 
125 dollars per span; working oxen, fifty to eighty dollars per yoke; 
laborers, wages, ten to fifteen dollars a month, with board. A home- 
made suit of clothes sold for four to five dollars. 

In 1805 a settler on the Purchase began building a frame house, and 
wanted a small quantity of glass and nails. They were not to be easily 
obtained. He started with an ox team and sled, and fifty bushels of 

1 The reader will have noticed that we often use the name of Wayne county in de- 
scribing events that occurred long before the county was organized. In doing so, 
reference is made only to the territory afterwards embraced in the county. We 
adopt this course to avoid useless repetition and explanation. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 58 

wheat, for Utica, more than a hundred miles distant, where he sold the 
grain for $1.68 per bushel to Watts Sherman, the early merchant of 
that place, bought the wrought nails for eighteen cents per pound, and 
two boxes of glass for $7.50. The bill of goods was made out by 
B. Gibson, the subsequent prominent banker of Canandaigua. Stephen 
Durfee left a record that wheat in the few first years of settlement sold 
often at thirty-seven and a half cents, and on one occasion at twenty- 
five cents a bushel. In the fall of 1804 a hundred bushels of wheat 
were taken on a wagon from this locality to Albany, with the help of 
four yoke of oxen — two hundred and thirty miles. The wheat was 
bought in Bloomfield for five shillings currency per bushel ; it sold in 
Albany for seventeen and one-fourth shillings. This was a good profit; 
but it was a long distance to haul, and over very poor roads. In fact 
it was seen clearly enough that the conditions of transportation from 
one point to another governed prices of crops and merchandise, and 
that the great need of the new country was better roads. As the high- 
ways were improved, and the quantity of grain, and particularly of 
wheat, grown in the county and vicinity greatly increased, many hardy 
men engaged in teaming and the roads eastward presented a bus) 7 
scene. The so-called "Pennsylvania wagons" were numerous, drawn 
by six horses, and carrying immense loads. This business was very 
prosperous until about the time of the opening of the canal. In the 
latter part of this period wheat was sometimes carried to Albany at 
two shillings and sixpence per bushel. Large quantities of grain went 
into the distilleries and were turned into whisky, which found a ready 
sale. Small distilleries were very numerous, though few were large, 
and many of them were built of logs. Their operation constituted a 
large part of the business enterprise of the first quarter of the present 
century, and whisky drinking was as common as water drinking. The 
sale of ashes and the manufacture of crude potash was of great im- 
portance to the pioneers. The ashes cost nothing but the transporta- 
tion, for their production was incumbent upon the clearing of land, 
and as late as 1815 their sale was a principal source of obtaining 
groceries and occasionally a little money. 

Stages were running regularly over the great turnpike from Utica to 
Canandaigua at the beginning of the century. The long bridge at 
Cayuga was finished in 1800, and many branch roads were laid out and 
somewhat improved before 1815. Ganargwa Creek was made a public 
highway in 1799, with many other streams of this section. In 1800 a 



54 LANDMARKS OF 

good road was made twelve miles westward from the Genesee River at 
the site of Avon; and at the road called the "new State road" between 
Lewiston and Rochester, on the accompanying map of 1809, was begun 
about the same time. But the roads westward from the county were 
of little importance to the settlers, as far as improving their markets 
was concerned. In 1804 a road was made through Galen and Palmyra, 
and onward to the Genesee River. There was only one mail between 
Canandaigua and Rochester in 1812, and that was carried on horse- 
back, and, as related, part of the time by a woman. As late as 1813 
the ridge road between Rochester and Lewiston was almost impassable 
in many places, and $5,000 were appropriated by the Legislature for 
cutting out the path and bridging the streams. For a considerable 
period, it was thought that land transportation from Wayne county 
eastward would never, or at least not in many years, compete with the 
water route. It was this belief that led to the building of Durham 
boats at Palmyra and elsewhere at a very early date. 

The erection of the first grist mills in the county created another 
avenue for disposing of a part of the wheat crops, and at the same time 
supplied one of the greatest necessities of the pioneers. A mill was 
built at Lyons in 1800, and one at Palmyra still earlier. Augustus 
Porter built and operated several mills in different localities in this sec- 
tion, and in L812 advertised that he would pay one dollar a bushel for 
wheat at any of his mills. Within a year later it was worth eleven 
shillings. The multiplication of early stores for barter enabled the 
farmers who were raising crops prior to he war of 1812, to exchange 
them for household goods, bringing long-missed comforts to their 
homes, but generally at high prices. School -houses sprang up in the 
wilderness, as they always have done in the track of the American 
pioneer, and simultaneously churches were organized at various points. 
The Presbyterian church at Palmyra came into existence in L797, and 
was followed by the Baptist in 1800. In the latter year, also, the 
Presbyterian church at Lyons was organized. All of these subjects 
will be further treated in the subsequent histories of the several towns 
of the county. At the close of the first decade of this century the 
population of Wayne had reached only 1,110. The entire population 
of what is now Monroe county, east of the river; Wayne, excepting 
the eastern towns, and Ontario, Yates and Livingston, was: Males, 
21,835; females, L9,681; slaves, 211; total, 42,026. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 55 

A number of the pioneers brought skives into the country with them 
at an early day and held them in bondage for considerable periods. In 
what is now the town of Huron, Thomas Helms, who settled about the 
year 1800, brought about seventy slaves from Maryland and settled at 
Port Glasgow, on Big Sodus Bay. There is no doubt but he expected 
to establish the institution permanently. He is reported as a brutal 
character who cruelly treated the slaves, by whose labor about a hun- 
dred acres around the bay were cleared up. Upon the death of Helms 
the hated institution soon expired in that region, but under what con- 
ditions we have not learned. 

Col. Peregrine Fitzhugh, who was also from Maryland, brought his 
slaves with him to Sodus Point. The colonel had been a Revolution- 
ary soldier, and lived in Geneva three years before settling at the Point. 
His family, including the slaves, numbered forty persons. These 
slaves were freed within a few years after their' arrival, and with others, 
formed a little colony on the " out-lots "at " the city." 

An act of the Legislature passed April 5, 1810, provided that all per- 
sons who emigrated hither from Virginia and Maryland in the preced- 
ing ten years, " who held in their own right slaves, which they brought 
with them from the said States, be and they are hereby authorized to 
hire out said slaves to any citizen of this State for a term not exceeding 
seven years." At the end of this term the slaves so hired out were to 
be free. 

The peaceful and hopeful conditions which we have briefly pictured 
as existing in Wayne county down to about 1812, were now to be rudely 
dispelled by the culmination of the persistent injustice of Great Britain 
in her assertion of the right to search neutral vessels for deserters from 
the royal navy, under which claim hundreds of Americans had been 
taken from American vessels under the pretense that they were sus- 
pected of desertion, and compelled to serve under a flag which thev 
especially detested. On the 20th of June, 1812, President Madison, by 
authority of Congress, declared war against the mother country. 
Wayne county constituted a part of the frontier, and, as such, her in- 
habitants appreciated their exposed situation and were correspondingly 
agitated at their immediate prospects. Opposite Buffalo was Fort Erie 
with a small garrison. At the mouth of Niagara River was Fort George, 
an insignificant work, and a little above the falls was Fort Chippewa, 
also a small stockade. The war began in the West and on the ocean, 
but we are concerned only with the operations of Northern New York, 



56 LANDMARKS OF 

which did not commence till considerably later. A general order of 
the War Department, issued April 21, L812, organized the detached 
militia of the State into two divisions and eight brigades. Of one of 
these brigades William Wadsworth, of Ontario county, was made com- 
mander. The capture of two trading vessels at Ogdensburg in the 
spring of L812 began hostilities in Northern New York. On a Sabbath 
morning late in July, a conflict took place at Sackett's Harbor, between 
five British vessels, and the Oneida, an American vessel under com- 
mand of Lieut. Melancthon Woolsey, with a few guns on shore. The 
British vessels were defeated in a humiliating manner and driven off. 
The command of Lake Ontario now seemed more than ever important. 
Gen. Henry Deaborn was made commander-in-chief of the Northern 
Department. The battle at Oueenston in October followed, in which 
the Americans were finally defeated, losing in one day in killed, 
wounded and prisoners, about 1,100 men. But this disaster was 
avenged by several memorable and successful battles on the ocean. An 
unsuccessful attack was made upon Ogdensburg in September; and 
early in November, Commodore Isaac Chauncey appeared on Lake On-, 
tario with a little squadron of American schooners. With these he 
blockaded a British squadron in Kingston harbor, disabled the Royal 
George, destroyed one armed schooner, captured three merchant ves- 
sels, and took several prisoners. He then returned to Sackett's Har- 
bor. On the 21st of November (1812), a heavy bombardment was 
made by the British upon old Fort Niagara, which led to preparations 
for the invasion of Canada by General Smythe, in command at Buffalo; 
but his loudly proclaimed intention ended in nothing but words. 
Meanwhile there were active operations in the West. September !(>, 
L813, Commodore Perry won his memorable victory on Lake Eric and 
sent his immortal message to his superior, General Harrison: "We have 
met the enemy and they arc ours." On the 2*2d of February, L813, 
( )gdensburg was sacked and partially burned. In April, the fortified 
position at York, Canada, was captured by the Americans, who, flushed 
with victory, sailed in considerable force from Sackett's Harbor to 
attack Fort George. This work was captured, and Forts Erie and 
Chippewa were abandoned, leaving the Canadian frontier in possession 
of the Americans. On the 29th of May a large force attacked the post 
at Sackett's Harbor, which was abandoned by the Americans, and an 
immense quantity of stores was lost. The other principal events of 
L813 were ah attack by the British on Schlosser on the night of July 4, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 57 

and an unsuccessful attack by the British on the post of Black Rock, 
whence they were driven back by the Americans under Gen. Peter B. 
Porter. In August there was activity on Lake Champlain, and Platts- 
burg was seized, plundered and partly burned by a British land and 
water force. In October a large force sailed from Sackett's Harbor, 
destined to Montreal, but after severe hardships and considerable fight- 
ing in the freezing weather, the expedition as planned was given up and 
the flotilla went into winter quarters at French Mills on the Salmon 
River. Still more distressing events were to occur before the cam- 
paign closed. Early in December General McClure abandoned Fort 
George as untenable, and crossed over to Fort Niagara; before leaving 
the Canada shore he burned the little village of Newark. Fierce re- 
taliation quickly followed. The enraged British captured Fort Niagara 
and massacred a part of the garrison ; sacked and burned Buffalo and 
Black Rock and drove the poor inhabitants far through the winter 
snows. Meanwhile the naval operations of 1813 were important and 
resulted generally in success to the American cause. 

The British began vigorous operations with the opening of the cam- 
paign of 1814, the events of which can only be briefly alluded to here. 
Both parties to the conflict had been preparing during the winter to 
gain the mastery of Lake Ontario. Sir James Yeo appeared on the 
lake; left Kingston harbor when the ice went out, in command of a 
large squadron and about 3,000 men. Proceeding to Oswego he cap- 
tured that post on the 5th of May. They abandoned their purpose of 
penetrating up the Oswego River and withdrew on the 7th, carrying away 
several prisoners. In June General Brown marched from Sackett's 
Harbor and on the 1st of July was near the site of burned Buffalo. 
Opposite him on the Canadian side was the principal military force un- 
der command of Lieutenant-General Drummond. Brown was under 
orders to invade Canada. His force consisted of two brigades of infan- 
try, one of them commanded by Gen. Winfield Scott, and some artil- 
lery. This force crossed the river early in the morning of July 3, ap- 
peared before the fort, and at 6 o'clock the little garrison surrendered. 
At the same time General Riall, a brave British officer in command 
under Drummond, was marching towards Fort Erie, when he heard of 
its investment and capture. He resolved to attack the invaders, and 
was soon joined by reinforcements from York. General Scott was sent 
with his brigade to meet this force, accompanied by Towson's artillery. 
Scott moved on the morning of July 4, pushed on toward Chippewa, 



58 LANDMARKS OF 

and drove in an advanced detachment of British. There he was joined 
by Brown's whole force, and on the morning of the 5th the two con- 
tending armies were only two miles apart. A fiercely-fought and san- 
guinary battle followed in which 604 British and 355 Americans were 
killed and wounded. It was a crushing defeat for the enemy in that 
section. Prompt advantage was taken of this situation and the mem- 
orable and successful battle of Lundy's Lane w r as fought and won on 
the 24th, in which General Scott gained undying fame; the immediate 
fruits of the victory, however, were not important. From the 7th to 
the 14th of August the British besieged Fort Erie, but the Americans 
successfully resisted the operations. The British force continued to 
invest the works, and on September 17 the Americans made a brillliant 
sortie from the fort and captured the advanced works of the enemy, 
who were driven back to Chippewa with a loss of 1,000 in killed, 
wounded and prisoners. These several victories, with the triumph of 
the American arms at Plattsburg, caused great joy throughout the 
country. 

In October, General Izard came to the Niagara frontier with 5,000 
troops and took command, his rank being higher than General Brown's. 
The entire force now numbered about 8,000 men. Before they could 
attack Drummond, he withdrew to Fort George. Early in November 
General Izard caused Fort Erie to be blown up and he then crossed the 
river and went into winter quarters at Buffalo and Black Rock. Dur- 
ing most of this campaign Commodore Chauncey had been blockaded 
at Sackett's Harbor. He suffered from sickness, but after his partial 
recovery went out on a cruise and blockaded Kingston Harbor. Dur- 
ing the occurrence of these events in Northern New York, important 
operations of the war were conducted in other parts of the country, the 
course of which need not be followed here; they are found described 
on the pages of general history in numerous works. The bloody battle 
of New Orleans, fought on the 8th of January, L815, was the last en- 
gagement of the war, and a treaty of peace had been signed between 
the two countries on the 24th of December, L814, which was ratified by 
the British government on the 28th of December, and by the United 
States on the 17th of February, 1815. 

At the time of the breaking out of the war, Sod us Point had not 
ceased to be regarded as a place of great importance. Its exceptionally 
tine harbor and its situation on the line of east and west lake naviga- 
tion, seemed to assure it a future of consequence as a lake port. Its 



WAYNE COUNTY. 59 

retention in the hands of the Americans was hence considered impera- 
tive. Some military stores were placed there early in the struggle and 
in 1813 a military force was established to guard the locality and 
particularly to protect the property of the government. A company of 
which Enoch Morse was captain, Noble Granger, lieutenant, and Mil- 
ton Granger, orderly sergeant, was posted at the Point, which had been 
threatened by the fleet of British vessels. On the 12th of June, the 
fleet having retired, the local militia started for their homes. On the 
same day, the British fleet returned in force of some ninety vessels, 
and threatened a landing. To avert the impending invasion, a horse- 
man rode rapidly away towards South Sodus, shouting to the inhab- 
itants to turn out to meet the foe. A logging bee was in progress at 
South Sodus, and those engaged hurriedly left for the Point, some of 
the men not waiting to go to their homes. From Sodus village, too, 
where about forty men had just returned from a "raising," they all 
huried off to the threatened locality. The following carefully prepared 
account of the ensuing events was prepared in 1877 for the Everts & 
Ensign history of the county, and is worthy of transcription: 

The space of cleared land was limited to a small area, and a dense growth of trees 
and brush came across the public square. This was almost impassable, save by one 
road north to the present lighthouse, thence west along the lake bank, bearing south 
and intersecting the present road. A foot path from near the site of the Methodist 
Church led off southwest. Part of the stores had been taken from the warehouse and 
lay concealed in a ravine between what is now West and Ontario streets. During 
the early evening. Elder Seba Norton was the leader, but Col. Elias Hill, of Lyons, 
arriving, he took command. The night was dark and a slight rain was falling, when 
it was agreed to form in the skirt of the bushes and advance upon a reconnoissance. 
If the enemy was met a volley was to be fired, and then "each for himself." On the 
high ground a little south of the present (1877) Johnson house, they heard the enem}- 
advancing and displaying a few lights. Amasa Johnson shot down one light and 
drew the British random fire. A volley from the militia and then followed a British 
retreat of marvellous celerity. The enemy re-embarked, having captured two men, 
a Mr. Britton and Harry Skinner, whom they set on shore the next day. Nathaniel 
Merrill and Major Farr each thought the other the enemy. The major got entangled 
in fallen timber and brush and could not extricate himself until daylight. George 
Palmer passed Elder Norton, who had been at Monmouth and Saratoga, and the 
veteran refused to run. Chester Eldridge from the bushes shouted, "I am killed; I 
am killed." Examination showed that a bullet had cut a gash in his throat which 
bled profusely. One Knight was wounded, and a Mr. Terry was so badly injured as 
to die from the effects of a shot. Next day the enemy threw a few cannon shot, 
landed a small force, and took away the contents of the storehouse. The British 
evidently feared the presence of a heavy force, and dared not venture from the land- 
ing. Mr. Warner was mortally wounded by the British soldiers. All the buildings 



60 LANDMARKS OF 

save one were burned. The tavern of. Nathaniel Merrill, the store of Mr. Wickham, 
with its contents, his dwelling, the Fitzhugh house, the bouse of William Edus, a 
warehouse, and perhaps others, were destroyed. The building saved was a part of 
the Mansion House, then recently erected by Barakins & Hoylarts. In this house 
Mr. Warner was placed and there he died. It is said that the British placed a pitcher 
of water near him, and that the officers twice extinguished a lire kindled by the men 
to destroy the building. Following is a list of those at the Sodus skirmish: Elder 
Seba Norton, George Palmer, Byram Green, Timothy Axtell, Freeman Axtell, 
Knight, Terry, and Warner, Lyman Dunning, Elias Hull, Alanson M. Knapp, 
Amasa Johnson, Nathaniel Morrill, Major Farr, Isaac Lemmon, Robert Carpthers, 
John Hawley, Joseph Ellis, Alanson Corey, Galusha Harrington, Chester Eldridge, 
Ammi Ellsworth, Isaac Davis, Payne, Pollock, Benjamin Blanchard, Robert A. Pad- 
dock, Britton, Jenks Pullen, Daniel Norton, John Holcomb, Thomas Johnson, Lyman 
Seymour, Harry Skinner, Daniel Arms, and Alexander Knapp. 

Among other citizens of Sodus, who took part in the general service 
were George Palmer, Daniel Norton, Alexander Morrow, Dr. Gibbs, 
Byram Green, and others. 

This is not the record of a great battle, but it must be remembered 
that there were not probably 2,000 persons in the county at that time, 
which would indicate about 200 heads of families. It is well known 
that most of these took part in the war in some capacity and for longer 
or shorter periods. At any rate, Wayne is one of the few counties of 
interior and Western New York that was hallowed by the blood of the 
enemy in the last war with the mother country. 1 

One of the companies of the early militia was in existence at Lyons 
as early as 1808, having been recruited in the vicinity. It was com- 
manded in the year named by Capt. William Paton, Lieut. Peter Per- 
rine, Ensign James Beard, and Orderly Sergeant William Duncan. 
When the war began a large share of this company entered the service 
and went to the Niagara frontier. At that time the officers were : 
Captain, Elias Hull; lieutenant, David Perrine; ensign, William C. 
Guest. The following account of the part taken by this company in 
the action at Sodus Point is taken from the files of the Lyons Republi- 
can : 

At an early day Sodus Point was regarded as destined to become a place of com- 
mercial importance. Here was safe and commodious anchorage for vessels, and here 
was an outlet for the produce of a large section of country. Long lines of wagons 

1 In these humble annals, let it be recordedasan actof justice, withheld by partial 
historians of the war, that citizen soldiers who had faltered under inefficient leaders, 
won laurels, vindicated this branch of national defense, when better leaders and bet- 
ter auspices prevailed. — Turner s Plielps and Cor ham' s Purchase, p. jjg. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 01 

were often to be seen passing northward through Lyons, from Phelps, Geneva, and 
other places, loaded with flour, pork and potatoes — in those (Hays the principal articles 
of export. The declaration of war, in 1812, was received with serious alarm by the 
people living- along our northern borders. This was increased by tidings of the sur- 
render of Detroit and our northern army under General Hull, and we were illy pre- 
pared to meet the incursions of our hostile neighbors. There was a small fleet on 
Lake Ontario, but it was altogether inadequate to protect the coast. Volunteers 
were therefore called to defend our county. Age and youth vied with each other in 
filling the ranks, and soon a very formidable army appeared at Sodus Point. These 
were organized and placed under command of General Swift. Hastily gathered 
under strong excitement, hardship soon cooled their ardor and and a desire to return 
home prevailed. The general gave orders for a dismissal. Preliminaries were soon 
settled and the men freed from the restraint and the monotony of camp life. 

A large quantity of government property lay concealed in the woods some distance 
from the Point. The company under Capt. Elias Hull was detailed to guard these 
stores. The captain had been some time in service without opportunity of dis- 
tinguishing himself, and conceived the time had arrived. He therefore ordered a 
night march down to the Point, and gave command to his men, if they met the foe, 
to give him one volley, and then fall back in good order behind the barrels and await 
the enemy's advance. Captain Hull was cautious as he was ambitious. Arrived in 
one of the small hollows near the Point, he halted, drew the command up in line, 
and sent two men, Pease and Gibbs, forward to reconnoitre. They had just reached 
the top of the hill when they met two platoons of British regulars marching up the 
opposite side. The scouts fired and gave the alarm. Captain Hull shouted, "Fire," 
and a wild, harmless volley whistled through the trees ; then, "Retreat," and the cap- 
tain rapidly led the way to the rear, and took shelter under a large hemlock log, 
where he passed the night. The British moved quickly to the top of the hill, re- 
turned the fire, and, advancing on the double-quick, caught sight of the long line of 
barrels, Avhich assumed the apparent character of a battery. They halted, then beat 
a hasty retreat, and burnt the mills on their return to the bay. The command to 
halt not being given several of the company were seen in Lyons early next morning 
and "lived to fight another day." 

At a town meeting held in 1814 in Sodus, the following- resolutions 
were adopted. They indicate the general feeling of all this region 
along the frontier : 

Resolved, That we deem it inexpedient to send delegates to the convention to be 
held at Canandaigua the 15th of September. This town being most exposed to the 
enemy, it is deemed best to provide ourselves for the defense of the frontier. 

Resolved, That we make immediate preparation for defense. 

Resolved, That William M. Loomis, AVilliam Wickham, John Fellows, Thomas 
Wafer, and Ashur Doolittle be a committee for the town of Sodus. 

Resolved, That a notice signed by a majority of the Committee of Safety, giving 
notice of the approach of the enemy, be sufficient to justify said office. 

Resolved, That said committee offer a subscription to the good people of Sodus 
for funds to defend said town, and that such subscription be demanded only in case 
of the enemy obtaining command of Lake Ontario. 



62 LANDMARKS OF 

This was patriotic action and shows that the people appreciated their 
exposed situation and were prepared to defend their homes. 

A descent of the British upon Pultneyville wasa part of the campaign 
by the British in June, 1814. Commodore Yeo was then cruising along 
the lake coast with his squadron, and landed a considerable force at 
this point. Gen. John Swift was in command of the small force of 
militia at that time, and sent out a flag of truce to the commander of 
the fleet. Under this a stipulation was made by which the invaders 
were allowed to take all the public property in the place, and requiring 
that private property and the persons of inhabitants should be respected. 
The government stores had been largely removed previous to this time. 
The British boats landed and a quantity of flour from the storehouse 
was taken on board, the militia remaining meanwhile stationed some 
distance to the rear. It was the understanding of the militia that the 
British would confine their operations to the warehouse and its yard ; 
and when two or three of them came outside they were fired upon by 
the militia and a British officer was wounded. A signal to the fleet 
caused it to open fire upon the place, while the soldiers who had landed 
proceeded to the tavern and captured Richard White and Russell Cole, 
and thence to the storehouse and took Prescott Fairbanks. Cole escaped 
before he could be put in a boat ; the others were taken to Montreal. 
Fairbanks was soon afterward released and White was exchanged later. 
It is believed that the fleet was thereupon called to other points, fort- 
unately for Pulteneyville, and the party who had landed hurried to 
their boats and rowed away. Two of the British were killed and two 
wounded in the little skirmish. 

There are no accessible records showing in full the names or numbers 
of those Wayne settlers who shared in the war of 1812; but we may 
safely assume that nearly all able-bodied men did so. Micajah Harding, 
of the town of Marion, who raised a company of sharpshooters and 
went to the front, left a statement that the draft took nearly all the 
men in that town; that there were more soldiers than families. Asa 
Swift, who attained the military position of brevet-general, and who 
was the first male child born in the town of Palmyra, was in the battle 
of Queenston, and led a party against Fort George. He was wounded 
there, taken prisoner, and died shortly afterwards. He was buried on 
the 12th of July, 1 s 1 4. William Rogers, of Williamson, served through 
the war, was made a major, and afterwards kept a tavern until IS Id. 
Col. Ambrose Salisbury, who settled at East Palmyra after the war, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 63 

was conspicuous in that conflict. He volunteered when the first call 
was made for volunteers ; but his services were not then needed. Again 
a few months later he marched to the Niagara frontier as orderly 
sergeant of Capt. Selma Stanley's company in the 31st Regiment. At 
the expiration of his term of six months, he returned home; and in 
June, 1813, went out again as substitute for his uncle, in a company 
from Geneva. In later years he held the post of ensign in the militia 
and gradually rose to colonel in 1834. Gilbert Howell, of Lyons, was 
in the army and was at one period an aid to General Swift. Daniel 
Patterson, of Wolcott, was drafted and served at New York harbor. 
Ephraim Green, of Macedon, was a captain in the service. Turner 
says : " Most of the immediate recruits for frontier defences were drawn 
from the local militia of Western New York ; men who left the plow in 
the furrow, the new fallow unfenced, their recently cultivated fields 
ripe for the scythe and the sickle, the axe and the maul, the rude mill, 
manufactory or workshop, to go out and contend with a powerful foe." 
The same writer testifies that "never at any period, in any exigency, 
did men more cheerfulty or promptly take up arms, and from citizens 
become soldiers, than did most of the able-bodied men of all this region, 
on the breakiug out of the war of 1812." 

The effects of the war on the inhabitants of Wayne county were 
momentous. In the first place, it almost stopped immigration. People 
who dwelt in the better protected Eastern States and portions of this 
State, were not disposed to jeopardize their lives and property on the 
frontier. A few adventurous families, who had already made arrange- 
ments to remove westward, persisted in their purpose and on some 
occasions met refugees, both soldiers and civilians, fleeing from the 
frontier. While many of the settlers had left their homes on account 
of sickness, privation and hardship prior to the breaking out of the 
war, the number was augmented by the event, though many who left, 
returned after the close of the conflict. 

The high prices that prevailed for whatever could be sold by the 
the settlers during the war and the active markets created through its 
influence, were some compensation for the hardships and anxieties of 
the people. None of the settlements had increased and in many locali- 
ties the opposite was true, while improvement in all material respects 
almost ceased. All of Western New York was left in a deplorable con- 
dition by the war; and many sections showed its devastating effects 
much more than Wayne county. But after the establishment of peace 



fi4 LANDMARKS OF 

the country responded quickly to better conditions, and the year L815 
was devoted to recovery from the paralyzing- effects of the conflict. 
Those who had fled from their homes and those who had entered the 
service, returned ; the high prices of the necessaries of life dropped 
rapidly, and all the avocations of peace were taken up with renewed 
energy. 

Improvement in public roads and bridges; building of churches and 
schools; clearing the lands and the tillage of those already cleared; 
establishment of mills and places for trade progressed with encouraging 
speed, only to receive a severe check by the memorable cold season of 
1 S 1 6-17. The summer of 1810 has probably never been equaled for cold, 
severe frosts occurring as late as June and destroying crops every 
where. Fields had the appearance in many places of having been burned 
over, so complete was the destruction of all vegetation. The hopes and 
dependence of the settlers were dissipated. The wheat harvest was 
light and protracted till later than usual, and many families actually 
suffered for food. The price of wheat rose to from $2 to $3 per 
bushel, and the lightness of the crop kept up the price even after the 
harvest. Some settlers paid the Indians on the Genesee River $2 a 
bushel for corn that they had kept over from 1815. In some of the 
newer settlements wheat and corn were shelled out while "in the milk" 
and boiled and eaten instead of bread, while others subsisted largely on 
milk and the roots and herbs of forest and field. 

The following season was an especially fruitful one and the condition 
of the people would have changed suddenly from destitution to com- 
parative luxury, had there been ready markets for surplus produce. 
As it was the relief was wide-spread and gratefully appreciated. Such 
was the condition of the people in Wayne county and adjacent territory, 
when the first whisperings began to be heard of the possibility of there 
being constructed a great water way from Lake Erie to the sea, which 
should pass through the very heart of this great fertile region, and 
enable the farmers and manufacturers and the merchants to place their 
products and their wares upon immense boats to be easily wafted to 
the best markets of the country. The history of that great enterprise 
is left for another chapter. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 65 



CHAPTER VII. 

Further Improvement in Means of Transportation — Discussion of the "Grand 
Canal" — Investigation and Surveys — Progress and Completion of the Great Work — 
Its Effect Upon Wayne County — Other Public Improvements — The First Railroad — 
The Railroads of Wayne County — Brief History of Mormonism — Inception of Spir- 
itualism. 

The reader of the foregoing" chapters cannot have failed to perceive 
the supreme importance to the inhabitants of Wayne county of better 
means of transportation and communication between their homes and 
the eastern markets, and the consequent deep interest manifested by 
them in the preliminary discussions, surveys, etc., which finally cul- 
minated in the construction of the Erie Canal. Not that they were 
for several years convinced of the practicability of the future accom- 
plishment of the great work, for they were not. It is the destiny of 
all daring innovations and new and important projects, to call out the 
sneers and ridicule and opposition of the pessimists; and the Erie Canal 
was no exception to this universal experience. Outside of a few prac- 
tical engineers and men who had gained a knowledge of the feasibility 
and existence of similar waterways in other countries, the masses of 
the people were unbelievers and scoffers, and even the well-informed 
long doubted the success of the various measures necessary to the 
completion of the project. 

The inhabitants of Wayne county, as well as those in other districts 
along the line of the proposed canal, continued their efforts in opening 
and improving highways, and clung persistently to the settled belief 
that over them, or by way of Lake Ontario, the transportation of their 
surplus products and their incoming merchandise must continue in- 
definitely. In this connection a legislative act of April 15, 1816, named 
commissioners to lay out a road from "the bridge at the Canandaigua 
outlet to Great Sodus Bay, where vessels that navigate Lake Ontario 
can conveniently come." Another act of the same month and year, 
designated commissioners to open a road "from the bridge crossing 
the Genesee River opposite the village of Rochester on the most direct 
• 9 



66 LANDMARKS OF 

and eligible route to the Four Corners, on the Ridge road, in the town 
of Murray " (then in Genesee county). Prior to the enactment of 
these laws, and on March 31, 1815, the Legislature had incorporated 
the Montezuma Turnpike and Bridge Company, which was authorized 
to build a road from Throopville to the village of Montezuma, and 
" from the west side of the marsh lying along the border of the Sen- 
eca River opposite said village of Montezuma to the village of Pal- 
myra." This company was afterwards authorized to extend their road 
eastward to Camillus in Onondaga county. 

On the Uth of March, 1817, the Oswego Falls and Sodus Bay Turn- 
pike Company was incorporated, its purpose being to construct a road 
from "the west side of the Oswego River, near the termination of the 
road from Utica, " to Port Glasgow, "on the eastern shore of Sodus 
Bay." 

Again, in April, 181!) (in which month and year the village of Pal- 
myra was incorporated), the Sodus Bay Bridge Company was incor- 
porated, to build a bridge " over Great Sodus Bay at or near the route 
of the Niagara Ridge or State Road, in the town of Wolcott." On 
the 22d of March, 1822, commissioners were named by the Legislature 
to lay out a road "from Adams' Mills, in the town of Wolcott, and 
from Cooper's Mills, in the town of Sterling, to the bridge over the 
Seneca River in the town of Conquest, " aud thence "to the State 
Prison in Auburn." A year later, April 3, 1823, commissioners were 
appointed to lay out a road from near Oswego Falls to Hannibal, and 
thence through Sterling to Wolcott Cemetery " (to connect) "with one 
of the present roads leading to the bridge at the head of Sodus Bay." 

The reader will clearly observe the general trend of these several 
improvements; they were a part of the general struggle to obtain bet- 
ter means of communication with the East, a struggle that was to 
largely cease after the opening of the Erie Canal. 

It is not necessary in these pages to enter into a lengthy and detailed 
account of the inception and progress of the canal. Every intelligent 
reader has been made familiar with it through one or more of the very 
numerous publications in which its history is found. The subject of 
water communication from the Hudson River westward was discussed 
some years prior to the beginning of the present century, and in 1792 
the Western Inland and Lock Navigation Company was organized, and 
within the next few years completed the canal around the rapids at 
Little Falls and improved the channels of the Mohawk and Wood 



WAYNE COUNTY. G7 

Creek, greatly facilitating navigation from the Hudson to Oneida Lake 
and conferring vast benefit on the State at large. 

The claim is made that Gouverneur Morris suggested the construc- 
tion of a canal westward to Lake Erie to Simeon De Witt, then sur- 
veyor-general, as early as 1803, and that De Witt, like most others at 
that time, considered the scheme wildly visionary. 1 Morris talked 
with James Geddes, a practical engineer of Onondaga county, about 
the project, and he believed the scheme a feasible one, and began cor- 
respondence with other engineers on the subject, thus awakening gen- 
eral interest. In 1805 Jesse Hawley, a native of Connecticut, was buy- 
ing wheat in the Genesee Valley, transporting it to a mill at Seneca 
Falls, and thence carrying the flour to the Albany market. However 
he may have become impressed with the desirability of a canal, he 
wrote a series of newspaper articles in favor of the undertaking, which 
created considerable favorable influence. The subject finally became 
a political issue and was taken in hand by Hon. Josuha Forman, of 
Syracuse, who was elected to the Assembly on the "canal ticket." 
Mr. Forman from that time on until the canal was an accomplished 
fact was its enthusiastic advocate, and to him as much as to any other 
person is due the credit for the great work. He secured a small appro- 
priation of $600 and Mr. Geddes received authority to make a prelim- 
inary survey. As between the two proposed routes, the one by way of 
Lake Ontario and the other direct to Lake Erie, Mr. Geddes reported 
in favor of the latter. This took the line directly along or across the 
southern part of Wayne county, and we quote as follows regarding the 
local features of the project: 

Mr. Geddes suggested that there might ' ' be found some place in the Ridge that 
bounds the Tonawanda Valley on the north, as low as the level of Lake Erie, where 
a canal may be led across and conducted onward without increasing the lockage by 
rising to the Tonawanda Swamp." The latter difficulty was involved in the route 

1 There is a tradition that Governor Colden as early as 1724 expressed the hope that 
sometime the western part of this State might be penetrated by boats independent of 
Lake Ontario. In his memoir on the fur trade, written in the year just named, cer- 
tainly occurs the following passage: " There is a river which comes from the country 
of the Sinnekes and falls into the Onondaga River, by which we have an easy car- 
riage into that country without going near the Cataracqui (Ontario) Lake. The 
head of this river goes near to Lake Erie and probably may give a very near passage 
into that lake, much more advantageous than the way the French are obliged to take 
by the way of the great falls of Niagara." It seems possible that the old governor 
had a faint vision of clear water communication to Lake Erie. 



68 LANDMARKS OF 

that had been contemplated by Joseph Ellicott. He supposed the summit on that 
line would not be more than twenty feet above Lake Erie, and that upon it a suffi- 
cient supply of water might be obtained from Oak Orchard Creek and other streams. 
In this he was mistaken; the summit was found to be seventy-five feet above Lake 
Erie, and to be supplied with no adequate feeder. 

It is entirely probable that the canal could never have been a suc- 
cess through Western New York, except for the discovery through the 
great genius of Mr. Geddes, that it could follow the course finally 
adopted, permitting a continuous flow eastward from Lake Erie. 

Commissioners were appointed at the legislative session of 1810 to 
thoroughly explore the proposed routes of water communication across 
the State, which they did and reported on the 2d of March, 1811. They 
recommended the route favored by Mr. Geddes. The estimated cost 
of the work was $5,000,000. The Legislature approved this report by 
continuing the commission and voting $15,000 for further operations. 
Attempts to obtain congressional aid for the undertaking failed, and in 
the following year the Legislature authorized the commissioners to 
borrow $5,000,000 on the State credit, for the construction of the canal. 
The oncoming of the war with Great Britain put a stop to the under- 
taking; but in 1815, it was revived and public meetings were held in 
various parts of the State, where enthusiastic speakers advocated the 
speedy completion of the work. The Legislature of 1810 appointed a 
new canal commission, and in the next year Governor Clinton pre- 
pared an act authorizing the beginning of the work. The canal was 
divided into three sections, eastern, middle and western, Mr. Geddes 
being made chief engineer of the western section. Up to the year 1820 
nothing but the survey had been accomplished on this division, aside 
from the adoption of the route advised by Mr. Geddes. In 1820 he 
was succeeded by David Thomas, who in that year made an examina- 
tion of the course adopted from Rochester to Pendleton and made some 
modification east of Oak Orchard Creek in Orleans county. A more 
important change was made in reference to the point of passing the 
mountain ridge in Niagara county, and which determined the site of 
the city of Lockport. The whole western part of the canal was put 
under contract in L821. The work was pushed energetically and dur- 
ing tlie autumn of 1825 the canal was navigable as far west on the 
western section as Holley (Orleans county), and during the following 
season readied the loot of the ridge at Lockport. The great rock-cut- 
ting at the latter place was the last piece of work finished between 



WAYNE COUNTY. 09 

Buffalo and Albany. William C. Bouck, afterwards governor of the 
State, was the commissioner in charge of the construction of the west- 
ern portion of the canal. On the 20th of September, 1825, he wrote 
from Lockport to Stephen Van Rensselaer, another commissioner, as 
follows : 

Sir: The unfinished parts of the Erie Canal will be completed and in a condition to 
admit the passage of boats on Wednesday, the 26th day of October next. It would 
have been gratifying to have accomplished this result as eaidy as the first of Septem- 
ber, but embarrassments which I could not control delayed it. 

On this grand event, so auspicious to the character and wealth of the citizens of 
New York, permits me to congratulate you. 

By extra exertion the final filling was finished on the 25th of Octo- 
ber, and in the forenoon or the next day a flotilla of five boats left Buf- 
falo, laden with the highest State officers and other prominent men. 
Cannon had been stationed a few miles apart along the whole line of 
the canal, to be discharged in order as fast as they were reached by the 
boats. A few boats had started westward from Lockport about the 
time of the sailing of the flotilla from Buffalo, and met the latter in 
Tonawanda Creek, whence all sailed on eastward. 1 Enthusiastic 
crowds of people, among them, we may be sure, many who had 
ridiculed and opposed the undertaking, met the fleet at the various 
villages — Newark (what there was of it), Palmyra, Lyons, and Clyde — 
in a general celebration of the event. 2 

The Erie canal was at first 302 miles long, and its original cost was 
$7,143,780.86. Under an act of Legislature of May, 1835, the canal was 
enlarged from a width of forty feet at top and twenty-eight at bottom, 
to seventy feet at top and fifty-two and one-half at bottom, and so much 
straightened as to reduce its length to 350 and 1-2 miles. The cost of 
the enlargement was more than $30,000,000. 

x It was considered an impossibility to make the Erie Canal. People said it might 
be possible to make water run up hill, but canal boats never. Some said the}- would 
be willing to die, having lived long enough, when boats in a canal should float 
through their farms; but afterwards when they saw the boats passing by, they 
wanted to live more than ever, to see what would be done next. — Reminisce?ices 
of George E. Mix. 

2 At the prominent points from Rochester to Albany, where the fleet was to pass 
by daylight, celebrations had been arranged: there were processions, congratulatory 
addresses, firing of cannon, music and other demonstrations of popular enthusiasm; 
even when small villages were passed in the night, crowds were assembled, and some 
form of greeting tendered. "It was," said one of the western committee men, "like 
a continuous or protracted Fourth of July celebration." 



70 LANDMARKS OF 

This great waterway was quite generally known in early years as 
"the grand canal;" and its wonderful influence upon the material con- 
ditions in Wayne county and Western New York generally, it was 
"grand" indeed. Those who had from the first ridiculed the project, 
were now either silent or converted into enthusiastic eulogists, as they 
saw the laden freight boats and the well-patronized packets silently and 
rapidly (as compared with other existing means of travel) floating east- 
ward and westward along the turbid tide. Wayne county lands, even 
to the lake shore, appreciated in value; farmers were encouraged to 
new energy and to extend their planting and sowing ; money became 
more plenty, and freights fell from $100 per ton to Albany, to ten dol- 
lars; a new era of prosperity began. Villages along the canal line that 
already had an insignificant existence, took on new life and growth, 
while others sprang into being around the warehouses and docks that 
were built especially to accommodate the active traffic. Clyde, Lyons, 
Newark and Palmyra, with other points of shipment in the county, 
promptly felt the influence of the canal (while Newark ma}- be said to 
owe its existence to the same influence). 

The first boat on this division of the canal left the basin on the east 
side of the Genesee River at Rochester, loaded with flour for Little 
Falls, on the 20th of October, 1822. The first cargo of wheat from 
Ohio reached Rochester in 1831, the vanguard of the great current of 
western grains that have since gradually grown into active, if not 
ruinous, competition with those of New York State. When navigation 
opened in 1823, 10,000 barrels of flour were shipped eastward from 
Rochester in the first ten days after the opening. 

Among those who were early engaged in the canal trade in this 
county were Joel and Levi Thayer, of Palmyra, who built a number of 
freight boats. The two men were twins, and on that account one of 
their boats was named "The Twin Brothers." Davenport, Barnes & 
Co. were extensive produce and commission men at Jessup's Basin, and 
were succeeded by S L. Thompson & Co. Aaron Griswold built a 
boat near King's Bridge in 1822, which plied between that point and 
Lyons and was the first boat to run into the town. Mr. Griswold, in 
association with Stephen Ferguson, built two boats in 1820, near Lock- 
Berlin, one of the settlements that was born of the canal. Griswold 
was an early merchant at that place. Seymour Scovell was an early 
merchant of Palmyra; became a canal contractor and built the boat 
"Myron Holley," one of the early crafts on the canal. Esbon and Ran- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 71 

som Blackmar were merchants and extensive shippers by canal in New- 
ark, a village that was practically created by the great waterway. 
There were occasions during- the most active period of canal business, 
previous to the opening of railroads, when fifty or more teams were in 
waiting to unload produce at the warehouses and docks in Newark. 
The active market for grain and kindred products thus established, led 
to the building of quite a number of flouring and grist mills in Lyons 
and elsewhere within the county. In March, 1827, the Palmyra Manu- 
facturing Company was incorporated, with $30,000 capital, to produce 
flour, etc., by George Palmer, Joel McCollum, and Thomas Rogers, 
2d; and in the same spring the Pultneyville Steam Mill Company was 
incorporated by Daniel Grandin, Joseph Granger, Andrew Cornwall, 
Russell Whipple, Roswell Nichols, Jeremiah B. Selly, and Philander B. 
Royce. The capital stock was $15,000 and the purpose to grind grain. 

Every phase of this condition of prosperity was shared, either directly 
or indirectly, by all the towns of Wayne county, and the influence 
thereof is felt to the present day. 

Following soon upon the opening of the canal, and on April 14, 
1827, the Legislature incorporated the Canal Turnpike Company, to 
build "a good and sufficient road along the north bank of the canal 
from Lyons, through Clyde, to intercept the Montezuma turnpike 
on the Cayuga marsh." The capital of the company was $20,000. In 
April of the following year (1828), commissioners were named in an 
act of the Legislature to lay out a road between Palmyra and Man- 
chester in Ontario county. Other similar improvements followed in 
later years. 

The immediate and unequivocal success of the Erie Canal inaugu- 
rated what may be termed a period of "canal fever" throughout 
the State of New York and to a less extent in several other States. 
During the ten years succeeding the opening of the Erie, the various 
Legislatures were besieged with petitions and bills for the incorpora- 
tion of canal companies, as they were a little later in the interest of 
railroads. The first of the canal schemes having a direct bearing on 
Wayne county was the Sodus Canal Company, incorporated March 
19, 182!), with capital stock of $200,000. This company was authorized 
to construct a canal from the Canandaigua outlet, or Seneca River, 
"where the Erie Canal crosses said streams, near Montezuma, to 
such convenient place on Great Sodus Bay as is accessible to vessels 
navigating Lake Ontario." This canal was to be finished in ten years, 



72 LANDMARKS OF 

and was designed to open a large waterway from Lake Ontario to the 
head of Cayuga Lake, at Ithaca, with a possibility of future connection 
with the Susquehanna River and Chesapeake Bay. It was a most 
attractive scheme! In Tompkins county, and especially at Ithaca, it 
commanded widespread attention, as that place was belived to be the 
one that would be most benefited by it. Eloquent speakers advocated 
the project and inspired visions of future commercial greatness for 
the little village at the head of the lake, as well as for the less important 
trade centers of Wayne county. An old painting of Ithaca and the 
lake in that vicinity, made just after the canal was projected, shows 
the water thickly studded with vessels, many of them apparently large 
sea-going ships. A little work was done on the canal at Soclus Bay, 
after subscriptions to the stock had begun, and later the State Legis- 
lature was asked to aid the undertaking. This request was refused and 
the project began to languish. Capitalists did not support it as had 
been expected, and in 1861, after repeated amendments and extensions, 
the charter expired by limitation. In 1862 a new act was passed pro- 
viding that if the general government would supply money to finish 
the canal, it should have perpetual right of transit through its waters 
for government vessels, free of toll. But Uncle Sam declined the 
speculation and the Great Sodus Canal, like very many other similar 
projects, died from lack of nutrition. It is probable that this canal 
scheme was in some measure due to lingering influence of the early 
hopes we have before alluded to, of a southern water outlet for the 
products of the Genesee country. 

The only other canal company in which Wayne county felt a direct 
interest was called the Ontario Canal Campany, which had its incep- 
tion at a public meeting held in Canandaigua August 21, 1820. There 
the plan was discussed of building a lateral canal from Canandaigua 
Lake to "the Grand Canal." A committee was appointed consisting 
of John C. Spencer, James D. Bemis (long a conspicuous newspaper 
publisher of Canandaigua), Asa Stanley, Dudley Marvin, and William 
H. Adams, to locate a route for the canal. Their report was made 
December 21, 1820, to the effect that the proposed waterway would lie 
nineteen and one-half miles long; that its northern terminus should be 
at the Erie Canal three and one-half miles west of Palmyra village ; 
that the descent from the lake to Ganargwa Creek was 22.') feet, requir- 
ing twenty-three locks in the canal; that the gross cost would he not 
more than $60,000. The proposed eapital of the company was $100,- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 73 

000. A committee of fifteen persons was then appointed to petition 
the Legislature for an act of incorporation, and the desired act was 
passed March 31, L821. Stock subscription books were opened May 
23, by Commissioners Nathaniel Gorham, Zachariah Seymour, Asa 
Stanley, P. P. Bates, and William H. Adams. Subscriptions were 
liberal at the first, and ultimately reached about $50,000, when the 
following persons were elected directors of the company: Evan Johns, 
H. B. Gibson, Israel Chapin, Asa Stanley, John C. Spencer, Mark H. 
Sibley, Robert Pomeroy, and H. M. Mead. At this stage for some 
reason the project was abandoned. It is propable that the extensive 
shipping facilities supplied by the Erie Canal led to the conclusion that 
the lateral canal would not prove a paying investment. 

The next event of importance in chronological order, with which we 
are interested, was the erection of Wayne county on the 11th of April, 
L823. (For act of Legislature creating the county see Session Laws, 
1823). The new county, with Ontario, Seneca and Yates, was made 
to constitute the Twenty-sixth Congressional District, and with Cay- 
uga, Onondaga, Ontario, Seneca and Yates, constitute the Seventh 
Senatorial District. By subsequent enactments changes were made in 
these districts as follows: By act of June 29, 1832, Wayne and Seneca 
counties became the Twenty-fifth Congressional District; by act of Sep- 
tember 6, 1842, the same counties were made the Twenty-seventh 
District; act of July 19, 1851, Cayuga and Wayne were made the 
Twenty-fifth District; act of April 23, 1862, Wayne, Cayuga and Sen- 
eca were made the Twenty-fourth District. In 1836 Cortland county 
was added to those above named as constituting the Seventh Senatorial 
District. (Lists of the various officials of the county will be given in 
their proper plaee on a later page). 

Closely following the formation of the county the various courts 
were established, as described in a later chapter; civil officers were 
elected, and all the machinery of county government was soon working 
harmoniously. A kind of local enthusiasm pervaded the inhabitants 
of the county, as would naturally follow their separation from the 
larger and more widely-diffused population of Ontario county, and 
various public improvements were inaugurated to closely precede the 
oncoming of the first railroad — and Mormonism. 

A legislative act of February 15, 1825, divided the town of Lyons 
and erected Arcadia; and on April 18, of the same year, the town of 
Williamson was divided and the town of Winchester (now Marion) 

10 



74 LANDMARKS OF 

erected. February 25, 18*20, the towns of Butler and Rose were erected 
from Wolcott; and April 20, 1820, Walworth was erected from Ontario. 

An attempt, which was not very successful, was made under legis- 
lative sanction of April, 1825, to drain Crusoe Lake, in the town of 
Savannah. Andrew Chapin, David Arne, jr., and Merritt Candee were 
appointed commissioners to direct the work, which was to consist of 
cutting ditches to the channel of " the stream which runs to Lake On- 
tario through the town of Wolcott, on which the furnaces in Wolcott 
are situated." 

On the 20th of April, 1825, William Patrick, John G. Gillespie, and 
Paul Reeves were named by the Legislature as commissioners to lay 
out a road from Lyons to the Ridge road "near the dwelling of P. 
Reeves, in the western part of Williamson ;" and in April, 1826, a road 
was authorized from Main street in Canandaigna to Palmyra, the com- 
missioners being Nathan Barlow, of Canandaigua; Stimson Harvey, 
of Farmington ; and Thomas Rogers, of Palmyra. 

Meanwhile evidences of prosperity were visible in all directions. 
The several villages of the county were growing, though their relative 
status and prospects were soon to be changed by the railroads; schools 
and churches multiplied in number and improved in character and in- 
fluence; banks were established ; additional newspapers were founded, 
and other institutions indicating healthful growth came into being. 
What was called the Palmyra High School was incorporated in March, 
1820, by James White, Ovid Lord, Henry Jessup, and others. It was 
a stock organization with capital of $12,000. This school absorbed the 
house and lot of district number one. The Wayne Count}' Bank, at 
Palmyra, was chartered April 30, 1820, and the Bank of Lyons was in- 
corporated May 14, 1836. Miller's Bank was established in Clyde in 
1837. These financial institutions, as well as the people at large, and 
particularly tradesmen, were destined to suffer considerably from the 
financial stringency and succeeding revulsion which swept over the 
country in 1836-8; but Wayne county was, as it is at present, largely 
agricultural, and hence felt the effects of the stringency less severely 
than many other localities. 

The first railroad in the State of New York was built between Albany 
and Schenectady by the Mohawk and Hudson River Railroad Company, 
and was finished in 1831 : its length was sixteen miles. The cars were 
at first drawn by horses, but soon after the completion of the road a 
steam locomotive was brought from England and the first steam rail- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 15 

road passenger train in America was run over the road. In spite of 
the very many objectionable features of this pioneer railroad and its 
equipment, it was clear to sagacious men that a rival of the canal was 
at hand. The Auburn and Rochester Railroad was chartered in 1836, 
but the construction was not commenced until 1838. The first time 
table for this road was made public September 8, 1840, and trains were 
run on the 10th over a part of the line. The work of construction was 
energetically continued and on July 5, 1841, an excursion train passed 
over the road between Rochester and Seneca Falls. In November, of 
that year trains were running between Rochester and Albany. 

As yet no railroad passed through Wayne county ; but the immediate 
success of the existing lines led to the early agitation of the subject of 
building many others. As early as 1836 a meeting was held in Lyons 
to consider the project of constructing a road that should extend east- 
ward from Rochester and pass through Palmyra, Lyons, Clyde, etc., 
to Syracuse. While it was several years before further steps were 
taken in this direction, it was a foregone conclusion that sooner or later 
the rich territory now traversed by the direct road, as it is termed, 
between Rochester and Syracuse would be favored with railroad com- 
munication. A company was finally organized under the corporate 
name of the Rochester and Syracuse Direct Railroad Company and the 
road was rapidly pushed to completion. This company with the 
Auburn and Syracuse, and the Auburn and Rochester companies were 
consolidated in 1850 as the Rochester and Syracuse Railroad Company. 
The first regular passenger train passed over the road on May 30, 1853. 
The improvement was welcomed in general rejoicing in the several vil- 
lages of Wayne county and elsewhere. An act of Legislature passed April 
2, 1853. authorized the consolidation of several companies then existing, 
as follows: Albany and Schenectady, Syracuse and Utica direct, Sche- 
nectady and Troy, Utica and Schenectady, Mohawk Valley, Syracuse 
and Utica, Rochester and Syracuse, Rochester, Lockport and Niagara 
Falls, Buffalo and Rochester, and Buffalo and Lockport. This consoli- 
dated company took the name of the New York Central Railroad 
Company, which in later years absorbed various other lines and added 
"Hudson River" to its title. The consolidation described went into 
effect on the 17th of May, 1853. The combined capital of the company 
was $23,085,600. This road was laid with a double track in 1849 and 
with two additional tracks during the seventies. It was the first railroad 
in the world having four tracks and is in other respects one of the 
most extensive and best managed railroad in the United States. 



76 



LANDMARKS OF 



The Sodus Point and Southern Railroad was projected during the 
fall of 1851, by a company bearing- that title, and was to run directly 
through Wayne county in a general northern and southern direction, 
from Newark to Sodus Bay. A general survey was made, the right of 
way was secured without much difficulty and the work of construction 
was begun. The company became embarrassed for funds and work was 
suspended in L854, leaving a long line of grading, which was afterwards 
utilized and is now a part of the road. 

The Lake Ontario Shore Railroad, as it was originally termed, 
traverses the northern tier of towns of Wayne county and has been of 
great utility. Its termini are Oswego and Lewiston. The company 
for its construction was organized in Oswego March 17, L868, and 
Gerrit Smith was elected president; Oliver P. Scoville, vice-president; 
and Abraham P. Grant, treasurer. De Witt Parshail, of Lyons, was a 
member of the first board of directors. Work was begun at Red Creek 
August 23, 1871, amid the firing of cannon and the cheers of a mul- 
titude of people. The road was finished in L876. It finally passed 
under control of the Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg Railroad Com- 
pany, and with the other lines operated by that company, was absorbed 
by the great New York Central and Hudson River system. 

The New York, West Shore and Buffalo Railroad was completed 
from New York to Buffalo and opened on January 1, 1884; but about 
two years later it was leased by the New York Central. It never espe- 
cially affected Wayne county, running as it docs, nearly parallel with 
the Central. 




Tine Mormon IIii.i — From an Old Print. 



Most readers of this work, it may be presumed, arc familiar with the 
general history of Mormonism; but from the fact that its originator 



WAYNE COUNTY. 77 

lived within the limits of what is now Wayne county, and that his early 
operations were conducted in or near Palmyra village, it seems proper 
that it shall receive brief mention in these pages, for future reference, 
if for no other reason. It will also preserve for reference by future 
generations, facts regarding the beginning of what became a stupend- 
ous religious movement, which might otherwise be lost. For this pur- 
pose we can do no better than condense from the writing of the late O. 
Turner in his history of the Phelps and Gorham Purchase (1851): 

"Joseph Smith, the father of the prophet, Joseph Smith, jr., was 
from the Merrimack River, N. H. He first settled in or near Palmyra 
village, but as early as 1819 was the occupant of some new land on 
'Stafford street,' in the town of Manchester near the line of Palmyra. 
'Mormon Hill' is near the plank road about half way between the vil- 
lages of Palmyra and Manchester. The elder Smith had been a Uni- 
versalist, and subsequently a Methodist; was a good deal of asmatterer 
in scriptural knowledge; but the seed of revelation was sown on weak 
ground; he was a great babbler, credulous, not especially industrious, 
a money-digger, prone to the marvellous ; and withal a little given to 
difficulties with neighbors and petty law suits. Not a very propitious 
account of the father of a prophet — the founder of a state ; but there 
was ' a woman in the case. ' Mrs. Smith was a woman of strong, 
uncultivated intellect; artful and cunning; imbued with an illy-regu- 
lated religious enthusiasm. The incipient hints, the first givings-out 
that a prophet was to spring from her humble household, came from 
her; and when matters were maturing for denouement, she gave out 
that such and such ones — always fixing upon those who had both 
money and credulity — were to be the instruments in some great work 
of revelation. The old man was rather her faithful co-worker, or ex- 
ecutive exponent. Their son, Alva, was originally intended or desig- 
nated by fireside consultations and solemn and mysterious outdoor 
hints, as the forthcoming prophet. The mother and father said he was 
the chosen one; but Alva, however spiritual he might have been, had 
a carnal appetite; eat too many green turnips, sickened and died. 
Thus the world lost a prophet and Mormonism a leader; the designs 
impiously and wickedly attributed to providence, defeated; and all in 
consequence of a surfeit of raw turnips. Who will talk of the cackling 
geese of Rome, or any other small and innocent causes of mighty 
events, after this? The mantle of the prophet which Mr. and Mrs. 
Joseph Smith and one Oliver Cowdery had wove of themselves — 
every thread of it — -fell upon the next eldest son, Joseph Smith, jr. 



78 LANDMARKS OP 

"A most unpromising recipient of such a trust was this same Joseph 
Smith, jr., afterwards, 'Joe Smith.' He was lounging, idle (not to 
say vicious) ; and possessed of less than ordinary intellect. The author's 
own recollections of him are distinct ones. He used to come into the 
village of Palmyra with little jags of wood from his backwoods home; 
sometimes patronizing a village grocery too freely; sometimes find an 
odd job to do about the store of Seymour Scovell; and once a week he 
would stroll into the office of the old Palmyra Register for his father's 
paper. How impious, in us young 'dare-devils' to once and awhile 
blacken the face of the then meddling, inquisitive lounger — but after- 
wards prophet, with the old-fashioned ink balls when he used to put 
himself in the way of the old-fashioned Ramage press! The editor of 
the Cultivator at Albany — esteemed as he may justly consider himself 
for his subsequent enterprise and usefulness, may think of it with con- 
trition and repentance, that he once helped to thus disfigure the face 
of a prophet, and remotely the founder of a state. 

" But Joseph had a little ambition; and some very laudable aspira- 
tions; the mother's intellect occasionally shone out in him feebly, 
especially when he used to help us solve some portentous question of 
moral or political ethics in our juvenile debating club, which we moved 
down to the old red school-house on Durfee street, to get rid of the an- 
noyance of critics that used to drop in on us in the village; and subse- 
quently, after catching a spark of Methodism in the camp meeting, 
away down in the woods on the Vienna road, he was a very passable 
exhorter in evening meetings. 

" Legends of hidden treasure had long designated Mormon Hill as the 
depository. Old Joseph had dug there, and young Joseph had not only 
heard his father and mother relate the marvellous tales of buried 
wealth, but had accompanied his father in the midnight delvings and 
incantations of the spirits that guarded it. 

"If a buried revelation was to be exhumed, how natural it was that 
the Smith family, with their credulity, and their assumed presentiment 
that a prophet was to come from their household, should be connected 
with it; and that Mormon Hill was the place where it would be found. 

"It is believed by those who are best acquainted with the Smith 
family, and most conversant with the old Gold 15ible movement, that 
there is no foundation for the statement that their original manuscript 
was written by a Mr. Spaulding, of Ohio. A supplement to the Gold 
Bible, 'The 'Book of Commandments,' in all probability was written by 



WAYNE COUNTY. 79 

Rio-don, and lie may have been aided by Spatilding's manuscripts; but 
the book itself is, without doubt, a production of the Smith family, 
aided by Oliver Cowdery, who was a school teacher on Stafford street, 
an intimate of the Smith family, and identified with the whole matter. 
The production, as all will conclude who have read it, or even given it 
a cursory review, is not that of an educated man or woman. The 
bungling attempt to counterfeit the style of the Scriptures ; the inter- 
mixture of modern phraseology; the ignorance of chronology and 
geography; its utter crudeness and baldness, as a whole, stamp its 
character, and clearly exhibit its vulgar origin. It is a strange medley 
of scripture, romance and bad composition. 

" The primitive designs of Mrs. Smith, her husband, Joe and Cow- 
dery, was money making; blended with which, perhaps, was a desire 
for notoriety, to be obtained by a cheat and a fraud. The idea of being 
the founders of a new sect was an after-thought, in which they were 
aided by others. 

"The projectors of the humbug, being destitute of means for carry- 
ing out their plans, a victim was selected to obviate that difficulty. 
Martin Harris was a farmer of Palmyra, the owner of a good farm, 
and an honest, worthy citizen ; but especially given to religious enthu- 
siasm, new creeds, the more extravagant the better; a monomaniac, in 
fact. Joseph Smith, upon whom the mantle of prophecy had fallen 
after the sad fate of Alvah, began to make demonstrations. He in- 
formed Harris of the great discovery, and that it had been revealed to 
him that he (Harris) was_a chosen instrument to aid in a great work of 
surprising the world with a new revelation. They had hit upon the 
right man. He mortgaged his fine farm to pay for printing the book, 
assumed a grave, mysterious, and unearthly deportment, and made 
here and there among his acquaintances solemn enunciations of the 
great event that was transpiring. His version of the discovery, as 
communicated to him by the prophet Joseph himself, is well remem- 
bered by several respectable citizens of Palmyra, to whom he made 
earty disclosures. It was in substance as follows: 

"The prophet Joseph, was directed by an angel where to find, by ex- 
cavation, at the place afterwards called Mormon Hill, the gold plates; 
and was compelled by the angel, much against his will, to be the in- 
terpreter of the sacred record they contained, and publish it to the 
world. That the plates contained a record of the ancient inhabitants 
of this country, 'engraved by Mormon the son of Nephi.' That on the 



80 LANDMARKS OF 

top of the box containing the plates, 'a pair of large spectacles were 
found, the stones or glass set in which were opaque to all but the 
prophet;' that 'these belonged to Mormon, the engraver of the plates, 
and without them the plates could not be read.' Harris assumed that 
himself and Cowdery were the chosen amanuenses, and that the prophet 
Joseph, curtained from the world and them, with his spectacles, read 
from the gold plates what they committed to paper. Harris exhibited 
to an informant of the author the manuscript of the title page. On it 
were drawn rudely and bunglingly, concentric circles, between, above 
and below which were clear characters, with little resemblance to let- 
ters. Apparently a miserable imitation of hieroglyphics the writer may 
have somewhere seen. To guard against profane curiosity, the prophet 
had given out that no one but himself, not even his chosen co-opera- 
tors, must be permitted to see them, on pain of instant death. Harris 
had never seen the plates, but the glowing accounts of their massive 
richness excited other than spriritual hopes, and he upon one occasion 
got a village silversmith to help him estimate their value; taking as a 
basis, the prophet's account of their dimensions. It was a blending of 
the spiritual and utilitarian, that threw a shadow of doubt on Martin's 
sincerity. This, and some anticipations he indulged in, as to the profits 
that would arise from the sale of the Gold Bible, made it then, as it is 
now, a mooted question, whether he was altogether a dupe. 

" The wife of Harris was a rank infidel and heretic, touching the 
whole thing; and decidedly opposed to her husband's participation in 
it. With sacrilegious hands she seized over a hundred of the manu- 
script pages of the New Revelation and burned or secreted them. It 
was agreed by the Smith family, Cowdery and Harris, not to transcribe 
these again, but to let so much of the New Revelation drop out, as the 
' evil spirit would get up a story that the second translation did not agree 
with the first.' A very ingenious method, surely, of guarding against 
the possibility that Mrs. Harris had preserved the manuscript with 
which they might be confronted should they attempt an imitation of 
their own miserable patchwork. The prophet did not get his lesson 
well upon the start, or the household of imposters were in the fault. 
After he had told his story, in his absence, the rest of the family made 
a new version of it to one of their neighbors They showed him such 
a pebble as may any day be picked up on the shore of Lake ( )ntario — 
the common hornblende — carefully wrapped in cotton and kept in a 
mysterious box. They said it was by looking at this stone, in a hat, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 81 

the light excluded, that Joseph discovered the plates. This it will be 
observed, differs materially from Joseph's story of the angel. It was 
the stone the Smiths had used in money digging and in some pretended 
discoveries of stolen property. 

" Long before the Gold Bible demonstration, the Smith family had 
with some sinister object in view, whispered another fraud in the ears 
of the credulous. They pretended that in digging for money, at Mor- 
mon Hill, they came across 'a chest, three feet by two in size, covered 
with a dark-colored stone. In the center of the stone was a white spot 
about the size of a sixpence. Enlarging, the spot increased to the size 
of a 24-pound shot, and then exploded with a terrible noise. The chest 
vanished and all was utter darkness.' 

" It may be safely presumed that in no other instance have prophets 
and the chosen and designated of angels been quite as calculating and 
worldly as were those of Stafford street, Mormon Hill and Palmyra. 
The only business contract — veritable instrument in writing, that was 
ever executed by spiritual agents, has been preserved, and should be 
among the archives of the new State of Utah. It is signed by the 
Prophet Joseph himself and witnessed by Oliver Cowdery, and secures 
to Martin Harris one-half of the proceeds of the sale of the Gold Bible 
until he was fully reimbursed in the sum of $2,500, the cost of printing. 

" The after-thought that has been alluded to: the enlarging of orig- 
inal intentions — was at the suggestion of Sidney Rigdon, of Ohio, who 
made his appearance and blended himself with the poorly-devised 
scheme of imposture about the time the book was issued from the 
press. He unworthily bore the title of a Baptist elder, but had by 
some previous freak, if the author is rightly informed, forfeited his 
standing with that respectable denomination. Designing, ambitious, 
and dishonest, under the semblance of sanctity and assumed spiritual- 
ity, he was just the man for the uses of the Smith household and their 
half-dupe and half-designing abettors; and they were just the fit in- 
struments he desired. He became at once the Hamlet, or more appro- 
priately perhaps, the maw-worm of the play. 

" Under the auspices of Rigdon a new sect, the Mormons, was pro- 
jected, prophecies fell thick and fast from the lips of Joseph; old Mrs. 
Smith assumed all the airs of a mother of a prophet; that particular 
family of Smiths were singled out and became exalted above all their 
legion of namesakes. The bald, clumsy cheat found here and there an 
enthusiast, a monomaniac, or a knave, in and around its primitive 
11 



82 LANDMARKS OF 

locality, to help it upon its start; and soon, like another scheme of im- 
posture (that had a little dignity and plausibility in it), it had its hegira 
or flight to Kirtland; then to Nauvoo; then to a short resting' place in 
Missouri, and then on over the Rocky Mountains to Salt Lake City. 
Banks, printing offices, temples, cities, and finally a State have arisen 
under its auspices. Converts have multiplied to tens of thousands; 
while its illegal and disgusting practice of polygamy called down upon 
it the detestation of all civilized people and the wrath and interference 
of the general government." 

It is a somewhat remarkable coincidence that another pseudo-religious 
movement, the consecmences of which were ultimately scarcely less mo- 
mentous than those of Mormonism, should have had its rise in Wayne 
county. Reference is made to the very beginning of what is now 
known throughout the world by the general name of spiritualism. Like 
Mormonism, this other new doctrine had its origin in deception. It 
began in the little hamlet of Hydeville in the town of Arcadia, where 
Tohn Fox and his family settled. Mr. Fox bore a good reputation and 
carried on his trade of blacksmithing. On the night of March 31, 
1849, the two daughters of Mr. Fox, Margaret and Catharine, and their 
cousin, Elizabeth Fish, claimed to have heard a mysterious rapping 
which greatly frightened them. A simple system of brief communi- 
cation was devised, probably by the girls and their mother, the latter 
being possibly deceived by her daughters, and the sounds were attrib- 
uted to spirits from another world, Among the communications said 
to have been received through the rappings, was one to the effect that 
a man named John Bell had killed a peddler and buried the body in his 
cellar. This created much excitement, the news spread, and digging 
was begun to find the remains of the murdered man. The little place 
was visited by hundreds of people from the near by villages. The 
diggers struck a vein of flowing water, which prevented further inves- 
tigation in that line. As the mysterious rappings continued, thousands 
of people visited the Fox home, some of whom believed in the super- 
natural origin of the sounds, while others ridiculed the whole thing. 
It was not long before a financial return became a part of the plans of 
the daughters, and to reach a larger audience they removed to Roches- 
ter and appeared in public, their operations becoming widely known as 
the " Rochester Rappings. " The alleged intercourse with disembod- 
ied spirits led to the evolution of so-called " mediums" who professed 
to be especially adapted for the reception of the news from the other 



WAYNE COUNTY. 83 

world. From the simple rappings of the Fox 'sisters, was developed 
by others still more bold in their deceptions, the appearance of ap- 
paritions, the sound of voices, and various other demonstrations. The 
mania spread in its later varied phases until ultimately it reached over 
the civilized world. Late in the life of the Fox sisters they claimed to 
explain the mystery of the Tappings, stating that they were produced 
by certain movements of some of their joint bones, which could be 
moved without detection. 



CHAPTER VII. 



End of the Reign of Peace — The First Gun — Military Enthusiasm — Wayne Coun- 
ty — The President's First Proclamation — The First Company Recruited in Wajne 
Count}' — Sketches of the Various other Wayne County Organizations. 

The long reign of prosperous peace in America was rudely and ruth- 
lessly closed when citizens of one of the Southern, States fired the first 
hostile gun upon Fort Sumter in 1861. Almost before the echoes of 
that cannonade had died away, a tide of patriotic enthusiasm and indig- 
nation swept over the entire North, and the call to arms found an echo 
in every loyal heart, while thousands, young and old, rich and poor, 
native and alien, sprang forward to offer their services and their lives 
at the altar of their country. 

The history of the civil war has been written and rewritten, and al- 
most every intelligent citizen has become familiar with the story of the 
great contest. Were this not true, it would be manifestly impossible 
to follow in detail the various campaigns in which Wayne county sol- 
diers honorably shared, or to trace in detail the career of those brave 
officers and privates who fell on the battlefield. Such records are for 
the general historian who has ample space at his command. The mus- 
ter rolls of the State, too, that have been deposited in every county 
clerk's office, are accessible to all and enable the reader to see at a glance 
the noble part performed by the soldiers in the great struggle for the 
maintenance of the Union. As a rule the several calls of the president 
for volunteers were freely met, and though a draft was held in the 
county on two occasions, it did not reach all of the towns, and its re- 
quirements were promptly complied with. 



84 LANDMARKS OF 

Prior to the actual outbreak of the Rebellion, the president issued a 
proclamation calling forth "the militia of this State (as well as of the 
other Northern States), to the aggregate number of 75,000, in order to 
suppress combinations, and to cause the laws to be duly executed." 
Following this and the first gun of the great conflict, the principal vil- 
lages of this county became at once centers of military activity and en- 
thusiasm. 

( )n Monday, April 15, 1861, the State Legislature passed a bill ap- 
propriating $3,000,000 and providing for the enrollment of 30,000 men 
to be subject to call in aid of the general government. The volunteers 
under this call were to enlist in the State service for two years and be 
subject at any time to transfer into the Federal service. This measure 
caused intense excitement throughout the State, and the villages of 
Wayne county were ablaze with enthusiasm. 

The following brief sketches of the complete organizations that left 
Wayne county for the Southern battlefields will give a general glimpse 
of their service. 

Recruiting began here promptly after the first call for volunteers was 
issued, and before the close of May, 1861, Company I, which joined the 
17th Regiment, was chiefly raised in Newark and its immediate vicinity. 
Andrew Wilson was captain and Isaac M. Lusk, first lieutenant. In 
this early regiment were a considerable number of recruits outside of 
Company I. The latter company joined the regiment in New York 
city and was there mustered in for two years, under command of Col- 
onel Lansing. The first engagement in which the 17th took part was 
at Hanover Court House. A part of the command shared in the Seven 
Days battle, and later the regiment was in the Second battle of Bull 
Run, where Company I suffered the loss of Captain Wilson. In the 
battle of Antietam this regiment was actively engaged and again en 
December 13, 1861, at Fredericksburg. The regiment was mustered 
out June 2, 1863. 

Company B of the 27th Regiment was chiefly recruited in Lyons in 
1861. The regiment was organized at Elmira in May of that year, un- 
der command of Col. W. H. Slocum, of Syracuse, who subsequently 
attained the highest military honors. The Lyons company was com- 
manded by Capt. Alexander D. Adams, and left Lyons May 10. There 
were also many other volunteers from Wayne county in this regiment, 
outside of Company B. The 27th was mustered into the United States 
service May 2'.t, 1861, and proceeded to Washington. The principal 



WAYNE COUNTY. 85 

engagements in which it took part were at Bull Run (where Colonel 
Slocuni was wounded), Fairfax, West Point, Mechanicsville, Gaines's 
Mills (where the Lyons company lost one killed and twenty-three 
wounded), Manassas, Crampton Gap (in 18G2), and Fredericksburg in 
L863. The regiment was conspicuous for brave and gallant conduct 
before the enemy. 

The 33d Regiment, recruited chiefly in Rochester in 1861, contained 
one company (B) from Wayne county, most of whom were from Pal- 
myra. This organization became considerably depleted, and in Sep- 
tember, 1861, received 240 recruits. The regiment was commanded by 
Col. Robert F. Taylor, of Rochester, and left Elmira for Washington 
July 8, 1861. It was under fire at Yorktown in April, 1861, for fifty- 
four hours, and soon afterwards fought at Williamsburg. In the fight 
at Mechanicsville in May, 1862, the regiment participated, and in its 
movements reached a point within six miles of Richmond. Other en- 
gagements in which the 33d shared were Malvern Hill, Second Bull 
Run, Antietam (where fifty were killed and wounded in this regiment). 
The recruits before mentioned, many of whom were from Wayne county, 
joined the regiment October 29, 1862. Then followed the battles of 
Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville (in 1863), and and the charge on Fred- 
ericksburg Heights (May 5, 1863.) The regiment returned to Elmira 
May 12, 1863, and was mustered out. 

The 44th Regiment (known as the People's Ellsworth Regiment), 
which was designed to be recruited in all the counties of this State, re- 
ceived its proportionate number from Wayne, eight of whom were from 
Sodus. The regiment was organized in the fall of 1861 and served to 
October 11, 1864. Its principal battle was Gettysburg, July 3, 1863. 

Towards the close of the year 1861 an attempt was made, to raise a 
full regiment in Wayne county ; but when about 400 men had been re- 
cruited, an order was given for consolidation, and the Wayne volunteers 
were organized into three companies and united with seven other com- 
panies from Franklin county to form the 98th Regiment. William Dut- 
ton, a Wayne county graduate of West Point, was made colonel of the 
regiment. The Wayne county men had remained in Camp Rathbone, 
at Lyons, until February, 1862 ; the three companies were lettered F, 
I, and K. They were respectively commanded by Captains Kreutzer, 
principal of the Lyons Union School, Birdsall, a Lyons merchant, and 
Wakely. Dr. William G. David, a leading physician of the county, 
went out as surgeon. The regiment left Lyons February 21, 1862. In 



86 LANDMARKS OF 

the movement upon Yorktown in the spring - of 1862 the regiment par- 
ticipated, and afterwards in the bloody engagement at Fair Oaks. This 
was the last important battle in which the 98th participated down to 
February, L864, when the men re-enlisted as veterans and went home 
on furlough. In April of that year they were again at Yorktown, and 
they soon became known as one of the best disciplined and equipped or- 
ganizations in " Baldy " Smith's 18th Corps. In the operations of the 
Army of the Potomac before Richmond in the summer of 1804, the reg- 
iment was in active participation, fought in the battle of Cold Harbor, 
June 1-4, where heavy loss was sustained. Within twelve days at this 
period the 98th lost 121 killed and wounded. The regiment was then 
sent to take part in the siege of Petersburg, and on June 21 entered the 
trenches and continued to share in the operations in that vicinity until 
about August 29. In the capture of Fort Harrison, September 29, the 
regiment lost sixty men in killed and wounded, and on October 27 at 
Fair Oaks it bore an honorable part in the second engagement on that 
field. The 98th enjoyed comparative quiet from this time until the 
evacuation of Richmond, and on the 3d of April, 1865, was among the 
first to enter the Confederate capital. August 31 the muster-out order 
came and the men returned to their homes. 

The 111th Regiment, Col. Jesse Segoine, was recruited in the sum- 
mer of 1862, in Wayne and Cayuga counties, to serve three years. Five 
companies, A, B, C, D, and E, were from this count)*. The regiment 
left Auburn for Harper's Ferry August 2, on which day they were 
surrendered by General Miles to Stonewall Jackson, and were paroled 
and sent to Chicago, and remained till December and were then trans- 
ferred. After this regiment was transferred and camped near Wash- 
ington, Col. vSegoine resigned, and Lieut. -Col. C. D. MacDougall was 
appointed colonel. A. P. Seely succeeded Colonel MacDougall, who 
was promoted to brevet brigadier general. During its term of service 
the 111th participated in engagements at Harper's Ferry on September 
15, 1862, and camped near Washington during the succeeding winter; 
B and C companies were detached, and the balance of the regiment 
was in the battles at Gettysburg (where 120 were killed and wounded); 
at Bristow Station, October 14; Blackburn's Ford, October 15-17: 
Mine Run, November \!8-30, and Morton's Ford, February 6, I Kill. 
In the Wilderness, early in May the 111th shared bravely in three 
days of almost continuous lighting, losing forty-four killed, 126 wound- 
ed, and twenty missing — 190 out of 386 effective men. At Po River, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 87 

May 10-1-2, Spottsylvania, May 13, 14, 18; North Anna. May 23-4; 
Tolopotomy, May 31 and June 1, and in several minor engagements 
between June 3 and 1G, the regiment was conspicuous for its heroic 
deeds. On June 21 the 111th participated in the movement upon the 
Jerusalem Pland Road; fought at Deep Bottom July 26-8, and again 
August 12-14; at Reams's Station, August 25; in garrison at Fort 
Hell was long under constant fire; and March 25, 18G5, repulsed a fierce 
attack upon their lines. At Gravelly Run, March 30 and 31, the regi- 
ment shared in the fierce battle and then took up the pursuit of the fly- 
ing Lee, which ended only at Appomattox. The regiment returned 
home after the consummation of the great conflict, and was discharged 
June 6, 1865. 

The 138th Regiment was locally known as the Second Wayne and 
Cayuga, and was recruited immediately succeeding the 111th, in Au- 
gust, 1862. It was commanded by Colonel Joseph Welling, of Wayne; 
lieutenant colonel, Wm. H. Seward, of Cayuga; major, Edward P. Taft, 
of Wayne; surgeon, Theodore Dimon, of Cayuga; quartermaster, Henry 
P. Knowles, of Wayne; adjutant, William R. Wasson, of Cayuga; first 
assistant-surgeon, Samuel A. Sabin, of Wayne ; second assistant-surgeon 
Byron De Witt, Cayuga; chaplain, Warham Mudge, Wayne; sergeant- 
major, Lyman Comstock, Cayuga. Six of the ten companies were 
raised in Wayne county and were lettered A, B, D, G, H, and K. The 
regiment left camp September 12, and proceeded to Albany and thence 
to Washington, going into camp on Arlington Heights. There the or- 
ganization was changed to the 9th Artillery and placed in charge of 
forts near Georgetown. In the spring of 1864 the artillery shared in 
the fighting at the Wilderness, Spottsylvania and North Anna. At the 
beginning of June the command, as part of Burnside's 9th Corps, saw 
active service at Cold Harbor. The regiment was engaged in skirmish 
or battle between June 1st and 9th and lost during that time nine killed 
and forty-two wounded. Other engagements in which the 9th partici- 
pated were at Monocacy Junction July 9, losing heavily; on August 7 
four companies were detached for service in the Washington defenses, 
the other eight joining the 6th Corps and going into Western Virginia, 
where, under Sheridan, in the fall of 1864, they participated in the 
brilliant operations of that great commander. On the 25th of March, 
1865, the 9th was posted at the extreme front before Petersburg, took 
part in the recapture of Fort Steadman; was engaged April 2, and again 
on the 6th, at Sailor's Creek. The greater part of the regiment was 
mustered out in April, 1865. 



88 LANDMARKS OF 

What became the 160th Regiment, and the third from Wayne and 
Cayuga counties, was recruited from the last of August, 1802, through 
September. The first company (B) was raised in Palmyra and went 
into the barracks August 29. The other three Wayne companies were 
A from Newark; C, from Lyons; and D, from Marion. The regiment 
went out under command of Colonel Dwight, left Auburn November 18 
and was mustered into the United States service at New York on the 
21st. Embarked on a transport, the regiment then constituted a part 
of General Banks's celebrated expedition, and proceeded to Ship Island 
at the mouth of the Mississippi, reaching there December 14. In the 
extended operations to the southward of New Orleans, having the cap- 
ture of that city as their main object, in January, February, March and 
April, the IGOth took part, while attached to Weitzel's Brigade. While 
this duty was arduous, the losses were small. In April the regiment 
advanced with the brigade to Opelousas, and thence by a rapid three 
davs' march to Alexandria. On the 24th of May Weitzel's Brigade 
reached Simmsburg, at the head of the Atchafalaya River, whence it 
went on transports to St. Francisville, fourteen miles by land above Port 
Hudson. By easy marches the rear of Port Hudson was reached on the 
25th of May. Here a part of the regiment shared in the attack on Port 
Hudson, and on the 27th Company B lost one man killed and the regi- 
ment about twenty wounded. In the succeeding charge of June 14 
Richard Jones was killed and thirty-five wounded. Following the sur- 
render of Vicksburg, on the 7th of July, Port Hudson did likewise on 
the 8th, and on the 9th Weitzel's Brigade was the first to enter the 
works. At evening the regiment embarked and the next day landed 
at Donaldsonville, and on August I, proceeded to New Thibedeaux, and 
went into camp. On Thursday, January 7, 1864, the regiment with the 
1 9th Corps started for Franklin. In March Weitzel's Brigade was broken 
up and the IGOth was brigaded with three Maine and one Pennsylvania 
regiments. The next movement of importance in which the 160th 
shared was the Red River expedition under General Banks. On this 
service the IGOth found severe fighting several days and after an engage- 
ment on the Dth of March, Lieutenant Colonel Van Petten was called 
to headquarters to receive for his regiment the thanksof Generals Banks, 
Emory, and McMullen. It was said that the heroism of the 160th 
turned the tide of the day's battle. Eight of the regiment were killed, 
among them two captains; thirty-seven were wounded and fourteen 
missing. The 19th Corps was now ordered north to form a part of 



WAYNE COUNTY. 89 

Sheridan's army in the Shenandoah Valley. In the active operations 
in that region this regiment performed its allotted share. At the battle 
of Winchester, September 19, the 160th behaved with great gallantry, 
and saw the hardest fighting in which the regiment had participated. 
The loss was about twenty killed and fifty wounded. After the rebels 
were driven out of the valley the regiment was sent first to Savannah, 
Ga., and then to Hawkinsville, whence it proceeded to Elmira and was 
there mustered out in November, 1865. The number of men mustered 
out then was about 240, under commond of Lieut. Col. H. B. Under- 
bill. 

The First Regiment of Veteran Cavalry contained a considerable 
number of Wayne county men, who were chiefly from Palmyra. The 
regiment was composed of several bodies of men, many of whom were 
veterans, that had been- recruited in the summer and fall of 1863, and 
was mustered in on the 24th of October. The regiment was sent into 
Virginia over ground that was familiar to many of the veterans. It is 
almost impossible to follow in detail the operations of a body of cavalry. 
In the Valley of the Shenandoah, in the spring and summer of 1864, 
the regiment was constantly in active duty and acquired distinction for 
its gallantry. On June 1 the regiment, with the 28th Ohio Infantry, 
was sent across the mountains in charge of 1,200 prisoners. The dis- 
tance to Beverly, 110 miles, was made in four days. During the re- 
mainder of the summer the Veteran Cavalry was in the saddle the larger 
part of the time, and in October was placed in guard of the salt works 
of Kanawha, in Camp Piatt, Western Virginia. On the 8th of January, 
1865, the regiment went into camp at Gauley Bridge, at the headwaters 
of the Kanawha. After two or three other changes in location the reg- 
iment returned home about the last of July and was mustered out. 

The Eighth Regiment New York Cavalry was organized for three 
years' service, in Rochester, in the fall of 1861, was sent to Washington 
and into Camp Selden. Though having enlisted to serve as cavalry, 
the men were not mounted for nearly a year. Meanwhile the regiment 
was posted for a time along the Potomac and Winchester Railroad. On 
the morning of May 24, 1862, four companies were ordered to Winches- 
ter and participated in fighting at that point. Colonel Samuel J. Crooks 
resigned in February, and the command was given to Benjamin F. Davis, 
of the Regular Army, his commission bearing date of July 7. On the 
8th the regiment was stationed at the Relay House, and in a short time 

12 



90 LANDMARKS OF 

the efficient commander had his men well disciplined, mounted and the 
regiment recruited up to full number. 

On the 11th of September the 8th was surrounded by Jackson's force 
at Harper's Ferry. When it was seen the place could not be held, Colo- 
nel Davis asked and was refused permission to break through the ene- 
my's lines. He, however, called his officers together on the night of 
the 14th, expressed his determination, and about midnight led his com- 
mand across the pontoon bridge, dashed through the rebel army, cap- 
tured Lee's ammunition train, which was on its way to Antietam, and 
arrived at Greenfield at noon of the 15th, there finding McClellan'sarmy 
marching towards Antietam. After sharing in the fighting of the 17th, 
the 8th pursued and harassed the rear of the retreating army, and after 
a short rest at Hagerstown, pursued the rebels up the Shenandoah to- 
wards the Rappahannock. Other minor engagements of the remainder 
of the year in which the 8th shared were at Snicker's Gap, Philemont, 
Union, Upperville, Barber's Cross Roads, and Amosville. The regi- 
ment went into camp at Belle Plain. A summary of the other principal 
conflicts in which this regiment took part were at Freeman's Ford, April 
14, 1863; Rapidan Bridge, May 4; at Chancellorsville, Beverly Ford, 
Middleburg, Gettysburg (on which field it is said that the 8th was the 
first to fire a gun), at Culpepper, Raccoon Ford, and at Germania Ford, 
October 10; Stevensburg, October 11; Brandy Plains, October 13; Oak 
Hill, October 15; Belton Station, October 26; Muddy Run, November 
8; Locust Grove, November 27; at Barnett's Ford, February 6, 1864 
(after wintering at Culpepper Court House); Germania Ford, May 5; 
White Oak Swamp, June 13; Malvern Hill, June 15; Nottoway Court 
House, June 23; Roanoke Station, June 25; Stony Creek, June 28; 
Winchester, August 16; Kearneysville, August 25; Occoquan Creek, 
vSeptember 19 ; Front Royal, September 21; Milford, September 23; 
Fisher's Hill, September 30; Jones's Brook, October 9; Winchester, 
November 12, after having gone into winter quarters; Lacy Springs, 
December 31; Waynesboro, March 2, 1865, where the Eighth displayed 
the most daring gallantry. Soon after this Major Compson was detailed 
by General Sheridan as a bearer of dispatches to the secretary of war, 
taking with him seventeen captured battle flags, ten of which had been 
taken by the Eighth. In the operations in front of Petersburg in the 
spring of 1865, which practically closed the war, this regiment was con- 
stantly active. After the surrender at Appomattox the 8th returned to 
Petersburg and thence went to Washington and took part in the grand 



WAYNE COUNTY. 91 

review, May 22. It reached Rochester June 28, with 190 of the 940 
men who went away in 1861. The battle flag bore the. name of sixty- 
four actions. Among the slain of the regiment were one colonel, eleven 
captains, two lieutenants, and one color-bearer. The regiment was 
disbanded Jnly 3. 

The 22d Regiment of Cavalry was organized at Rochester, contained 
a number of Wayne county men, and was mustered into service in Feb- 
ruary, 1864. It was mustered out, after a comparatively brief term, 
August 1, 1805. In the various military operations in Virginia of the 
last campaign, the regiment performed efficient service. It formed a 
part of the First Brigade, Third Cavalry Division. An order issued 
April 9, 1865, after the surrender, paid the highest compliments to the 
valor of this division. 

These very brief incomplete sketches of the several organizations 
which contained one or more companies or considerable numbers of 
Wayne county men, do not, of course, exhibit in detail the deeds of the 
men who took their lives in their hands in defense of the country. To 
do this would require an entire volume ; and it is a gratifying fact that 
such a work has been well performed in Wayne county by Prof. Lewis 
H. Clark of Sodus, which permanently preserves the deeds of the sol- 
diers of Wayne county. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



Since the War — Internal Improvements — Legislative Acts — Agricultural Produc- 
tions — Peppermint — Statistics, etc. — Civil List — Recapitulation. 

The general history of Wayne county since the close of the civil war 
may be briefly written, exept as it will be found in more detail in the 
later town histories and chapters devoted to specific topics. With the 
close of the war we entered upon a period of inflation and expansion in 
all mercantile and manufacturing centers. Money was plenty, prices 
of farmers' products were high, markets were active,- and a general 
spirit of recklessness was abroad. New enterprises of various kinds 
were established, while the older ones which had passed through a period 
of success on a rising market, were not, as a rule, prepared for the time 
of retrenchment that should, perhaps, have been more generally fore- 



92 LANDMARKS OF 

seen. As a consequence, when the inevitable reaction came, in 1872-73, 
all kinds of business suffered severely. But the same reasons existed 
to lighten the burden in Wayne county to which we have alluded in re- 
lation to earlier periods of financial stringency. The county is largely 
agricultural, and such districts, if healthful in other directions, are the 
last to feel the effects of financial revulsion. During the period now in 
question the general statement may be made that the people of this 
county have enjoyed a fair degree of prosperity. 

Considerable legislation has been effected since that before chronicled 
in which the county at large was interested. Among the more impor- 
tant of these acts was the incorporation of the Palmyra Academy and 
the Palmyra Savings Bank in 1842, both of which are described in later 
pages; the act of April 11, 1853, providing for the erection of a new 
court house and jail ; an act of March 24, 1859, giving Hiram W. Brad- 
shaw permission to establish a ferry across Sodus Bay "from where 
the bridge road approaches on the west side, to the highway on the east 
side;" the incorporation of the Wayne County Savings Bank, April 13, 
1861 ; acts authorizing the building of iron bridges over the canal in the 
town of Macedon and at other points. In the appropriation bill of 187] , 
the sum of $5,400 was set aside for the vertical wall of the canal in Mace- 
don, and $2,000 for improvement of the canal in Newark ; act of April 
26, 1871, appropriating $3,000 for a bridge over Sodus Bay " at or near 
the site of the old bridge at Port Glasgow." This sum was to be raised 
by tax, and Edwin H. Draper, ofWolcott; De Witt Parshall, of Lyons; 
Merritt Thornton, of Sodus; James M. Cosad and William W. Gatchell, 
of Huron, were made the commissioners. Act of April 24, 1872, au- 
thorizing the Canandaigua, Palmyra and Ontario Railroad to construct 
a draw bridge over the canal at or near Palmyra village; (this was not, 
of course, ever built. ) Act of May 12, 1873, for the protection of fish 
in the Clyde and Seneca Rivers (a part of the extensive and beneficent 
legislation of the past twenty years tending to the preservation of the 
fish supply of this State.) Act of May 19, 1887, authorizing the super- 
intendent of public works to build a hoist bridge over the canal at Glas- 
gow street in Clyde; and a similar act of June 9, 1888, for a bridge 
over the canal at Geneva street, Lyons, for which $10,000 was appro- 
priated. Act of April 15, 1887, authorizing the supervisor of the town 
of ( hitario to pay and cancel the bonds constituting the town indebted- 
ness. Act of April 9, 189], authorizing the superintendent of the town 
of Galen to .borrow $5,000 on the town credit, to pay Thomas Reynolds 



WAYNE COUNTY. 93 

for damages and injury sustained by falling off of a defective bridge. 
Act of February 24, 1891, making the office of sheriff of Wayne county 
a salaried office, with salary of $1,200. Many other other acts have been 
passed in recent years incorporating various institutions in the county 
and amending the several village charters, to place them in line with 
the best governed municipalities of the State. 

The reader of the foregoing pages has learned that the attention of 
the farmers of this county was largely devoted to the growing of wheat 
in early years. It was the grain that would sell most readily and, of 
course, supplied the inhabitants with flour. Other grains were culti- 
vated, but in a more limited way ; and the surplus of all was converted 
into whisky in the numerous small distilleries that abounded in every 
town. 

Apples and pears have always been extensively produced in Wayne 
county. For the first named fruit the soil and climate seem to be par- 
ticularly well adapted and the quality of the fruit rivals that of Orleans 
and Niagara counties, which is the highest praise that can be given it. 
The first settlers in Sodus, Palmyra, and at other points, planted apple 
seeds almost as soon as they arrived, and ere long they were supplied 
with the ever-welcome fruit, the excellent quality of which led to the 
extensive planting of orchards. Large quantities are shipped annually 
to market. The first grafted apples brought to Wayne county were 
brought by William Bond from Long Island and were termed the Long 
Island, the Long Island Greening, and the Billy Bond. Pears also have 
been produced successfully in the county, the locally celebrated Sheldon 
pear and the Osband pear having originated in the towns of Huron and 
Palmyra respectively. 

In recent years raspberries have been extensively cultivated, espe- 
cially in the north and northwest parts of the county. This fruit is mar- 
keted generally in an evaporated form. 

Another product which has given Wayne county a world-wide fame 
is peppermint. The first production of this herb was about 1820, and 
from 1825 until quite recently the quantity grown was on the increase. 
For many years the quantity of oil distilled in this county constituted 
by far the larger part of the product of the world. By the year 1837 
considerable quantities of the herb were offered for sale. In 1841 H. G. 
Hotchkiss was keeping a country store at Phelps, Ontario county, and 
in the course of his dealings with the farmers of that vicinity he had 
taken their peppermint oil in payment for goods until he had on hand 



94 LANDMARKS OF 

so much that he would lose money if he could not dispose of the lot for 
§1,000. He attempted to sell it in New York but without success. 
This led to the attempt to produce oil at home and was the initial step 
in what became a very extensive and profitable manufacture. After 
the year 1841 Mr. Hotchkiss gave his entire attention to this business. 
Other enterprising men took up the work of manufacturing the oil, and 
the farmers were thus inspired to further ciiltivation of the herb, until 
it became almost if not quite the chief agricultural product of the coun- 
ty. The average annual yield of peppermint oil in this county is 150, 
ooo pounds, nine-tenths of which is controlled by the Hotchkiss family 
of Lyons, which is virtually dictating the peppermint oil market, as 
Wayne county is practically the only peppermint-growing district where 
the plant is cultivated and the oil distilled. Wayne county oil com- 
mands from forty to fifty cents a pound more than any other peppermint 
oil. Twenty-five pounds of oil to the acre is the lowest general average 
of the crop. It is not uncommon for the market to reach $3 a pound, 
and it has been as high as $5 a pound. Some farmers distill their own 
oil, but the product is usually treated by regular distillers, of whom 
there are about 100 in Wayne county. They toll the crop for the dis- 
tilling. 

In 1801 the prices for various products were as follows : wheat, 75 
cents; corn, 3 shillings; rye, 50 cents; hay, $6 to $12 per ton; butter 
and cheese, 11 to 16 cents; salt pork, 8 to 10 cents; whisky, 50 to 75 
cents per gallon; salt, $5 per barel; sheep, $2 to $4 per head; neat cat- 
tle, $3 to $4 per cwt. ; milch cows, $16 to $25 per head; horses, $100 to 
$125 a span; working oxen, $50 to $80 per yoke; laborer's wages, in- 
cluding board, $10 to $15 per month; suit of clothes, $4 to $5; shoes, 
$1.75 to $2 per pair. 

In 1858 the county had 254,451 acres improved land; real estate val- 
ued at $12,308,024; personal property, $1,364,222; there were that 
year 23,964 male and 22,796 female inhabitants, 8,708 dwellings, 9,376 
families, 6,844 freeholders, 219 school districts, 17,222 school children, 
1 t, 928 horses, 21,695 oxen and calves, 104,845 sheep, 29,799 swine; the 
county produced that year 45,272 tons hay, 289,734 bushels winter and 
L, 918, 572 bushels spring wheat. 261,403 bushels potatoes, 509, 626 bush- 
els-apples, 1,446,080 pounds butter, L63, 764 pounds cheese; and 13,065 
yards domestic cloths. 

The population of Wayne county by decades isas follows: 1800, 1,410; 
1810, 6,575; 1820, 20,309; L830, 33,643; 1840, 42,057; 1850, 44,953; 
1860, 47,762; L870, 17,710; L880, 51,700; and 1890, 49,729. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 95 

In 1855 the county had 226 blacksmiths, 205 shoemakers, 05 cabinet- 
makers and dealers, .501 carpenters, 83 clergymen, 126 wagonmakers, 
etc., 150 coopers, 6,494 farmers, 66 grocers, 4:5 tavern-keepers, 43 law- 
yers, 44 machinists, 161 masons, etc., 180 merchants, 07 millers, 103 
milliners, 83 painters, etc., 110 physicians, 14 printers, 85 harness mak- 
ers, etc., 257 tailors, 45 tanners and curriers, 203 teachers, 4!) tinsmiths, 
and 7 weavers. 

In 1893 the 349,012 acres of land in the county were assessed at $13, 
252,206; village and mill property, $0,121,401 ; value of railroads and 
telegraphs, $4,010,470; personal property, value, $2,398,508; total as- 
sessed value, $25,782, 230. 

Schedule of taxes, 1893: town contingent funds, $32,009.33; town 
poor funds, $12,798.48; roads and bridges, $6, 914. 42; special town tax- 
es, $34,389.17; re-assessed on towns, $254. 53; audited by supervisors, 
$4,015.73; reimburse county poor fund, $7,195.14; school taxes, $23,- 
588.81; county tax, $50,438.93; state tax, $31,100.91; state insane tax, 
$8,023.41. Total tax, $210,728.80; dog tax, $2,077.50. 

The county has forty-five election districts, and at the general elec- 
tion in 1893 polled 9,143 votes. 

Wayne county is divided into two school commissioner districts, named 
respectively First and Second. The First district comprises the towns 
of Butler, Galen, Huron, Lyons, Rose, Savannah, Sodus, and Wolcott, 
and the annual report of Everett O'Neill, school chmmissioner, for 1892 
-93 gives the following; Districts with school houses, 114; teachers 
employed during legal term, 170; whole number of children attending 
school, 0,138; value school buildings and sites, $202,530; assessed val- 
uation of districts, $13,300,408; public money received from the State, 
$23,993.11; raised by local tax, $40,007.24; trees planted in 1893, 121. 

The Second school commissioner district embraces the towns of Ar- 
cadia, Macedon, Marion, Ontario, Palmyra, Walworth, and Williamson, 
and from the report of M. C. Finley, commissioner, for 1892-93, is ob- 
tained the following: Districts with school houses, 101; teachers em- 
played during legal term, 132; whole number of children attending 
school, 5,172; value of school buildings and sites, $153,040; assessed 
valuation of districts, $12,003,000; public money received from the 
State, $18,450.74; raised by local tax, $34,048.62; trees planted in 1893, 
121. 



96 LANDMARKS OF 

Civil List. 

At the convention held in Albany in Oetober, 1801, to consider the 
powers of the governor and of the Council of Appointments (which were 
decided as equal) the number of vState senators was fixed at thirty-two 
and assemblymen at one hundred. Members of this convention from 
Onondaga, Ontario and Steuben were Messrs. Carpenter, Moses At- 
water, and John Knox. A canal commissioner was appointed on April 
17, 1810, from Lyons, Wayne county, in the person of Myron Holley. 
The second constitution was adopted by an election held in February, 
1822. Many changes were made and a large number of offices were 
made elective. These measures were carried by a vote of 71,732, to 
41,102. The constitution finally grew into disfavor, and a third consti- 
tution was formed during the year 1810. The delegates to this conven- 
tion from Wayne county were Ornon Archer and Horatio N. Taft. 

By act act of April 17, 1822, Ontario, Seneca, Wayne, erected in 182:;, 
and Yates, same date, were constituted the Twenty-sixth Congressional 
District. By act of June 2!), 1832, Senecaand Wayne became the Twen- 
ty-fifth District, changed to the Twenty-seventh by act of September 0, 
1812. Cayuga and Wayne were made the Twenty-fifth District by act 
of July 19, 1851, and Seneca was added by act of April 23, 1802, and 
the three constituted the Twenty-fourth District. By act of April 13 
L892, Wayne, Cayuga, Cortland, Ontario and Yates were made the 
Twenty-eighth District. The following citizens of Wayne county have 
been elected to Congress: Esbon Blackmar, 1818-19; Martin Butter- 
field, 1859-01; George W. Cowles, 1809; John M. Holley, 1847-48; 
John H. Camp, 1876. 

The office of presidential elector has been held by the following res- 
idents of Wayne county: Solomon W. John, appointed by the Legisla- 
ture in 1824. John Beal, elected in 1828; Alanson M. Knapp, 1830; 
Charles Bradish, 1810; Jonathan Boynton, 1814 ; Joseph W. Gates, IS is ; 
William VanMarter, 1800; and George W. Knowles, 1870. 

The State of New York was divided into eight senatorial districts, 
and each entitled to four senators; term four years, one elected each 
year. On April 11, L823, Wayne was annexed to the Seventh District, 
which then included Cayuga, ( )nondaga, ( hitario, Seneca, Yates, Wayne, 
and, in L836, Cortland counties. By an act passed April 30, 1892, Wayne, 
Cayuga, Tompkins, Ontario and Yates were made the Twenty-sixth 
Senatorial • District. Senators from Wayne have been By ram Green, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 97 

L823-24; Truman Hart, 1826-29; Thomas Armstrong, L830^37; Lyman 
Sherwood, 1840-41; William Clark, 1854-55; Alexander B. Williams, 
L858-61; Stephen K. Williams, 1864-69, Samuel C. Cuyler, 1846-47; 
Thomas Robinson, 1884-85 ; Charles T. Saxton, 1889, the present sen- 
ator. 

Upon the organization of Wayne county it was entitled to two repre- 
sentatives by appointment. The following' persons have held the office 
from Wayne county from the respective dates given: 1824, James Dick- 
son, Russell Whipple; 1825, Wm. H. Adams, Enoch Moore; 1820, 
Thomas Armstrong, Jonathan Boynton; 1830, Luther Chapin, Seth 
Eddy; 1831, A. Wells, Seth Eddy; 1832-33, James Humeston, A. Salis- 
bury; 1834, James P. Bartle, Russell Whipple; 1835, E. Benjamin, 
W. D. Wylie; 1836, Reuben H. Foster, Robert Alsop; 1837, David 
Arne, jr., Pomeroy Tucker ; 1838, John M. Holley, Esbon Blackmar; 
1839, T. Armstrong, A. Salisbury; 1840, Horace Morley, Durfee Os- 
band; 1841, J. M. Halley, E. Blackmar; 1842, James M. Wilson, The- 
ron R. Strons; 1843, Philip Sours, Fred U. Sheffield; 1844, Austin Roe, 
Isaac R. Sanford; 1845, John J. Dickson, A. M. Knapp; 1846, James 
T. Wisner, Elias Durfee; 1847, I. R. Southard, S. Moore; 1848, E. 
Pettit, John Lapham; 1849, Isaac Leavenworth, Peter Boyce; 1850, 
James M. Wilson, Elihu Dunfee; 1851, Ed. W. Bottom, T. G. Yeomans; 
1852, William Dutton, T. G. Yeomans; 1853, B. H. Streeter, L. Whit- 
comb; 1854, Willis G. Wade, John P. Bennett; 1856, Harlow Hyde, 
Thomas Barnes; 1857, Thomas Johnson, Joseph Peacock; 1858, Ed- 
ward W. Sentell, Charles Estes; 1859, Henry K. Graves, John A. Laing; 
1860, James M. Servis, Abel J. Bixby; 1861, J. S. L'Amoreaux, J. W. 
Corning; 1862, E. N. Thomas, Abram Payne; 1863-64, Thaddeus W. 
Collins, Lemuel Durfee; 1865, Thaddeus W. Collins, W. H. Rogers; 
1866, John Vandenburg, W. H. Rogers; 1867, John Vandenburg, Ornon 
Archer; 1868, De Witt Parshall, Elijah M. K. Glenn; 1869, Merritt 
Thornton, Elijah M. K. Glenn; 1870, Anson S. Wood, Amasa Hall; 
1871, Anson S. Wood, Henry Durfee; 1872-73, Edward B. Wells, Lu- 
cien T. Yeomans; 1874, Emory W. Gurnee, H. H. Clark; 1875, Will- 
iam H. Clark, A. S Russell; 1876, Emory W. Gurnee, A. S. Russell; 
1877, Jackson Valentine, Jeremiah Thistlethwaite ; 1878, Jackson Val- 
entine, James H. Miller; 1879, John A. Munson, Jefferson Sherman; 
1880, Alfred P. Crafts, Jefferson Sherman; 1881, Rowland Robinson, 
Addison W. Gates; 1882, Oscar Weed, William E. Greenwood; 1883, 
Oscar Weed, Lemon Hotchkiss; 1884, Ammon S. Farnum, Silas S. 

13 



98 LANDMARKS OF 

Pierson; 1885, Amnion S. Farnum, Edwin K. Burnham ; 188(5, William 
Wood, Barnet H. Davis; 1887-88, Charles T. Saxton, Barnet H. Davis; 
L889, Charles T. Saxton, Richard P. Groat; 1890, John P. Bennett, 
Richard P. Groat; 1801, Elliott B. Norris, Richard P. Groat; 1802, 
George W. Brinkerhoff, Flynn Whitcomb. By the act of April 30, 
1 <S'.r>, Wayne county was entitled to but one member of assembly. 1893, 
; 1804, George S. Horton. 

Prior to 1857 school commissioners were appointed by the Boards of 
Supervisors; since then they have been elected by ballot. The first 
election under the act was held in November, 1850. In Wayne county 
the commissioners of the First District have been as follows : Mortimer 
F. Sweeting, Thomas Robinson, Alonzo M. Winchester, John McGon- 
egal, Joseph G. L. Roe, Sidney G. Cook, E. C. Delano, Everett O'Neill, 
and Samuel Cosad. In the Second District : Albert S. Todd ; Myron 
W. Reed, Jefferson Sherman, Ethel M. Allen, W. T. Goodnough, M. 
C. Finley, and Freeman Pintler. 

County Treasurers. — Bartlett R. Rogers, 1848; Philander P. Brad- 
ish, 1851; John Adams, 1857; Smith A. Dewey, 1802, re-elected 1865, 
and 1868; Wm. B. Stultz, 1871, and re-elected 1874 and 1877; L. F. 
Taylor, appointed 1870; Dr. A. F. Sheldon, 1870, and re-elected 1882 
and 1885; Volney H. Sweeting, 1888, present imcumbent. 

Sheriffs during the colonial period were appointed annuall)' in Octo- 
ber, unless otherwise noticed. Under the first constitution they were 
appointed annually by the council of appointment, and no person could 
hold the office more than four successive years. The sheriff could hold 
no other office and must be a freeholder in the county to which appointed. 
Since the constitution of 1821, sheriffs have been elected for a term of 
three years, and are ineligible for election for the succeeding term. 

The following persons have held the office of sheriff of Wayne county 
from the respective dates given ; The elections have been held in No- 
vember of each year. Reuben H. Foster, 1825; Cullen Foster, 1828; 
Calvin D. Palmeter, 1831; Truman Heminway, 1834; Hiram Mann, 
L837; vSimon V. W. Stout, 1840; John Borrowdale, 1843; George W. 
Barnard, 1846; Chester A. Ward, 1840; George W. Paddock, 1852; 
William P Nottingham, 1855; Adrastus Snedeker, 1858; John P. Ben- 
nett, L861; Bartlett R. Rogers, 1864; John P. Bennett, 18(17; John N. 
Brownell, 1870; Richard P. Groat, 1873; Thomas M. Clark, 187<i; Wil- 
liam J. Glenn, 1870; Vernon R. Howell, 1882; Rossman J. Parshall, 
lssf); Charles E. Reed, 1888; Geo. W. Knowles, 1890, appointed; 
Walter Thornton, 1801; Chas. H. Ford, 1894, appointed. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 99 

In the comparatively brief period of a century — a period that is some- 
times lived through by one person — what a transformation has been ef- 
fected in the region of Western New York which embraces the county 
of which this work treats ! The mind that is accustomed only to super- 
ficial thought and observation, fails utterly to comprehend it. At the 
one extreme of the period was a wilderness, untrodden by man other 
than the red natives who are now fast disapearing from the face of the 
earth. A wilderness of forest and stream and lake; thickly peopled. by 
wild animals and feathered tribes. At the other extreme of the cen- 
tury we look upon as fair a land as lies beneath the sun. Every evi- 
dence of civilization greets the observer's eye. Surely the deeds of the 
men and women who have wrought this marvelous transformation de- 
serve to be enshrined on the pages of history. 

Our forefathers did not begin their work under favorable conditions. 
They had just passed through a long and harassing war, which was fol- 
lowed by a period of stagnation of all kinds of business, leading to con- 
tinued privation and suffering at many firesides. One observant writer 
has said that " as a nation, or a people in the aggregate, ours was the 
poorest that had ever entered upon the experience of separate and in- 
dependent existence ; and the settlement of this region [Western New 
York] commenced at the lowest point of depression. Those who had 
homes in New England and elsewhere- -the means of comfortable sub- 
sistence — generally chose to remain where they were, leaving it mostly 
for those who were impelled to it by necessity to encounter the then 
hard task of settling and improving the wilderness. No new region of 
our entire country has been settled by a class of emigrants as poor, in 
the aggregate, as were the pioneers of the Genesee country. The in- 
stances of those who had enough to pay the expenses of immigration, 
get possession of their lands, and make any considerable improvements, 
were few; those who had enough to place themselves in their new 
homes and purchase the necessaries of life, until they could produce 
them, were not numerous; while the great bulk of the pioneers had 
but little left when they had planted themselves in the forest and erected 
their rude log cabins. The instances were not few of those who parted 
with necessary raiment, with household furniture that could not easily 
be spared — with things essential to their comfort — either to pay the ex- 
penses of emigration, or to piece out the means of subsistence. 

"Located in a widely extended forest, in sparse settlements, or in 
solitar3 T or detached homes — the long and tedious journey of emigration 



100 LANDMARKS OF 

consummated, log huts erected, small openings made, and a rude and 
primitive agriculture commenced — they had but just entered upon a 
long series of difficulties and hindrances; disease and apprehensions of 
Indian wars, came upon them in their years of extreme weakness; in 
busy seasons when health and strength were most needed, whole house- 
holds and neighborhoods were stricken down with agues and fevers, 
and the services of households and neighborhoods that escaped would 
be required to aid those less fortunate; then would come Indian alarms, 
demonstrations of renewal of Indian hostilities which would render the 
tenure by which they held their wilderness homes precarious — desertion 
and flight, not an improbable necessity. These difficulties subsiding 
and warded off, when lands that been cleared, soil that had been sub- 
dued, began to yield a surplus, they had no markets; their wheat 
moulded in the stack or in the bark-covered log barns ; or, when thrashed 
and drawn over long and tedious wood roads, at a low price, could not 
be exchanged for many of the most common necessaries of life. A 
gleam of sunshine came, a better day dawned for a brief season, but 
soon came the national exigencies of embargo and non-intercourse, 
which bore especcially hard on all this region. 

"When all these difficulties had been surmounted, to which should 
have been added, at least, one unfruitful season, and consequent scar- 
city of food for man, and hay and grain for stock, causing in many lo- 
calities actual suffering — when the whole region of the Genesee country 
had just begun to realize something of prosperity, war upon its imme- 
diate borders, in its weak and exposed condition, came upon it — a local 
calamity, the magnitude of which can now hardly be realized." 



WAYNE COUNTY. 101 



CHAHTER X. 

Comparison of State Law with the Common Law — Evolution of the Courts — The 
Court of Appeals — The Supreme Court — The Court of Chancery — The County Court 
— The Surrogate's Court — Justice's Court — District Attorneys — Sheriffs — Court 
House — Judicial Officers — Personal Notes. 

The statement is commonly expressed that the judicial system of 
the State of New York is largely founded upon the common law of 
England. While this is true to a great extent, there are important 
differences revealed by a close study of the history of the laws of this 
State, showing that our system is in many important respects an 
original growth. In the simple, yet initiative matter of entitling a 
criminal process for example, there is a radical difference between our 
method and that which must be followed in England. Here it is " The 
People Versus the Criminal; " there, " Rex versus the Criminal." In 
the one it is an independent judiciary responsible directly to the 
people ; in the other to the king. 

This principle of the sovereignty of the people over our laws, as well 
as their dominance in other respects, has had a slow, conservative, yet 
steadily progressive and systematic growth. In the colonial history of 
the State the governor was in effect the maker, interpreter and en- 
forcer of the laws. He was the chief judge of the court of final resort, 
while his councillors were generally his obedient followers. The execu- 
tion of the English and Colonial statutes rested with him, as did also 
the exercise of royal authority in the province ; and it was not until the 
adoption of the first Constitution, in 1777, that he ceased to contend for 
these prerogatives and to act as though the only functions of the court 
and councillors were to do its bidding as servants and helpers, while 
the Legislature should adopt only such laws as the executive should 
suggest and approve. By the first Constitution the governor w r as 
wholly stripped of the judicial power which he possessed under the 
Colonial rule, and such power was vested in the lieutenant-governor 
and the Senate, the chancellor and the justices of the Supreme Court; 
the former to be elected by the people, and the latter to be appointed 
by the council. Under this Constitution there was the first radical 



102 LANDMARKS OF 

separation of the judicial and the legislative powers, and the advance- 
ment of the judiciary to the position of a co-ordinate department of the 
government, and subject to the limitation consequent upon the ap- 
pointment of its members by the council. 

But even this restriction was soon felt to be incompatible, though it 
was not until the adoption of the Constitution of 1840 that the last con- 
nection between the purely political and the judicial parts of the State 
government was abolished; and with it disappeared the last remaining 
relic of the colonial period as regards the laws. From this time on the 
judiciary became more directly representative of the people in the 
election by them of its members. The development of the idea of the 
responsibility of the courts to the people, from the time when all its 
members were at the beck and nod of one well-nigh irresponsible 
master, to the time when all judges, even of the court of last resort, 
are voted for by the people, has been remarkable. Yet, through all 
this change there has prevailed the idea of one ultimate tribunal from 
whose decision there can be no appeal. 

Noting briefly the present arrangement and powers of the courts of 
this State and the elements from which they have grown, we see that 
the whole scheme is involved in the idea of, first, a trial before a magis- 
trate and jury — arbiters respectively of law and fact — and then a review 
by a higher tribunal of the facts and law, and ultimately of the law by 
a court of last resort. To accomplish the purposes of this scheme 
there has been devised and established, first, the present Court of 
Appeals, the ultimate tribunal of the State, perfected in its present 
form by the Conventions of 1807 and 1868, and ratified by a vote of the 
people in 1809; and taking the place of the old "Court for the trial of 
impeachment and correction of errors" to the extent of correcting 
errors of law. As first organized under the Constitution of 1846, the 
Court of Appeals was composed of eight judges, four of whom were 
elected by the people and the remainder chosen from the justices of 
the Supreme Court having the shortest time to serve. As organized 
in 1861), and now existing, the court consists of the chief judge and six 
associates judges, who hold office for a term of fourteen years from and 
including the first day of January after their election. This court is 
continually in session at the capitol in Albany, except as it takes recess 
from time to time on its own motion. It has full power to correct or 
reverse the decisions of all inferior courts when properly before it for 
review. Five judges constitute a quorum, and four must concur to 



WAYNE COUNTY. 103 

render judgment. If four do not agree the case must be reargued; 
hut no more than two rehearings can be had, and if then four judges 
do not concur, the judgment of the court below stands affirmed. The 
Legislature has provided by statute how and when proceedings and 
decisions of inferior tribunals may be reviewed in the Court of Appeals, 
and may in its discretion alter or amend the same. Upon the reor- 
ganization of the court in 1869 its work was far in arrears, and the law 
commoniy known as the " Judiciary Act " provided for a commission 
of appeals to aid the Court of Appeals. And still more recently, in 
1888, the Legislature passed a concurrent resolution that section 6 
of article 6 of the Constitution be amended so that upon the certificate 
of the Court of Appeals to the governor of such an accumulation of 
causes on the calendar of the Court of Appeals that the public interests 
required a more speedy disposition thereof, the governor may desig- 
nate seven justices of the Supreme Court to act as associate judges, for 
the time being, of the Court of Appeals, and to form a second division 
of that court, and to be dissolved by the governor when the necessity 
for their services ceased to exist. This amendment was submitted to 
the people of the State at the general election of that year and was 
ratified, and in accordance therewith the governor selected seven 
Supreme Court justices, who were constituted the Second Division of 
the Court of Appeals. 

Second to the Court of Appeals in rank and jurisdiction stands the 
Supreme Court, which, as it now exists, is made up of many and widely 
different elements, it was originally created by act of the Colonial 
Legislature May 6, 1691, and finally by ordinance of the governor and 
council May 15, 1699, and empowered to try all issues to the same ex- 
tent as the English Courts of King's Bench, Common Pleas and Exche- 
quer, except in the exercise of equity powers. It had jurisdiction in 
actions involving $100 and over, and to revise and correct the decisions 
of inferior courts. An appeal lay from it to the governor and council. 
The judges — at first there were five of them — annually made a circuit 
of the counties, under a commission naming them, issued by the gov- 
ernor, and giving them Nisi Prius, Oyer and Terminer, and jail de- 
livery powers. Under the first Constitution the court was reorganized, 
the judges being then named by the council of appointment. All pro- 
ceedings were directed to be entitled in the name of the people instead 
of that of the king. 



104 LANDMARKS OF 

By the Constitution of 1821 many and important changes were made 
in the character and methods of this court. The judges were reduced 
in number to three and appointed by the governor, with the consent of 
the Senate, to hold office during good behavior, or until sixty years of 
age. They were removable by the Legislature when two-thirds of the 
Assembly and a majority of the Senate so voted. Four times each 
year the full court sat in review of their decisions upon questions of 
law. By the Constitution of 1840 the Supreme Court, as it then ex- 
isted, was abolished, and a new court of the same name, and having 
general jurisdiction in law and equity, was established in its place. 
This court was divided into General Terms, Circuits, Special Terms, 
and Oyer and Terminer. Its members were composed of thirty-three 
justices, to be elected by the people, and to reside, five in the first and 
four in each of the other seven judicial districts into which the State 
was divided. By the judiciary act of 1847 General Terms were to be 
held at least once in each year in counties having more than forty 
thousand inhabitants, and in other counties at least once in two years; 
and at least two Special Terms and two Circuit Courts were to be held 
yearly in each county except Hamilton. By this act the court 
was authorized to name the times and places of holding its terms, and 
those of Oyer and Terminer; the latter being a part of the Circuit 
Court and held by the justice, the county judge and two justices of 
sessions. Since 1882 the Oyer and Terminer has consisted of a single 
justice of the Supreme Court. 

It is proper at this point to describe one of the old courts, the powers 
of which have been vested in the Supreme Court. We refer to the 
Chancery Court, an heirloom of the Colonial period, which had its 
origin in the Court of Assizes, the latter being invested with equity 
powers under the duke's laws. The court was established in 1G83, and 
the governor or such person as he should appoint, assisted by the coun- 
cil, was designated as its chancellor. In 1698 the court went out of 
existence by limitation ; was revised by ordinance in 1701; suspended 
in 1703, and re-established in the next year. At first the Court of 
Chancery was unpopular in the province, the Assembly and the 
colonists opposing it with the argument that the crown had no authority 
to establish an equity court in the colony, and they were doubtful of 
the propriety of constituting the governor and council such a court. 
Under the Constitution of 1777 the court was recognized, but its 
chancellor was thereby prohibited from holding any other office except 



WAYNE COUNTY. 105 

delegate to Congress on special occasions. Upon the reorganization of 
the court in L778, by convention of representatives, masters and ex- 
aminers in chancery were provided to be appointed by the council of 
appointment; registers and clerks by the chancellor. The latter 
licensed all solicitors and counsellors of the court. Under the Constitu- 
tion of 1821 the chancellor was appointed by the governor and held office 
during good behavior, or until sixty years of age. Appeals lay from 
the Chancery Court to the Court for the Correction of Errors. Under 
the second Constitution equity powers were vested in the circuit judges, 
and their decisions were reviewable on appeal to the chancellor. But 
this equity character was soon taken from the circuit judges and there- 
after devolved upon the chancellor, while the judges alluded to acted as 
vice-chancellors in their respective circuits. But, by the radical 
changes made by the Constitution of 1843, the Court of Chancery was 
abolished, and its powers, duties and jurisdiction vested in the Supreme 
Court, as before stated. 

By act of the Legislature adopted in 1848, and entitled the " Code of 
Procedure," all distinctions between actions at law and suits in equity 
were abolished, so far as the manner of commencing and conducting 
them was concerned, and one uniform method of practice was adopted. 
Under this act appeals lay to the General Term of the Supreme Court 
from judgments rendered in justice's, mayor's and recorder's, and 
county courts, and from all orders and decisions of a justice at special 
term of the Supreme Court. 

The judiciary article of the Constitution of 1846 amended in 1869, 
authorizing the Legislature, not more often than once in five years, 
to provide for the organization of General Terms, consisting of a pre- 
siding justice and not more than three associates; but by chapter 408 of 
the laws of 1870 the then organization of the General Term was abro- 
gated and the State divided into four departments and provision made 
for holding General Terms in each. By the same act the governor was 
directed to designate from among the justices of the Supreme Court a 
presiding justice and two associates to constitute a General Term in 
each department. Under the authority of the constitutional amend- 
ment adopted in 1882, the Legislature in 1883 divided the State into 
five judicial departments, and provided for the election of twelve 
additional justices to hold office from the first Monday in June, 1884. 

In June, 1887, the Legislature enacted the code of civil procedure to 
take the place of the code of 1848. By this many minor changes were 

14 



106 LANDMARKS OF 

made, among them a provision that every two years the justices of the 
General Terms, and the chief judges of the Superior City Courts, 
should meet and revise and establish general rules of practice for all 
the courts of record in the State, except the Court of Appeals. 

Such are, in brief, the changes through which the Supreme Court of 
this State has passed in its growth from the prerogative of an irrespon- 
sible governor, to one of the most independent and enlightened instru- 
mentalities for the protection and attainment of the rights of citizens 
of which any State or nation can rightfully boast. So well is this fact 
understood by the people, that by far the greater amount of business, 
which might be done in inferior courts at less expense, is taken to this 
court for settlement. The only man from Wayne county ever elected 
Supreme Court judge was Theron R. Strong of Palmyra. 

Next in inferiority to the Supreme Court is the County Court, held 
in and for each county of the State at such times and places as its 
judges may direct. This court had its origin in the English Court of 
Sessions, and, like that court, had at first criminal jurisdiction only. 
By an act passed in 1663, a Court of Sessions, having power to try both 
civil and criminal causes by jury, was directed to be held by three 
justices of the peace, in each of the counties of the province twice each 
year, with an additional term in Albany and two in New York. By 
the act of 1691 and the decree of 1600, all civil jurisdiction was taken 
from this court and conferred upon the Court of Common Pleas. By 
the sweeping changes made by the Constitution in 1846, provision was 
made for a County Court in each county of the State, excepting New 
York, to be held by an officer to be designated the county judge, and 
to have such jurisdiction as the Legislature might prescribe. Under 
authority of this Constitution the County Courts have been given, 
from time to time, jurisdiction in various classes of actions which need 
not be enumerated here, and have also been invested with certain 
equity powers in the foreclosure of mortgages; to sell infants' real 
estate; to partition lands; to admeasure dower and care for the persons 
and estate of lunatics and habitual drunkards. The Judiciary Act of 
L869 continued the existing jurisdiction of County Courts, and confer- 
red upon them original jurisdiction in all actions in which the defend- 
ants lived within the county, and the damages claimed did not exceed 
$1,000, which sum has since been extended to $2,000. Like the 
Supreme Court, the County Court now has its civil and its criminal 
side. In Criminal matters the county judge is assisted by two justices 



WAYNE COUNTY. 107 

of sessions, elected by the people from among the justices of the peace in 
the county. It is in the criminal branch of this court, known as the Ses- 
sions, that all the minor criminal offenses are now disposed of. All 
indictments of the grand jury, excepting for murder or some very 
serious felony, are sent to it for trial from the Oyer and Terminer. 
By the codes of 1848 and 1877, the methods of procedure and practice 
were made to conform as nearly as possible to the practice in the 
Supreme Court. This was done with the evident design of attracting 
litigation into these courts, thus relieving the Supreme Court. In this 
purpose there has been failure, litigants much preferring the shield 
and assistance of the broader powers of the higher court. By the 
Judiciary Act the term of office of county judges was extended from 
four to six years. Under the code the judges can perform some of the 
duties of a justice of the Supreme Court at Chambers. The County 
Court has appellate jurisdiction over actions arising in Justice's Courts 
and Courts of Special Sessions. Appeals lay from the County Court 
to the General Term. County judges were appointed until 1847, after 
which the)^ were elected. 

First judges in the old court of Common Pleas were originally ap- 
pointed by the governor and Senate for a term of five years. None of 
those appointed previous to the formation of Wayne county was from 
within . the present limits of Wayne. Their names were : Oliver 
Phelps, May, 1789-93; Timothy Hosmer, October, 1793-1802; John 
Nicholas, January, 1803-1819; Nathaniel W. Howell, March, 1818. 

Those appointed since the formation of Wayne county are as follows : 
John W. Hallet, April 19, 1825; Alexander R. Tiffany, March 28, 
1827; William Sisson, January 30, 1830 ; Hiram K. Jerome, January 
29, 1840; Oliver H. Palmer, April 12, 1843; William H. Adams, May 
12, 1846. 

Those who have held the office since it was made elective are as fol- 
lows: George H. Middleton, June, 1847; Leander S. Ketcham, 
November, 1851; Lyman Sherwood, November, 1859; George W. 
Cowles, November, 1863, and November, 1867; Charles McLouth, 
(appointed) November 1, 1869; Luther M. Norton, November, 1869; 
George W. Cowles, November, 1873; Thaddeus W. Collins, Novem- 
ber, 1879; George W. Cowles, November, 1879; George W. Cowles, 
November, 1885; L. M. Norton, 1891, incumbent. 

Surrogate's Courts, one of which exists in each of the counties of 
the State, are now courts of record having a seal. Their special 



108 LANDMARKS OF 

jurisdiction is the settlement and care of estates of persons who have 
died either with or without a will, and of infants. The derivation of 
the powers and practice of the Surrogate's Court in this State is from 
the Ecclesiastical Court of England through a part of the colonial coun- 
cil, which existed during the Dutch rule here, and exercised its 
authority in accordance with the Dutch Roman law, the custom of 
Amsterdam and the law of Aasdom ; the Court of Burgomasters and 
Scheppens, the Court of Orphan Masters, the Mayor's Court, the Pre- 
rogative Court and the Court of Probates. The settlement of estates 
and the guardianship of orphans which was at first invested in the 
director-general and council of New Netherlands, was transferred to 
the Burgomasters in 1053, and soon afterwards to the orphan masters. 
Under the colony the Prerogative Court controlled all matters in rela- 
tion to the probate of wills and settlement of estates. This power con- 
tinued until 1692, when by act of legislation all probates and granting 
of letters of administration were to be under the hand of the governor 
or his delegate ; and two freeholders were appointed in each town to 
take charge of the estates of persons dying without a will. Under the 
duke's laws this duty had been performed by the constables, overseers 
and justices of each town. In 1778 the governor was divested of all 
this power excepting the appointment of surrogates, and it was confer- 
red upon the Court of Probates. Under the first Constitution surro- 
gates were appointed by the council of appointment; under the second 
Constitution, by the governor with the approval of the Senate. The 
Constitution of 184G abrogated the office of surrogate in all counties 
having less than 40,000 population, and conferred its powers and duties 
upon the county judge. By the code of civil procedure surrogates 
were invested with all the necessary powers to carry out the equitable 
and incidental requirements of their office. 

The following persons held the office of surrogate in Ontario county 
previous to the formation of Wayne: John Cooper, Ma)* 5, 1789; 
Samuel Mellish, March 22, 1702; Israel Chapin, jr., March 18, L795; 
Amos Hall, February 23, 1790; Dudlay Saltonstall, January 25, 1798; 
Reuben Hart, February 10, 1809; Eliphalet Taylor, February 13, 
lsio; Reuben Hart, February 5, 1811; Eliphalet Taylor, March 9, L813; 
Reuben Hart, March 17, 1815: Stephen Phelps, April 10, 1817; Ira 
Selby, March 5, 1821; Jared Wilcox, March 38, 1S2:*». 

The following persons have held this office in Wayne county: John 
S. Tallmadge, April 18, L823; Frederick Smith, January 11, L826; 



WAYNE COUNTY. 109 

Graham H. Chapin, March 10, 1826; Lyman Sherwood, February 12, 
1833; James C. Smith, April 10, 1844; (after 1847, the office was 
merged in that of county judge. ) 

The onl} T remaining courts which are common to the State are the 
Special Sessions, held by a justice of the peace for the trial of minor 
offences, and justice courts with limited civil jurisdiction. Previous to 
the Constitution of 1821, modified in 1826, justices of the peace were 
appointed ; since that date they have been elected. The office and its 
duties are descended from the English office of the same name, but are 
much less important here than there, and under the laws of this State 
are purety the creature of the statute. The office is now of little im- 
portance in the administration of law, and with its loss of old-time 
power has lost also much of its former dignity. 

The office of district attorney was formerly known as assistant 
attorney-general. The districts then embraced several counties in 
each and were seven in number. On the loth of April, 1817, upon the 
organization of Tompkins county, a new district was formed, number 
the eighth, which included Broome, Cortland, Seneca and Tompkins 
counties. At first the office was filled by the governor and council dur- 
ing pleasure. The office of district attorney, as now known, was cre- 
ated April 4, 1801. By a law passed in April, 1818, each county was 
constituted a separate district for the purposes of this office. During 
the era of the second Constitution district attorneys were appointed by 
the County Courts in each county. 

The following persons have held the office of district attorney for 
Wayne county from and including the year given in each case: William 
H. Adams, 1823: Graham H. Chapin, September 26, 1829; William 
H. Adams, September 29, 1830; John M. Holley, February, 2, 1831; 
Theron R. Strong, January 31, 1835; Charles D. Lawton, September 
26, 1839; John M. Holley, October 5, 1842; George H. Middleton, 
September 26, 1845; Lyman Sherwood, May 30, 1846; Coles Bashford, 
June, 1847; George Olmstead, October 4, 1850; Stephen K. Williams, 
November, 1850; Joseph Welling, November, 1853; Jared F. Harri- 
son, November, 1856; Jacob B. Decker, November, 1858; William F. 
Aldrich, November, 1861; George N. Williams, jr , November, 1864; 
John H. Camp, November, 1867; Charles H. Roy, November, 1870; 
Murganzy Hopkins, November, 1873; Marvin I. Greenwood, Novem- 
ber, 1876; John Vandenburg, November, 1879; Jefferson W. Hoag, 
November, 1882; Charles H. Ray, November, 1885; Samuel M. 
Sawyer, November, 1888; re-elected November, 1891. 



110 LANDMARKS OF 

The legal business of the inhabitants of the territory of Wa)me 
county, was, of course, done in Ontario county previous to 1K23. The 
public buildings were situated, as now, in Canandaigua. We learn from 
the records that the first court in Ontario county was held in the un- 
finished chamber of Moses Atwater's house on the first Tuesday in 
June, 1792: Oliver Phelps, judge; Nathaniel Gorham, jr., clerk; 
Judah Colt, sheriff. Vincent Mathews of Newtown was the only 
attorney present when the court opened. The first business in the 
Surrogate's Court of the county was the settlement of the estate of 
Captain Jonathan Whitney, who died in 1793. 

By an act of the Legislature April 9, 1792, the supervisors of Ontario 
county were authorized to raise by tax the sum of six hundred pounds 
for building a court house. Under this act the first court house was 
erected on the square in Canandaigua. The first jail was a block-house 
which had been built as a protection against the Indians. 

With the erection of Wayne county all the necessary measures were 
adopted for the transfer of the courts to the new community. The 
act contains the following provisions : 

" There shall be held in and for the county a Court of Common 
Pleas and a Court of General Sessions of the Peace, and there shall be 
three terms of said court in every year, to commence and end as fol- 
lows: The terms of said court shall begin on the fourth Tuesday of 
January, May and September, and may continue to be held until the 
Saturday following inclusive. 

"That the first term of the said Court of Common Pleas and General 
Sessions of the Peace in and for Wayne county shall be held in the 
Presbyterian meeting house in the village of Lyons, and all subsequent 
terms shall be holden in the same place until the completion of the 
court house." 

Meanwhile prisoners were to be confined in the jail of Ontario 
county. The act appointed William D. Ford, of Jefferson county; 
Samuel Strong, of Tioga county, and Oliver P. Ashley, of Greene 
county, as "commissioners for examining and determining a proper 
site for a court house and jail. " 

The supervisors of Wa5me county were authorized to meet at the 
house of Henry L. Woolsey, in Lyons, on the first Tuesday in October, 
L823, and '.' cause to be assessed, collected and paid into the treasury 
of said county of Wayne, the sum of $2,500; and also at their next 
annual meeting the further sum of $2,500, in like manner as taxes to 
defray the contingent expenses of the county." 



WAYNE COUNTY. Ill 

In pursuance of this legislation the church in Lyons was prepared 
for its new purpose. The upper part of the pulpit was removed; a 
platform was built over the small chancel in front, a carpet was laid, 
tables and chairs provided, and there on the fourth Tuesday in May, 
L823, the first courts of Wayne county were held. John S. Tallmadge 
was first judge, and Enoch Moore and William Sisson, judges. Hugh 
Jameson was sheriff ; William H. Adams, district attorney; Israel J. 
Richardson, county clerk; George W. Scott, deputy clerk; Andrew J. 
Lowe and George Sisson, coroners. 

The resident attorneys of the county admitted to practice at the 
organization of the courts were: William H. Adams, Graham H. 
Chapin, Frederick Smith, Orville L. Holley, Hiram K. Jerome, 
William J. Hough, Joseph S. Colt John Fleming, jr., Hugh Jameson, 
William Wells, Thomas P. Baldwin, Alexander R. Tiffany, Charles F. 
Smith, Edward M. Coe. 

Names of the first grand jurors empaneled in the county: John 
Adams, Abner F. Lakey, William D. Wiley, John Baber, jr., Lemuel 
Spear, David Warner, Ephraim Green, William Voorhies, James 
Mason, Abel Wyman, David Russell, Cephas Moody, Stephen Sher- 
man, William Wilson, William Plank, Alexander Beard, Jacob Butter- 
field, Daniel Chapman, Jeremiah B. Pierce, Freeman Rogers, Newell 
Taft, Pliny Foster, Joseph Lane. 

The first court house was built in pursuance of the provisions of the 
Legislative act before noted. The building committee consisted of 
Simeon Griswold, of Galen, a Mr. Kellogg, of Sodus, and another 
gentleman, name unknown; Joseph Hull was the architect; John Mc- 
Carn and Harry Gale were the masons. The corner stone was laid with 
Masonic ceremonies, Henry Seymour officiated, and Gen. William H. 
Adams delivered the address. The building was of brick and stood in 
the center of the present park in Lyons. It was burned in 185G, and 
the clerk's office erected. The old court house had long been inade- 
quate and inconvenient for the county business before steps were taken 
in 1852-3 towards providing a better one. A Legislative act of April 
11, 1853, appointed John Adams, Stephen Marshall and Francis E. 
Cornwell, commissioners for the erection of a new court house and 
jaii. The State comptroller was authorized to loan the county $12,000 
from the school fund, to be repaid in four annual installments ; and on 
the 9th of April, 1855, another loan of $10,000 was made. Through 
the efforts of a committee consisting of William D. Perrine, S. Har- 



112 LANDMARKS OF 

rington, S. Marshall, John Knowles, and P. P. Bradish, the commis- 
sioners secured title to two lots of land on the north side of Church 
street, opposite and north of the court house site. Its style of architec- 
ture is imposing and appropriate and the cost of the building about 
$50,000. 

The first county clerk's office stood west of the park on Pearl street. 
It was used until it became apparent that it was both unsafe and in- 
adequate, when measures were adopted for the erection of a new one. 
A lot was purchased a little west of the old office, on the same street, 
and in 1874 the present commodious fire-proof structure was erected at 
a cost of about $14,000. 

The county jail is a stone structure in the west part of Lyons, and 
is well adapted for its purposes. 

The following document has a quaint interest in this connection : 

DECLARATION. 

I do solemnly swear that I have not been engaged in a duel, by sending or accept- 
ing a challenge to fight a duel, or by fighting a duel, or in any other manner, in 
violation of the act entitled, "An act to suppress dueling," since the first day of 
July, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixteen ; nor will I 
be concerned either directly or indirectly, in any duel during the continuance of the 
said act, and while an inhabitant of this State. — May 27, 1823. 

William H. Adams, William Wells, Lem. W. Ruggles, 

Fred K.Smith, 'Edward M. Coe, Mark H. Sibley, 

Orville L. Holley, Chas. F. Smith, Alex. R. Tiffany, 

Wm. J. Hough, Th. P. Baldwin, Hiram K. Jerome, 

John Fleming, jr. David Hudson, Rodney J. Church, 

Graham H. Chapin, Jeff Clark. George W. Scott, 

Hugh Jameson, Jared Willson, Joseph Skinner. 

Samuel Dickinson, Nathan Park, 

This document is on file in the county clerk's office. It gives the 
names of the lawyers here at that early date, with a few from Ontario 
county who desired to practice here. 

In the year 1856 the number of lawyers in the county had reached 
thirty-six, and they were distributed as follows: 

Clyde. — George W. Cowles (still in practice), L. S. Ketch um, C. D. 
Lawton, William S. Stow, Joseph Welling, J. Van Dcnburgh. 

Lyons.— William II. Adams, G. H. Arnold, R. W. Ashley, G, W. 
Benton, William Clark, F. E. Cornwell, D. H. Devoe, E. A. Griswold, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 113 

John T. Mackenzie, D. W. Parshall, Lyman Sherwood, William Sis- 
son, William Van Marter, John N. York. 

Newark.— Stephen Culver, G. W. Middleton, L. M. Norton, S. K. 
Williams (still in practice.) 

Palmyra. — W. F. Aldrich, Ornon Archer, Joseph W. Corning, 
James Peddie, S. B. Mclntyre, J. F. Harrison, G. W. Cuyler, Frederick 
Smith. 

Red Creek.— J. B. Decker. Sodus.— C. C. Teal. South Butler.— A. 
S. Wood. Wolcott.— Chauncey F. Clark. 

Very few of these are now living. In 1860 the number had increased 
to fifty-five, and at the present time (1894) there are fifty-three as 
follows : 

Lyons. — Chester G. Blaine, Frank Brown, Dwight S. Chamberlain, 
John L. Cole, Thaddeus W. Collins, Thaddeus W. Collins, jr., James 
W. Dunwell, Burton Hammond, William Kreutzer, William U. 
Kreutzer, George Kent, Edson W. Hamm, William R. Mason, Charles 
H. Ray, John W. Van Etten. Palmyra. —David S. Aldrich, jr., Fred 
E. Converse, Henry R. Durfee, Mark C. Finley, Addison W. Gates, 
Murganzy Hopkins, Charles McLouth, Samuel B. Mclntyre, Samuel 
N. Sawyer, Pliny T. Sexton, George Tinklepaugh. Newark. — Edwin 
K. Burnham, Marvin I. Greenwood, Joseph Gilbert, C. W. Esty, Edgar 
D. Miller, Luther M. Norton, Henry L. Rupert, Byron C. Williams, 
Stephen K. Williams. Clyde. — George O. Baker, George W. Cowles, 
Thomas Robinson, Charles T. Saxton, De Lancey Stow. Wolcott. — 
Jefferson W. Hoag, Edward H. Kellogg, Joel Fanning, Anson S; Wood, 
William Roe, George S. Horton, A. C. Brink. Sodus.— Mync M. 
Kelly, Benjamin B. Seaman. Red Creek. — Jacob B. Decker, Charles 
O. Peterson. Marion. — Henry R. Taber. Lincoln. — Charles E. 
Yale. 

The Wayne County Bar Association was organized November 10, 
1890, with the following officers: S. B. Mclntyre, president; John 
Vandenburg and William Roe, vice-presidents; Burton Hammond, 
secretary; Henry R. Durfee, treasurer; S. B. Mclntyre,. T. W. Col- 
lins, George W. Cowles, and L. M. Norton, executive committee. 

One of the most conspicuous figures at the bar of Wayne county 
was Theron R. Strong. He was born at Salisbury, Conn. , November 
7, 1802. His father was Martin Strong, for many years a State 
senator and county judge of Litchfield county, Conn. His grand- 

15 



11 1 LANDMARKS OF 

father was Judge Adonijah Strong, who was also a colonel in the 
Revolutionary war. 

Theron R. Strong was intended for other than professional pursuits, 
but his inherited love of the law led him to its study and finally after 
much opposition he was permitted to pursue his studies in the justly 
celebrated law school of Judge Gould in Litchfield for one year. He 
then sought the West, as it was then called, and for a time located in 
Washington county, where, in the office of Cornelius L. Allen, later a 
justice of the Supreme Court, he continued his studies. After admis- 
sion to the bar he sought a permanent location, and with means in- 
sufficient to support himself in one of the cities of the State, he finally 
selected Palmyra as his field of practice. 

His early years were those of struggle and hardship, and his slender 
means were often at so low an ebb as to deprive him of the necessaries 
of life. But his sterling worth, although hidden by a natural diffi- 
dence and modesty, was soon discovered and, equipped with a thorough 
familiarity with legal principles, he won the confidence of and attracted 
as clients the most desirable citizens of Wayne county. He was as- 
sociated many years in business with Hon. O. H. Palmer, and the firm 
of Strong & Palmer was for many years among the leaders of Wayne 
county. Many years subsequently the late Hon. Oscar Craig was his 
partner in Rochester, as was subsequently the late George M. Mum- 
ford. 

He was chosen in 1831 district attooney. In 1839 he was elected 
member of Congress. In 1842 he became member of assembly and in 
1851 he was elected justice of the Supreme Court. He filled this posi- 
tion eight years, during one of which he sat as judge of the Court of 
Appeals. His record in that tribunal is indicated by the fact that of 
all the opinions from the eight members of the court regarded as valu- 
able for publication, the greatest number came from his pen, excepting 
only three written by Judge Denio. 

In his early years his office was sought by two students who not only 
absorbed their law in his society, but also shared his hardships, sleep- 
ing in the same bed and cutting the wood for the office fire. One was 
Hon. William W. Campbell, later a judge of the Supreme Court, and 
the other Hon. Thomas M. Cooley, late chief justice of the Supreme 
Court of Michigan, chief interstate commerce commissioner, and 
author of learned works on municipal law and constitutional limitation. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 115 

Judge Strong, after retiring from the bench, practiced several years 
with conspicuous success in Rochester, N. Y., and subsequently with 
even greater success in New York city. His grasp of legal principles, 
his remarkably soimd judgment, his power of application, his patient 
industry, his unassuming and courteous demeanor, won for him as a 
practitioner unlimited confidence and commanded for him as a judge 
the respect and regard of the bar; and among all classes in Wayne 
count}*, the name of Theron R. Strong was synonymous with the high- 
est qualities of Christian citizenship. He died in New York city on 
May 14, 1873, honored by the bench and bar of that city. 

Ezra Jewell was probably the first lawyer in Lyons, and must have 
been one of the earliest in the county. He came in about 1812 and 
died about 1822. He held the office of judge in Ontario county, of 
which Wayne then formed a part. 

Graham H. Chapin was a prominent lawyer of early times, who came 
to Lyons about 1819. He was a graduate of Yale and a man of more 
than ordinary ability. He was elected to the Twenty-fourth Congress 
and served with credit one term. 

Gen. William H. Adams, although not so conspicuous at the bar of 
Wayne county as some others, owing to his devotion to public and 
private interests in other directions, was nevertheless for many years 
one of the leading men in the community. Born in Berkshire, Mass., 
in May, 1787, he began law practice in Canandaigua long before 
Wayne county was created. He was an officer in the war of 1812 and 
in 1820 settled in Lyons as a partner of Hugh Jamison, the firm soon 
securing a large and successful business for those times. For twenty- 
five years these men were well in the front of the local bar. Mr. 
Adams was a warm and active supporter of the Erie Canal project and 
eventually sunk his competence in an effort to construct the Sodus 
Canal, an account of which is given elsewhere in this volume. He held 
the office of district attorney in 1823, 1&30, and was county judge in 
1846. Public spirited, full of business energy, General Adams accom- 
plished much good in this county. He died in Alloway April 7, 1865. 

Hiram K. Jerome settled in Palmyra as an attorney in 1823 and soon 
assumed a leading position at the bar. In 1848 he ran on the Whig 
ticket under the new constitution for judge of the Supreme Court, but 
was defeated through a bolt at Canandaigua. This was a grievous 
disappointment to him, and as he had already engaged to some extent 
in produce business, he still further neglected his practice for that 



116 LANDMARKS OF 

occupation. He was not successful and removed to Bloomington, 
111., where he practiced to about 1860, when he returned to Rochester, 
N. Y., but remained there only a short time. Again locating in 
Palmyra he opened a law office, but not securing the business he de- 
sired he again went to Rochester, where he died about fifteen years 
ago. He held the office of county judge of Wayne county one term 
beginning in 1840. 

Lyman Sherwood, who died in Lyons, September 2, 1865, at the age 
of sixty-three years, was a prominent member of the bar and judiciary 
of Wayne county. He was for many years at the head of the law firm 
of Sherwood & Smith, which was in the front rank in Western New 
York. Originally a Democrat in politics, Mr. Sherwood gave his 
allegiance to the Republicans upon the organization of that party and 
remained in its ranks until his death. He was elected surrogate in 
1833. In 1842 he was appointed to the State Senate, vice Mark H. 
Sibley resigned. In the fall of 1859 he was elected county judge and 
surrogate, holding the office until 1863. Judge Sherwood is remem- 
bered as a man of good ability and extremely conscientious in perform- 
ing what he considered his duty ; he was consequently highly esteemed, 
not only in his profession, but by the public at large. He was father 
of Lyman Sherwood, long a well-known citizen of Lyons, father of 
Mr. Sherwood, now publisher of the Lyons Republican. 

John M. Holly was born in Connecticut, November 10, 1802; entered 
Yale in 1818, studied law in the Litchfield Law School and in the offices 
of his uncle, Orville L. Holley, of Lyons, and Joseph Kirkland, of 
Utica, and was admitted to the bar in 1825. He began practice at once 
in Buffalo, but a year later located in Wayne count} 7 , where he attained 
a prominent position, and was honored by his fellow citizens. He was 
for a period partner with Graham H. Chapin. In 1831 he was chosen 
district attorney and again in 1842. In 1841 he was elected to the 
Legislature. In 1847 he was elected to Congress, but his health had 
been broken and his very promising career was cut short by death at 
Jacksonville, Fla., March 8, is is. 

John H. Camp was born in Ithaca, April 4, 1840, and graduated from 
the Albany Law School at the age of twenty- one. He located in Lyons 
in 1861 and entered the office of Justice Robert Ashley, and in L863 
went into the office of the surrogate. Mr. Camp began his political career 
early in life by stumping the district for Lincoln in 1860. He was an 
eloquent and persuasive speaker and he soon gained a considerable in- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 117 

fluencein political circles. He was soon made chairman of the County 
Committee. He was elected district attorney in November, 18G7, and 
served with credit one term. In 1872 he was a presidential elector, 
and in 1876 was elected to Congress, where he served three terms with 
marked ability. In 1883 he was a candidate for justice of the Supreme 
Court, but failed of election. through factional differences. From 1877 
to his death Mr. Camp was senior in the firm of Camp & Dunwell, 
one of the foremost legal firms in Western New York. Mr. Camp was 
attorney for the N. Y. C. railroad. In 1891 he was admitted to practice 
in the U. S. Supreme Court. He died in October, 1892. 

Conspicuous among the early lawyers and judges of Wayne county 
was William Sisson. He settled in Lyons about the year 1816, and 
soon entered the front rank of practitioners. He long held the office 
of justice of the peace and was also master in chancery. In 1830 he 
was appointed judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and held the office 
with credit to himself and satisfaction to his fellow citizens for the long 
period of seventeen years. He was a Democrat in politics, but never 
an aspirant for political office nor especially active in the political field. 
•He became noted for the correctness of his decisions and his earnest- 
ness and persistent study to enable himself to do nothing but justice in 
all cases that came before him. His children were three sons and a 
daughter. He died in Lyons, December 7, 1863, at the age of seventy- 
six years. 

Coles Bashford, a native of Putnam county, N. Y., came to Lyons 
with his parents in 1822. He was educated in the seminary at Lima, 
studied law and was admitted to practice in 1842. He advanced 
rapidly in his profession, and was elected district attorney in 1847. In 
1850 he removed to Wisconsin, and in 1863 to Arizona, where he died 
April 25, 1878. He became conspicuous as a politician and office 
holder in the West. 

R. W. Ashley died in Lyons, December 12, 1863, at the age of forty- 
six years. He was a son of Dr. Ashley, an early physician, studied 
law with Judge Sherwood and became a popular and successful 
attorney. He was justice of the peace about fifteen years. 

W. F. Aldrich was born in Mendon, Mass., October 22, 1815. He 
came to Palmyra while young and while clerk in the collector's office, 
took up the study of law. He subsequently entered the office of Judge 
Theron R. Strong, and began practice in 1839. He had as partners at 
different periods George W. Cuyler, a Mr. Hopkins (a brilliant young 



118 LANDMARKS OF 

lawyer who died early in his career), Thomas Ninde, and finally Charles 
McLouth, with whom he became associated in 1858, and continued 
until 18G6. In that year he went to New York city and substantially 
made that his residence, gaining a large practice. He was elected dis- 
trict attorney of Wayne county in 1861. Besides his law business in 
New York, Mr. Aldrich assisted in organizing the Union Trust Com- 
pany and was its secretary. He was also appointed b) r the courts re- 
ceiver for large estates. He died November 14, 1878. 

James Peddie was a native of Fulton county, N. Y. He came to 
Palmyra after having taught school a few years, and began practice. 
He was a Democrat in politics, a speaker of considerable ability, gener- 
ous hearted, and became very popular. He held the office of town 
superintendent of schools and justice of the peace. Late in life he re- 
turned to his native place and died there. 

L. S. Ketchum was conspicuous in the early bar of the county. He 
was probably a native of Chautauqua county and settled in Clyde early 
in his career. He was elected judge of the county in 1851, and re- 
elected in 1856, holding the office eight successive years. He married 
Mary Young of Marion. Judge Ketchum was noted among his 
brethren for his kindness and consideration towards young lawyers 
who appeared before him ; for his unfailing generosity, and for a sturdy 
and outspoken honesty which would never permit any misrepresenta- 
tions of witnesses or other questionable practices by attorneys. Several 
local lawyers studied in his office who subsequently became prominent. 
Among them are George W. Cowles, of Clyde, and Charles Mc- 
Louth, of Palmyra. He was quite prominent in politics and altogether 
attained a position of honor among his fellow citizens. He died in 
Clyde about twenty years since. 

George H. Middleton came to Wayne county from New London, 
Conn., either with or about the same time of his father who settled 
first in Newark village. The father died in the town. The son had 
been admitted to practice before his removal to Wayne county, and for 
many years was one of the leading lawyers of this section. He was 
elected county judge in 1847 and held the office one term. He was 
twice married, his second wife being a sister of H. K. Jerome. Judge 
Middleton removed to Syracuse where he died. 

William S. Stow was born in Middlebury, Vt., October 6, 1797; 
studied law with Elisha Williams in Hudson, N. Y., and was admitted 
to the bar August 19, 1818. He began his practice in Cherry Valley 



WAYNE COUNTY. Ill) 

in 1819; removed to Bainbridge, N. Y., in 1820, where he married a 
sister of William S. De Zeng, and removed to Clyde in 1825. He was 
a man of very active mind and possessed good ability as a lawyer. He 
was one of the founders of St. John's Episcopal church in 1840; a trus- 
tee of Clyde High School at its organization in 1835; was for thirty- 
eight years a warden and vestrymen in St. John's church; twenty-eight 
years a delegate to the Diocesan Council, and was a persistent collector 
of local historical material. He was a member of the Masonic fra- 
ternity from 1823 until his death. His son, De Lancey Stow, is now 
in practice in Clyde. 

Clark Mason was born in West Woodstock, Conn., in 1809, and came 
to Newark in 1828. He lived there until 1863, when he was elected 
county clerk and removed to Lyons. He studied law and was admitted 
to the bar in 1850 and practiced in Lyons, where he died in January 30, 
1882. From 1829 to 1863 he was a justice of the peace in Newark, and 
was six years a member of the Board of Education in Lyons; he was 
also justice of the peace in the latter town from 1878 to 1882. He 
married in 1847 Emeline Petrie, who survived him. 

Charles D. Lawton was a native of Newport, R. I., where he was 
born September 7, 1802. He was educated at Hamilton College, and 
studied law with Hiram K. Jerome, of Palmyra, and was admitted 
about 1831. In 1833 he began practice in Clyde. In 1837 he was ad- 
mitted to practice in the Supreme Court.- Elected district attorney, he 
removed to Lyons in 1844 and in 1848 went to New York city where 
he was in practice with his brother Cyrus. About a year later he re- 
turned to Clyde, where he died August 31, 1877. He was a lawyer of 
good ability and high ideals of his profession. 

Hon. Horatio N. Taft was born in Savoy, Mass., in 1806 and came to 
Lyons in 1822, where he was one of the founders of the Union school. 
He was admitted to the bar and advanced in his profession. In 1845 
he was elected judge and in .1846 was sent to Congress. In 1876 he 
was appointed chief examiner in the U. S. patent office. He left 
Washington in 1866 and for about twelve, years was one of the editorial 
staff of the Scientific American. He subsequently settled in Sag 
Harbor. 

Luther M. Norton, of Newark, was born in Groveland, Livingston 
county, N. Y., in February, 1832. He studied law in Mt. Morris in 
that county and was admitted to the bar in December, 1855. He re- 
moved to Newark and for one year was a partner with the late Judge 



120 LANDMARKS OF 

George H. Middleton. He soon assumed a prominent position as a gen- 
eral practitioner, and took considerable interest in politics. He held the 
office of justice of sessions and in 1870 was elected county judge and 
surrogate, holding the office one term. In 1892 he was again elected 
to the same office and is the present incumbent. Judge Norton enjoys 
the confidence and respect of the county bar and the public at large. 

Charles H. Roys was born in Lyons in 1837 and was adopted when 
a child by his maternal grandfather, Samuel Westfall. He graduated 
from Hamilton College in 1861; raised a company of volunteers in 
Clinton and went to the war as lieutenant; was promoted to a captain 
in 117th Regiment and brevetted major. Returning he studied law 
with John T. McKenzie, in Lyons. He was elected district attorney 
in 1870. Mr. Roys is a brilliant orator, well versed in the principles 
of his profession and has had a successful career. 

Thomas Robinson was born in Rose in 1837. He was a son of Henry 
Robinson, a native of Ireland, who settled in Rose in 1835, and died in 
1874. The son was educated in Red Creek Academy and Falley 
Seminary; was elected school commissioner in I860 and served four 
years, meanwhile reading law with George W. Cowles; was admitted 
in 1865, and remained in the office with Judge Cowles until 1881, when 
he began practice by himself. He was elected State senator in the 
fall of 1883 and served two years. 

George H. Arnold was a promising young attorney of Lyons whose 
career was closed by death at the age of thirty-seven years; he died 
July 2, 1867. He was a graduate of the law school at Poughkeepsie 
and began practice in the office of Smith & Cornell in Lyons. 

In Part II of this volume will be found personal sketches of numer- 
ous other living attorneys of Wayne county. 



WAYNE COUNTY. I'-'l 



CHAPTER XL 

THE MEDICAL PROFESSION. 

Wayne County Medical Society — Wayne County Homeopathic Medical Society — 
Sketches and Reminiscences. 

Previous to the formation of Wayne county the medical profession 
was, of course, under the jurisdiction of the Ontario County Society, 
which had its origin early in the present century. There is now no prac- 
ticable means of learning the number of members of that society, or the 
officers, if any, who were from within the present limits of Wayne 
county, except as they maybe inferred from the list of those who shared 
in organizing the Wayne County Society. 

A meeting of physicians and surgeons was held, pursuant to a call, 
in the Presbyterian Church in Lyons on June 2, 1823, for the purpose of 
organizing a medical society in the new county. Dr. Gain Robinson 
was chosen to preside, and William White acted as secretary. The fol- 
lowing named persons were found competent and authorized to practice 
medicine, and enrolled their names : Seth Tucker, C. S. Button, Samuel 
Moore, Abraham L. Beaumont, Robert W. Ashley, Daniel Chapman, 
William White, Joseph P. Roberts, Henry Hyde, Elisha Mather, Levi 
Gaylord, Gain Robinson, Durfee Chase, Allen H. Howland, John Lewis, 
William A. Gilbert, J. B. Pierce, Henry C. Hickox, Jonathan Corwin, 
Morris T. Jewell, Timothy Johnson, and John R. Taintor. 

This made a membership of twenty-two. The election of officers fol- 
lowed with this result: President, Gain Robinson; vice-president, John 
Lewis; secretary, William White; treasurer, Elisha Mather; censors, 
J. B. Pierce, sr. , A. L. Beaumont, Robert Ashley, Morris T. Jewell, 
Durfee Chase. 

The preparation of by-laws for the society was entrusted to a commit- 
tee consisting of Seth Tucker, J. B. Pierce, and William White. Will- 
iam H. Adams and Alexander R. Tiffany were admitted honorary mem- 
bers of the society and chosen its attorneys. A committee was also 
selected to procure a society seal, to bear the symbol of a lancet. 

16 



122 LANDMARKS OF 

It was determined to hold two meetings each year, in Jime and in 
February. At the second meeting, which was held in Sodus, four new 
members were elected: Alexander Mclntyre, Josiah Bennett, Jacob S. 
Arden, and Hiram Mann. After this meetings were held in the vari- 
ous more prominent villages of the county. 

That the Wayne County Medical Society early determined to open a 
war upon illegal practitioners is indicated by the fact that at the meet- 
ing held in Newark in 1824 a committee was appointed from each town 
to report illegal practitioners to the attorneys of the society, and a reso- 
lution was adopted that a fine of twenty-five dollars be imposed upon 
any member who should in any way assist or countenance such illegal 
practice. This was an unusually severe penalty for an offense that in 
early times was often difficult to avoid. A resolution was adopted at a 
later meeting, that representatives of the county in the Legislature be 
requested to endeavor to secure the passage of the law making it a 
felony to practice illegally. The beneficent law of 1880, which makes 
it imperative for every physician intending to practice in any county to 
register his name, place and date of birth, when and where graduated, 
etc., in the county clerk's office, renders such regulations unnecessary in 
these later times, and at the same time supplies a record which may be 
read by both professional and layman. 

Eight new members were admitted to the society in June, 1824. At 
the annual meeting of 1825, held in Newark, an effort was inaugurated 
to procure the removal of the medical college at Fairfield, Herkimer 
county, to some point farther west, with the expectation that it might 
be ultimately located in Wayne county. The annual meeting of 1826 
was held in Palmyra, and Dr. Alexander Mclntyre was chosen as the 
first delegate to the New York State Medical Society. 

During the period between the formation of the society and 1840 this 
society seems to have experienced a period of prosperity and activity, 
during which 117 members were admitted; but the act of May G, 1S44, 
removing to a great extent the restrictions on physicians, and ignoring 
their qualifications, struck a severe blow at all medical societies, and for 
a few years the Wayne society was discouraged. About 1S50 interest 
again awakened, members became active and earnest in working for 
the general welfare and good reputation of this profession, and the so- 
ciety has flourished ever since. Many able and important papers have 
been prepared and read before the society by its officers and members. 
In 1SS4 this society withdrew from the New York State Medical So- 




•J^-t^-^C I £^<^__ 



WAYNE COUNTY. 123 

ciety and joined the New York State Medical Association, of which it 
has since been a member. 

The successive presidents of the Wayne county society have been as 
follows: Gain Robinson, 1823-26; Robert W. Ashley, 1827; J. B. Pierce, 
1 828 ; Gain Robinson, 1 829-30 ; Robert W. Ashley, 1831 ; John Delamatcr, 
1832-34; A. Mclntyre, 1835-38; J. M. Wilson, 1839-41; A. Mclntyre, 
1842-43; Nelson Peck, 1844-45; Dr. Gaylord, sr., 1846; A. Mclntyre. 
1847-8; J. B. Pierce, 1849; from 1850 to 1876 the following: C. G. Pom- 
eroy, Darwin Colvin, L. M. Gaylord, S. Weed, E. W. Bottom, J. E. 
Smith, A. F. Sheldon; C. M. Kingman, 1876; J. N. Arnold,. 1877 ; L. 
S. Sprague, 1878; Alexander Sayres, 1879; H. F. Seaman, 1880; L. A. 
Crandall, 1881; C. G. Pomeroy, 1882; J. W. Putman, 1883; D. B. Hor- 
ton, 1884; Darwin Colvin, 1885; D. B. Horton, 1886; J. W. Arnold, 
1887; W. J. Hennessy, 1888; N. E. Landon, 1889; A. A. Young, 1890; 
George D. York, 1891; M. E. Carmen, 1892; Darwin Colvin, 1893. 

The annual meeting of this society for 1894 was held at the court- 
house in Lyons on July 10. The annual address was read by the presi- 
dent, Dr. Darwin Colvin, on the subject: "Medical Men and Medical 
Literature Fifty Years Ago." It was a valuable and interesting paper. 
Committees were appointed to prepare resolutions of respect and sym- 
pathy upon the death of Drs. John A. Patterson, of Harwick, Mass., 
and Frank PI. Finley, of Macedon. A vote of thanks was tendered the 
retiring secretary, Dr. J. M. Turner, for her long and faithful service. 
The following officers were chosen for the ensuing year; Dr. L. H. 
Smith, of Palmyra, president; Dr. T. H. Hallett, of Rose, vice-presi- 
dent; Dr. A. A. Young, of Newark, secretary; Dr. Darwin Colvin, of 
Clyde, treasurer; Drs. M. A. Veeder, N. E. Landon. W. J. Hennessey, 
and A. A. Arnold, censors ; S. B. Mclntyre, esq. , of Palmyra, attorney. 

Following is a list of the members of the society for 1894: Thomas 
H. Hallett, Rose; Charles H. Towlerton, Lyons; M. Alice Brownell, 
Newark; L. A. Crandall, Palmyra; J. N. Arnold, Clyde; J. W. At- 
wood, Marion; G. D. Barrett, Clyde; H. N. Burr, Palmyra; H. L. 
Chase, Palmyra; Darwin Colvin, Clyde; E. H. Draper, Wolcott; W. 
J. Hennessey, Palmyra; N. E. Landon, Newark; James W. Putnam, 
Lyons; H. F. Seaman, Alton; A. F. Sheldon, Lyons; J. E. Smith, 
Clyde; L. H. Smith, Palmyra; J. L. Sprague, L. S. Sprague, William- 
son; Miss J. M. Turner, M. H. Veeder, Lyons; George D. York, Hu- 
ron; A. A. Young, Newark; M. E. Carmen, Lyons; Frank S. Barton, 
Clyde; F. L. Wilson, Sodus; M. W. T. Negus, South Sodus; W. F. 
Nutten, Newark, 



124 LANDMARKS OF 

The society now holds annual meetings on the 2d Tuesday of July, 
at which officers are elected, and semi-annual meetings on the 2d Tues- 
day of January. Since L880, 194 physicians have registered in the 
county clerk's office in Lyons. 

Wayne Count\- Homeopathic Medical Society. — Ever since the intro- 
duction into this country of the school of medical practice founded by 
Hahnemann, Wayne county has had its representatives, and among 
them have been men of high character and intelligence, who have been 
favored with large practice. All this is indicated by the fact that as 
early as 1864, on February 9, a society of physicians of this school was 
organized at Lyons, at the office of Dr. S. D. Sherman. Dr. M. P. 
Sweeting, at South Butler, was chosen chairman. The society organ- 
ized by the election of the following officers : I hirfee Chase, president; 
M. V. Sweeting, vice-president; E. R. Heath, secretary and ti'easurer. 
A code of by-laws and a constitution was prepared and at a later meet- 
ing was adopted. It was at first determined to hold semi-annual meet- 
ings, and afterwards quarterly. Besides the officers before named the 
following constituted the original membership: A. G. Austen, O. C. 
Parsons, S. B. Sherman, L. Goedicke, and A. P. Troop. At the pres- 
ent time (1894) the society has twelve members. The last body of of- 
ficers was elected in 1880 as follows: President, J. A. Reed, of Newark; 
secretary, William H. Sweeting, of Savannah. Dr. Sweeting has held 
the office of secretary continuously, since 1881. The following have 
held the office of president of this society: Drs. Durfee Chase, 1864- (55: 
S. I). Sherman, 1866: M. F. Sweeting, 1867-73-76 ; A. G. Austin, 1868 
-69; S. D. Sherman, 1870-71; W. B. Brown, 1872; G. C. Childs, is;; 
?9; H. P. Van Deusen, L880-85; J. C. McPherson, 1881-84; D. Mc- 
Pherson, L886-88; J. A. Reed, 1889. 

Biographical memoranda of the early physicians of Wayne county is 
very difficult to obtain, excepting in such instances as it has been con- 
tributed by direct descendants. Even then it is often fragmentary and 
incomplete. 

In the original town of Wolcott Dr. Zenas Hyde was prominent as a 
physician and useful as a citizen. His first settlement was made in 
what is now the town of Huron, in January, L808. A child of his was 
the second person born in the town. In the winter following he per- 
formed the first surgical operation in that town by amputating the leg 
of I laniel Grand)-, which had been badly crushed by a falling tree. It 
is a tradition that the doctor had no regfular surgical instruments and 



WAYNE COUNTY. 125 

cut the off leg with a razor, a handsaw, and a darning needle, and that the 
operation was successful. He was afterwards taken to task by his pro- 
fessional brethren for working with such unorthodox instruments. 

Artemas W. Hyde was a doctor who settled very early in the town 
of Arcadia, but probably practiced very little, if at all. He built a tav- 
ern at Hydeville, which he kept as a popular resort during his life. 

The first physician in Lyons was Dr. Prescott, and came probably as 
early as 1800. A Dr. Willis also settled there, but did not like the 
prospect and went away. Dr. William Ambler located there a little 
later and lived in a log house on the corner of Broad and Pearl streets. 
He afterwards removed to Sodus. 

Dr. Pierce was in practice about fifty years in Lyons, and died in the 
village. Dr. E. Ware Sylvester located in Lyons as a dentist, though 
he was educated as a regular physician. He practiced many years, 
and finally established the Lyons nurseries, and was instrumental in 
developing the fruit industry of the county. 

Dr. Edward Wheeler Bottum was born in Red Hook, N. Y. , June 
22, 1811. He graduated from the Castleton (Vt. ) Medical College, 
began practice in Victory, N. Y., removed to Huron, and settled in 
Lyons in 1856, where he was afterwards associated with Dr. William 
G. David, and Drs. Chamberlain, Gillette and Veeder. He was a 
member of the New York State and Wayne County Medical Societies, 
and was member of Assembly in 1851. He died February 29, 1888. 

Dr. Hiram D. Vosburg was born in Herkimer county in 1831, attend- 
ed Fairfield Academy, moved to Macedon in 1849, and the next year 
began the study of medicine in Palmyra with Dr. Hoyt. He gradu- 
ated from the medical college at Pittsfield, Mass., in 1853. He also 
studied law and was admitted to the bar. In 1862 he went into the 
army as surgeon of the 8th New York Cavalry, was disabled and assigned 
to Columbia Hospital, Washington. In 1865 he settled in Monroe 
county, and in 1870 removed to Lyons, where he died, March 25, 1870. 

Dr. Fletcher J. Sherman practiced in Lyons from about 1881 to the 
date of his death in October, 1887. He was born in 1852, graduated at 
the Rochester University in 1876, and studied his profession in the 
New York College of Physicians and Surgeons. 

Dr. Richard P. Williams was an early physician in Newark, and built 
the house afterwards occupied by Dr. Charles G. Pomeroy. Dr. Button 
was also located early in Newark. 



126 LANDMARKS OF 

Dr. Charles G. Pomeroy was a native of Madison county, N. Y. , and 
settled in Fairville in L838, where he practiced seven years, and then 
located in Newark. He was for many years a leading- physician in this 
county, was president of the Medical Society many times, and a mem- 
ber of the State Medical Society, 

Dr. William N. Lummis migrated from Philadelphia to Sodus Point 
in 1804, and was among the very early and prominent physicians of 
what is now Wayne county. He was born in Woodbury, N. J., April 
15, 1755. He had previously explored more or less of the Genesee 
country, and selected Sodus for his home. When the war of 1812 
began he removed two miles west, where he built mills and a forge. 
His former house at the Point was burned during the attack of the 
British. He held various town offices, and was in all respects a public- 
spirited and useful citizen. Turner's History says of Dr. Lummis: 
"To indefatigable industry and perseverance he added extraordinary 
business talent, and to a vigorous intellect he added a thorough edu- 
cation, cultivated literary tastes and pursuits, which, in hours of relax- 
ation from the sterner duties of life, made him an agreeable and in- 
structive companion." He died April 1G, 1833. 

Dr. Thomas G. Lawson, from England, was an early settler at Sodus 
Point, where he purchased lands and spent money freely in their im- 
provement. Pie returned to England after a few years. 

Other early physicians of Sodus were: Drs. Coon, Gibbs, and Johnson. 
After 1810 Dr. Elisha Mather practiced in the town. He was from 
Saybrook, Conn., located first on a farm, and in 1821 settled in Sodus 
Center, where his son afterwards resided. Dr. Levi Gaylord, who died 
in 1852, practiced thirty years in the community, and left his son, Dr. 
Levi M. Gaylord, to follow in his footsteps. He was born March \!T, 
1823, and died in Sodus, January 20, 1890, where he had practiced 
about forty-five years. Dr. H. H. Ostrom was the pioneer physician at 
Alton, and father of Dr. H. Ostrom. Dr. P. S. Rose, a native of 
( )neida county, settled at Sodus Center in 1847. Dr. John C. Lamont, 
a native of Edinburgh, Scotland graduated from the College of 
Physicians and Surgeons, New York, and settled in Sodus to begin 
practice in 1871; he died December 13, 1887. He was a prominent 
Mason. 

Dr. Darwin Colvin, of Clyde, comes of a family distinguished for 
professional ability and honor. His father was Dr. Nathan P. Colvin, 
formerly of- Washington county, N. Y., who was in practice more than 



WAYNE COUNTY. 127 

sixty years. The ancestors of the family came from Rhode Island. Dr. 
Colvin was born on the Gth of July, 1822. When nine years of age his 
father moved from Washington county to Wayne county. The son at- 
tended the academy at Clyde. Then for three years he was under 
special instruction in the classics with a view of preparing himself for 
West Point United States Military Academy. He was, however, born 
to be a physician. For awhile he was in a drug store, then he com- 
menced studying medicine with his father, and later still with his uncle, 
Dr. Robert T. Paine, who was associated with his father in the practice 
of medicine. In January, 1844, he graduated from the Geneva Medical 
College, and commenced practiced at Clyde. He was associated with 
his father for about five years. Then he moved to the office he now 
occupies on the corner of Sodus and Genesee streets. In this office he 
has practiced for thirty-three continous years. In 1845 he was united 
in marriage to a daughter of Dr. Linus Ely, of Seneca county. He has 
one child, who is the wife of George J. Oaks, a merchant of Rochester. 
Dr. Colvin 's devotion to the Democratic party has been very marked. 
Many times has he gone to county and State conventions. In 1874 he 
became a member of the State Democratic Committee and remained as 
such until the close of 1876. This was, as will be remembered, the be- 
ginning of the Tilden campaign. The doctor was an ardent supporter 
of the governor throughout these years. Many years ago Dr. Colvin 
was nominated by the Democrats to the office of county coroner. He 
has spent three years as a member of the School Board, and recently 
has received the appointment of Regents' examiner, and will assist the 
principal in conducting all regent examinations. For many years he 
was health officer of the village. Four times was he elected president 
of the village, during the years of '65, '66, '67 and '77. In 1850 he be- 
came connected with the Wayne County Medical Society, and served as 
secretary and president. Now he is its treasurer. About 1850 the 
society became considerably demoralized, and he was in conjunction 
with Dr. Pomeroy of Newark principally instrumental in reorganizing 
it. He was a member of the old New York State Medical Society, and 
is now a retired permanent member of that society. He is at present 
a member of the New York State Medical Association, having been at 
its organization, seven years ago, one of its founders. He has been 
vice-president of the Fourth District, and a delegate to the Pennsylvania 
State Society. For many years he has been a member of the American 
Medical Association, and in 1887 was by acclamation elected its second 



128 LANDMARKS OF 

vice-president. Frequently has Dr. Colvin been a contributor to med- 
ical journals. In 1885 he was appointed by Governor Hill a member of 
the Board of Trustees of the New York State Custodial Asylum for 
feeble-minded women, at Newark, N. Y., and is still a member. Dr. 
Colvin on many occasions has been called upon to testify as an expert 
in insanity and other cases, and has now a large consultation practice. 
He is a gentleman who is still in active practice, and though in some- 
what advanced life, is both in professional and political circles a power 
in the land. 

Dr. William Greenwood settled in Ontario village in 181,1, as the pio- 
neer physician of that town, and he continued in practice until his death 
in 1829. He was much respected as a physician and as a citizen. 

A Dr. Bigelow settled in Williamson before 1815, and was, perhaps, 
the first physician in the town. After seven or eight years he sold out 
to Dr. Josiah Bennett, who practiced there until his death, being the 
second physician in the town. Dr. Bennett came in 1815. He was 
the father of Hon. John P. and Charles Bennett, who reside in Will- 
iamson village. John B. Bennett is the foremost citizen of the town; 
he held the office of sheriff, member of assembly in 1890, and has been 
supervisor since 1879. 

Dr. Gain Robinson was practicing in Palmyra in 1812, and was prob- 
ably preceded a few years by Dr. Reuben Town. Dr. Robinson was 
from Massachusetts and continued in practice until his death in 1830. 
He also conducted the first drug store in the village. Dr. L. Cowen 
also practiced early in that village and carried on a drug store. 

Dr. Peter Valentine settled in what is now the town of Rose about 
!Sli). He was the first postmaster, appointed in 1827, the office being 
named "Valentine's," afterwards "Albion," and finally " Rose." Dr. 
Valentine was the first physician in the town and the first supervisor. 

Dr. John J. Dickson, born in 1807, practiced medicine in Rose forty- 
five years. He was justice of the peace twenty years, and was a mem- 
ber of the Legislature in 1845. He settled in the town about 1829, and 
died in 1874. 

Hon. Allen S. Russell was educated as a physician in the College of 
Physicians and Surgeons, New York, graduating with honor in 1864. 
He served as assistant surgeon and brigade surgeon in the Civil War. 
Returning to Marion he engaged in practice and has carried on a drug 
business. He was elected to the Assembly in L875 and again in the fol- 
lowing year. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 129 

Dr. James M. Wilson, of Wolcott, was born in Washington county in 
L807. He graduated from the Vermont Medical College in 1829, and 
soon afterward settled in Huron. Three years later he located in Wol- 
cott, where he was very successful in his practice. He was supervisor 
ten years; was elected to the assembly in 1842 and in 1850. In 184(3 he 
was the candidate of the Democratic party for member of Congress, but 
was defeated by a small majority. He died August 17, 1881. His son, 
Benjamin Wilson, is also a successful physician. 

Dr. Alfred P. Crafts was born in Cherry Valley, N. Y., in 1826; grad- 
uated from Union College in 1851, and from the Buff alo Medical College 
in 1855, He was appointed assistant surgeon at Washington in 1862, 
and after the close of the war settled in Wolcott. He had previously 
practiced in Sodus and Huron. He was elected to the Assembly in 1879. 
He died in Wolcott, December 18, 1880. 

Dr. S. Hiram Plumb was born in Greenfield, N. Y. , February 19, 
1819. He attended lectures in the medical department of the Univer- 
sity of New York, and began practice in 1846. He enlisted from Vic- 
tor, N. Y., in the 24th N. Y. Volunteers, and later was made surgeon 
of the 82d Regiment, still later was brigade surgeon of the 1st Brigade, 
2d Corps, and chief of the operating staff of the division. During the 
last year of the war he was surgeon-in-chief of the 2d Division, 2d Corps, 
with rank of colonel. Mustered out in June, 1865, he returned to Red 
Creek, where he died full of professional honor August 13, 1880. 

Dr. David Arne went to Wolcott village in early years. He was act- 
ive, capable, and very ambitious, soon acquiring a large practice. He 
also was active in public affairs, held the office of justice of the peace, 
and subsequently was side judge of the County Court. He was the first 
supervisor of the present town of Wolcott in 1826, and was member of 
assembly one term. He finally removed to Auburn, N. Y., and died 
there. His son, George H. Arne, resided in Wolcott, and built a fine 
residence on New Hartford street. 

Dr. RomainC. Barless, twin brother of Rollin C, was born in Hoosick, 
N. Y., October 19, 1833, studied medicine with his father-in-law, Dr. 
Thompson, of Sandy Creek, and began practice in Rose Valley in 1858. 
He served as a musician three years in the 9th N. Y. Heavy Artillery, 
and has since resided in Rose. His son, Clayton J., is owner and edi- 
tor of the Farmer's Counsel and Times at Rose. 

Dr. Robert Ashley, a native of Massachusetts, came to Lyons about 
1805. He owned a lot on the corner of Broad and Queen streets, and 

17 



130 LANDMARKS OF 

built a frame house there, which was afterwards sold to Lyman Sher- 
wood. He was a man of fine personal appearance, and a good physi- 
cian and citizen. 

Dr. Charles Culver, who died in Lyons, October 18, 1854, was one of 
the older and more prominent physicians of that village. 

Dr. Linus Ely, of Clyde, died in that village April 30, 1864, at the 
age of seventy-nine years. His professional career was long and honor- 
able. 

Dr. Jeremiah B. Pierce, a man of prominence both in and outside of 
his profession, died in Lyons on the 10th of April, 1862, at the age of 
seventy-two years. 

John Knowles, sr. , practiced long in Lyons, and died there Novem- 
ber 19, 1864, aged sixty-nine years. 

Dr. Nelson Peck settled in Lyons about 1827. He was a public spir- 
ited man and mingled considerably in political affairs, and held the of- 
fice of inspector of schools many years. Kindhearted and benevolent, 
he lived a long and upright life, and died much respected May 28, 1866. 

Dr. William May died in Palmyra, September 10, 1865, at the age of 
fifty-seven years. He was a successful physician and respected as a 
man. 

Dr. S. Olin was one of the older physicians of Sodus, to which town 
he went in early years and died at South Sodus, April 5, 1865, aged 
sixty-seven years. 

Dr. Ryland J. Rogers was born in Palmyra, May 14, 1819, and be- 
came a prominent practitioner. He removed to Suspension Bridge in 
1854. 

Dr. Hiram Mann, who died in Lyons, October 2, 1865, at the age of 
seventy-seven, was not only a leading physician, but was conspicuous 
in public affairs. He held the office of sheriff in 1837-40. 

Dr. William G. David, of Lyons, died August 17, 1877. He was a 
native of New Hampshire, a graduate of Williams College, and of the 
Harvard Medical College in 1855. He settled in Lyons about 1859, was 
surgeon of the 98th Regiment in the Rebellion, and was universally es- 
teemed as a physician and a citizen. 

Dr. Lawrence Johnson was born in Savannah in L845; left Falley 
Seminary early in the late war, enlisted in the 9th Heavy Artillery, and 
served to L865. Returning home he studied medicine with Dr. C. M. 
Lee, of Fulton, N. Y., and at Bellevue, graduating in L868. He be- 
came a leading physician, removed to New York, and died there March 
is, is-.):;. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 131 

Dr. William Vosburg died in Lyons, June 15, 1870, aged forty-four 
years. He was prominent in his profession and an excellent citizen. 

Dr. George P. Livingston was born in Amsterdam, N. Y., in 1826, 
and settled in Clyde in 1850, coming here from Brockport, where he had 
practiced medicine and dentistry. He graduated from the Albany Medi- 
cal College in 1847 ; served in the navy in the war with Mexico, stationed 
at the Brooklyn navy yard; held the office of coroner nine years; and 
was a prominent Mason and Odd Fellow. He died in Clyde, Decem- 
ber 22, 1888. 

Dr. Charles M. Kingman, who died at Centralia, Va., in April, 1886, 
at the age of sixty-five years, practiced medicine in Palmyra more than 
twenty years with success. He was a graduate of Hamilton College. 

Dr. Hurlburt Crittenden was the first physician in Walworth in 1810. 
Dr. Seth Tucker was the pioneer of his profession in Marion, and prac- 
ticed there many years. 

Dr. Mortimer Franklin Sweeting was born in Marcellus, Onondaga 
county, N. Y., in August, 1817. He graduated as a physician from the 
Geneva Medical College in 1850, and settled in South Butler in 1852, 
where he succeeded Dr. Clarendon Campbell. Dr. Sweeting had a long 
and successful career. He was the father of A^olney H. Sweeting, of 
Lyons, and of Dr. Sweeting, of Savannah. 

The reader will find in Part II. of this work personal notes of many 
other physicians of the county. 



CHAPTER XII. 
THE PRESS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

The inhabitunts of Wayne county, as it is now constituted, were fa- 
vored with local newspapers before the organization of the county, not 
only those published in Cananclaigua and Geneva, but others in the vil- 
lages of Palmyra and Lyons. While the newspaper death-roll in this 
county is as long as usual in similar communities, it is true that public 
journals have been founded here and are still in existence that give 
their readers the world's news, and wield a powerful influence on the 
politics, morals and general public affairs of this section of the State. 



132 LANDMARKS OF 

The first newspaper published in what is now Wayne county, was the 
Palmyra Register, the first number of which appeared November 26, 
1817. It was founded by Timothy C. Strong, who continued, with sev- 
eral changes of title to October, 1823, when the business passed to 
Pomeroy Tucker and E. P. Grandin ; they changed the name of the pa- 
per from the Western Farmer and Canal Advocate, to the less cumber- 
some title of Wayne Sentinel. Mr. Grandin soon retired from the firm, 
and for nearly forty years thereafter the Sentinel enjoyed a prosperous 
career, under Mr. Tucker's direction. Mr. Tucker was a native of Pal- 
myra, and a man of exceptional qualifications as a politician and writer. 
A firm and consistent Democrat, he gave his journal a reputation and 
prestige gained by few other country newspapers, in the western part 
of the State. The managers of the old Whig party in this vicinity met 
in the Sentinel and its editors, foes that were valiant in the field. John 
M. Francis, who became one of the leading editors of Troy, and a fore- 
most journalist of the State, was with Mr. Tucker twenty-eight years, 
and there learned well the details of newspaper management. Mr. 
Tucker died in Palmyra, in July, 1870. Upon the organization of the 
Free Soil party in 1848, the Sentinel espoused its principles and sup- 
ported Van Buren. In 1852 Henry Harrington purchased the estab- 
lishment, and sold it to A. J. Mathewson in 1855 and in 1857 it was 
bought by W. N. Cole, who continued- the publication to 1860, when it 
was discontinued. 

The next paper started in Palmyra was the Palmyra Freeman, first 
issued March 11, 1828, by P. D. Stephenson. Shortly afterwards it was 
sold to J. A. Hadley, who removed the business to Lyons. 

A monthly publication called the Reflector had an existence in Pal- 
myra from 1828 to 1830. It was started by O. Dogberry, and on Jan- 
uary 9, 1830, Luther Howard and Erastus Shepard began publishing 
the Western Spectator and Anti-Masonic Star. It was soon afterwards 
merged with the Anti-Masonic Inquirer at Rochester. The Paln^ra 
Whig was begun in February, 1 838, by William A. Cole and Samuel Cole, 
and in the fall of the same year was removed to Lyons. 

The Palmyra Courier was established in 1838, by Frederick Morley, 
who continued it to 1852, when it was sold to J. C. Benedict. In Jan- 
uary, L853, B. C. Beebe bought the establishment, changed the name 
of the paper to the Palmyra Democrat and in the fall of the same year 
again changed it to the Palmyra American. In August, 1856, E. S. 
Averill purchased the business. The Republican party was then just 



WAYNE COUNTY. 133 

organized and Mr. Averill restored the journal to its former name — 
Palmyra Courier — and turned its support to the new party. Up to that 
time little attention had been given in the local press to home news, 
a condition which Mr. Averill at once corrected, enlarging his paper for 
the purpose. He was promply rewarded with an increased circulation, 
which encouraged him to make a second enlargement. In April, 1857, 
he purchased an entire new dress for the paper and otherwise improved 
it, and in the next year enlarged it, making it one of the largest as well 
as one of the ablest journals in Western New York. In 1865 another 
enlargement was made, and the Courier, now about forty years under 
Mr. Averill's control, is still a power in the Republican party and a 
source of honor and profit to its owner. 

E. S. Averill, the oldest newspaper man in service in Wayne county, 
was born in Albany in 1835. He was collector of canal tolls at Pal- 
myra from 1863 to 1868; was postmaster in 1871-72, and has been a 
member of the Palmyra Board of Education. He is married and has 
four children. 

The Wayne County Journal was established in Palmyra on the first 
Thursday in July, 1871, by Anson B. Clemons and his son, Fred. W. 
Clemons. This was the first printing office in Wayne county to intro- 
duce steam power. The Journal was successful from the beginning 
and earnestly and ably supported the Republican party. A. B. Clem- 
ons was a writer of ability and especially well informed in political his- 
tory. His death took place on May 27, 1873, the business being there- 
after conducted by his son. A building, a part of which was designed 
for the printing business, was erected in 1875. A fire on September 17, 
1876, almost wholly destroyed the printing plant and building, but both 
were promptly replaced. On the 14th of November following the front 
of this structure was partially burned. During about one year the 
establishment was in control of Miles Davis, but Mr. Clemons practically 
owned it until about 1883, when an incendiary fire destroyed the prop- 
erty and the paper was discontinued. 

The Wayne County Dispatch was founded in Palmyra September 21, 
1892, by F. G. Crandall, proprietor, and A. F. Du Bois, editor. The 
Dispatch is Republican in politics, four pages with eight columns to 
the page, and a handsome and able example of modern country jour- 
nalism. It has steadily increased in circulation since its first number. 
On September 1, 1893, Mr. Du Bois was succeeded in the editorial 
chair by R. N. Backus, but it is now edited and published by Mr. Cran- 



134 LANDMARKS OF 

dall. Mr. Crandall conducted a job printing business in Palmyra since 
January, 1885. 

The Palmyra Democrat was founded in August, 1885, by Cole & Os- 
goodby. It was a four-page, eight-column paper and supported the 
Democratic party. Mr. Cole went out of the firm at the end of about 
two years, but soon returned and Osgoodby retired. F. W. Cole then 
continued the publication until April, 1894, when it suspended, except- 
ing brief periods when he leased the office to other persons, while he 
filled the position of traveling correspondent of the Buffalo Horse 
World. 

A Baptist journal, named The Record, was started in Palmyra by 
Rev. J. R. Henderson in October, 1891, and discontinued September 
12, 1893. 

Purdy's Fruit Recorder and Evaporator, a quarterly, the character of 
which is indicated by its title, was started in Palmyra by A. M. Purdy 
several years ago, and a new series commenced in 1890. During about 
a year past it has been issued monthly, with eight pages of four columns 
each. 

The Worker and Shareholder was started in Palmyra in May, 1889, 
by F. G. Crandall, as a four-page monthly, in the interest of building 
and loan associations, and kindred organizations. It is still continued 
by him. 

The Palmyra Journal was established in Palmyra, July 11, 1894, by 
the Journal Printing Company, consisting of Edwin K. Burnham, 
George W. Knowles, and John E. Weier, the latter acting as editor. 
The suspension of the Democrat seemed to this company to leave a good 
field for a staunch Democratic paper, and the Journal will endeavor to 
occupy the field. It is a handsome, well-edited paper, and deserves the 
patronage of its constituents. 

John E. Weier is a native of Lewis county, and son of Rev. E. A. 
Weier, who settled in Lyons as pastor of the Evangelical Church, and 
died in Albany, November 11, 1890. The son learned the printing 
trade in Buffalo, beginning in 1887, and continuing it in Albany and 
Rochester. He located in Newark in 1S9-2, where he was associate 
editor of the Newark Courier, and continued until he assumed his con- 
nection with the Palmyra Journal. 

The first newspaper published in Lyons began its existence prior to 
the erection of Wayne county, the first number having appeared August 
3, 1821, with the title of The Lyons Republican. George Lewis was 



WAYNE COUNTY. 135 

the publisher. The paper was 20x28 inches in size, four pages of five 
columns each, two dollars per year. It contained about five columns 
of advertising. This journal was short-lived, its last issue bearing date 
in February, 1822. 

The Lyons Advertiser was established in May, 1822, by Hiram T. 
Day. In 1828 he sold out to E. J. Whitney, who changed the name of 
the paper to Wayne County Patriot, and later had as partner W. W. 
Whitney. In 1830 the establishment passed to Barber & Chapman, 
who changed the name of the paper to The Western Argus, and made 
it active in support of the anti-Masonic party of that period. Soon after- 
ward Mr. Barber sold his interest to G. H. Chapin, and the new firm 
continued until 1835, when the property passed to W. F. Ashley & 
Company. They sold in 1838 to Ezra Jewell, who died in the next 
year, and the establishment passed to Marsh & Poucher, who moved it 
into what is now the rear of the Getman building on William street, 
and enlarged the paper to six columns to the page. In 1841 Mr. Marsh 
retired, and in September of that year William Van Camp bought the 
business. In 1842 he transferred it to Charles Poucher, who removed 
the office to the Center building, which now constitutes a part of the Ira 
Mirick malt house. In 1849 S. W. Russell purchased the establishment 
and changed the name of the paper to The Lyons Gazette. He con- 
tinued it until 1852, when William Van Camp again became proprietor, 
continuing to June, 1856, when he purchased from Pomeroy Tucker of 
Palmyra a new establishment, from which had been issued five numbers 
of The Wayne Democratic Press, and consolidated the two papers, 
retaining the latter title. An additional column was put on the paper, 
and an era of prosperity in its career began, which has ever since con- 
tinued, and during which it has been recognized as a leading organ of 
the Democratic party in Western New York. In 1869 the office was 
removed to the Masonic Block. In 1872 power presses and other im- 
proved facilities were added to the plant, and the paper was enlarged 
to eight columns to the page. The journal continued to increase in 
circulation and influence, and from 1884 to 1890 was conducted by 
William and H. T. Van Camp, sons of William, sr. (before mentioned). 
Since 1890 William Van Camp has conducted the business alone. The 
office is admirably equipped with the best and latest improved presses, 
type, etc. 

William Van Camp, sr., was born in Madison county in 1820, and 
went with his parents, while young, to Seneca county on a farm. He 



136 LANDMARKS OF 

began work at the printing- trade in Palmyra, acting as clerk in his 
employer's book store evenings. He bought the Lyons Gazette, and 
later of Pomeroy Tucker the Wayne County Democratic Press, and con- 
solidated the two papers. He died in Michigan, March 24, 1884. He 
was father of three children, William, jr., Harry T., and Mrs. E. W. 
Hamm, all living in Lyons. William Van Camp, jr., was born in 1855, 
and was associated with his father, on whose death he with his brother 
Harry took the business. 

We mentioned a page back the starting of the Lyons Republican by 
by George Lewis, August 3, 1821, and the suspension of the paper in 
February, 1822. Mr Lewis went to Pennsylvania, where he died in 
1839. The present Lyons Republican and its legitimate predecessors 
passed through a long and varied career. The Palmyra Freeman, which 
had been published by D. D, Stephenson, was sold to Jonathan A. 
Hadley in 1830, who removed the plant to Lyons and changed the name 
of his paper to The Lyons Countryman. In 1831, when the anti-Masonic 
excitement was prevailing, the title "Anti-Masonic Recorder" was 
added to the former name of the paper, and Myron A. Holley was as- 
sociated with Mr. Hadley in the business. The issue of the paper was 
suspended the same year, but Mr. Holley at once began the publication 
of the Lyons American, which in 1835 he transferred to William H. 
Childs, who removed it to Clyde. In 1839 the Palmyra Whig was re- 
moved to Lyons by William N. Cole, and the name changed to The 
Wayne County Whig. Mr. Cole was for a time in partnership with 
Frederick Morley, and also with his brother, James Cole, and continued 
his connection with the Whig until 1850. In that year, when Millard 
Fillmore was president, Mr. Cole was postmaster at Lyons, and knowing 
that a majority of the Whig party in Wayne county held views adverse 
to his own, he decided to sell his paper. He resided in Lyons until 1863, 
and was afterwards publisher of the Wayne Sentinel in Palmyra. 
Bartlett R. Rogers succeeded as publisher of the Whig; John Layton 
next, who sold to Saxon B. Gavitt and Alexander B. Williams. About 
a year and a half later they sold out to Silas A. Andrews, who trans- 
ferred the property to William Van Marter. In the fall of 1852 it 
passed to Rodney L. Adams, who infused new life into the business, 
enlarged the paper and started it on a paying basis. In L855 the name 
of the paper was changed to The Lyons Republican, and it soon became 
a journal of influence and high character. In 1859 Mr. Adams sold to 
William T. Tinsley, who had been his foreman and assistant in editorial 




^^. 






dTdZ 



WAYNE COUNTY. 137 

work! The paper lost nothing - by this change. Mr. Tinsley was a 
practical printer as well as newspaper man, possessed of high intel- 
ligence, an able writer, and a man of sound practical judgment. He 
soon made the Republican a power in politics, and a welcome guest 
with a large number of patrons. He continued the publication to 
October 1, 1889, when he sold to William G. David, formerly editor of 
the Canandaigua Journal. Mr. David sold on January 1, 1891, to the 
firm of Tinsley & Sherwood (W. T. Tinsley, the former publisher, and 
C. R. Sherwood). Mr. Tinsley died April 28, 1893, and Mr. Sherwood 
became sole proprietor. In 1882 Mr. Tinsley built the handsome brick 
structure on William street for his business, and removed thither from 
Church street. The plant is now one of the largest and most complete 
in this county. 

William T. Tinsley was born at Whittlesea, England, June 13, 1833, 
his second birthday occurring on shipboard while with his parents on 
their way to America. His father was William Tinsley, an artist of 
merit and a somewhat eccentric genius. The son's education was ob- 
tained in the common schools, but is was constantly added to and 
broadened through his life by reading and habits of close observation. 
His private library was one of the largest in Wayne county. At an 
early age he entered the office of the Watkins Express, and there learned 
the printing trade. Afterwards as a journeyman printer he found work 
in many of the villages of Western New York and in Freeport, 111. In 
the latter place he met Emma Guiteau, whom he married in 1858, soon 
after settling in Lyons. In 1859 Mr. Tinsley, who had for some time 
been foreman of the Lyons Republican, purchased the establishment, 
and in a short time built up a business and produced a journal that 
ranked among the leading Republican newspapers of the interior of this 
State. Mr. Tinsley possessed all of the attributes of the successful 
editor, as well as of the progressive business man. His integrity was 
unimpeachable, and while of a retiring disposition, he could assert his 
rights and maintain them. In June, 1886, he visited his old home in 
England, returning in the fall. The Republican, up to his death, ex- 
cept three years when it was owned by William G. David, received the 
best energies of Mr. Tinsley's mind and hand. In January, 1891, as 
above noted, it passed to Tinsley & Sherwood. In March, 1891, Mr. 
Tinsley underwent the operation of lithotomy, and from that time until 
his death, March 28, 1893, he gradually failed. Mrs. Tinsley died in 
March, 1882. Their children were as follows: 

18 



138 LANDMARKS OF 

Henry G. Tinsley, of The Pomona (Cal. ) Progress; Mrs. Francies A. 
Leach, of Kansas City, Mo. ; Mrs. Boyd P. Hill, of Freeport, 111. ; and 
Mrs. Clement R. Sherwood and Miss Emma Tinsley, of Lyons. In 
December, 1885, Mr. Tinsley married Hannah Rogers Taft, who sur- 
vives him, as do also two brothers — Charles Tinsley, of Minneapolis, 
and James H. Tinsley, of Brooklyn. 

In a brief view of Mr. Tinsley's life, read at the twenty-seventh con- 
vention of the New York Press Association, June 28, 1893, it was said: 
As a citizen he was helpful and courageous ; as an editor keenly alive to 
the possibilities of his high calling and a faithful herald for the good 
and true in all things, quick to see the gist of anything offered for his 
columns, and apt in putting it into presentable shape ; as a writer meth- 
odical, careful, able and often brilliant; as a publisher far sighted and 
progressive; as a business man prompt, industrious and reliable; as a 
comrade genial and generous ; as a politician brave, powerful and aggres- 
sive; as a Christian a meek and lowly follower of the Saviour; as a hus- 
band always the lover; as a parent tender and affectionate; as a friend 
intuitively considerate, chivalric and true. Indeed, it was in this last 
phase of his character that we knew him best. He drew his friends to 
him with cords of love which bound like hooks of steel. Once your 
friend he was always your friend, and stood ready to prove his friend- 
ship, not by words, but in deeds. 

Clement R. Sherwood, proprietor and editor of the Republican, was 
born in Lyons, January 28, 1867, and is a son of Rev. L. H. Sherwood, 
founder and for many years principal of the Lyons Musical Academy. 
He is a grandson of Lyman Sherwood, formerly county judge and sur- 
rogate of Wayne county, and State senator. He learned the printer's 
trade in the Republican office under Mr. Tinsley, was a reporter on the 
Syracuse Standard in 1885, and during five years thereafter held an 
editorial position on the Rochester Morning Herald. In 1891 he be- 
came associated with Mr. Tinsley as above stated. Mr. Sherwood is a 
forcible and versatile writer, is well informed on all general subjects, 
and fully capable in all respects of upholding the high character of his 
journal. He was married in 1889 to Mr. Tinsley's third daughter. 

The Lyons Courant was founded June 3, 1882, under the name of the 
Grin and Bear It, by John H. Atkinson, a lawyer, who came to Lyons 
from Cohoes about 1877. He practiced law about five years before es- 
tablishing the newspaper, and was an intelligent and educated man. 
Until October, 1882, the paper was issued from the office of the Newark 



WAYNE COUNTY. 130 

Union, when Mr. Atkinson found a copartnership with his brother, J. 
William Atkinson, then day foreman of the New York Tribune compos- 
ing room, and a practical printer. They purchased machinery and t3^pe, 
and the paper was then issued from their own office in Lyons, in the 
building now used as the village police station. The partnership be- 
tween the Atkinsons lasted but a few months, when it was dissolved, 
J. William returning to New York, and John continuing the publica- 
tion of the paper here. In July, 1884, the paper was purchased by Mar- 
cus J. and Irving J. Van Marter, two brothers, and the name changed 
to the Lyons Sentinel. Irving J. was a practical newspaper man, hav- 
ing been connected with the daily newspapers of Peoria, 111. Marcus 
J. for several years was employed as a copyist in the Wayne county 
clerk's office. Irving Van Marter died June 12, 1887, and on Decem- 
ber 28, 1887, Marcus also died, when the business was taken by Joseph 
Van Marter. their father. He conducted the business until February 
15, 188S, when Frank Stanton purchased it. He carried it on until July, 
1888, when it went into the hands of E. P. Boyle and A. Noble. In 
November of the same year Mr. Noble sold his interest to N. C. Mirick. 
In May, 1890, the paper was changed to a daily and named the Daily 
Courant. This was an unsuccessful venture, however, and in April, 
1891, it was again changed to a weekly edition under the name of The 
Lyons Courant, Mr. Boyle retiring. The Courant had always been in- 
dependent in politics until March 23, 1892, when it was changed to a 
Republican paper. 

In the village of Clyde several newspapers were started, only to die 
through want of nutrition. The first of these was The Clyde Standard, 
which was established January 6, 1830, by Eber P. Moon. It lived only 
about six months. The only copy of this paper known to be in exist- 
ence is No. 1, Vol. 1, in possession of Sylvester H. Clark, of Clyde. In 
May, 1837, the Lyons American was removed to Clyde, its name changed 
to the Clyde Gazette, and published by Denison Card until some time 
in 1838, when it returned to Lyons and became the Lyons Whig. 

In 1844 the Clyde Eagle was established by B. Frazee. Within a few 
3^ears it passed through the hands of a Mr. Dyer, Stephen Salisbury, and 
in 1847 to Rev. Charles G. Ackly and William Tompkins, who changed 
its name to the Clyde Telegraph. Within a few years it passed to Rev. 
W. W. Stroiker, who sold it to William R. Fowle. After a brief effort 
to make the business pay he suspended. In February, 1850, the plant 
was taken by Payn & Smith, and the paper was revived under the name 



140 LANDMARKS OF 

of the Ctyde Industrial Times. Joseph A. Payn soon purchased his 
partner's interest, and some time in 1851 changed the name of the jour- 
nal to the Clyde Weekly Times. Payn sold out to James M. Scarritt, 
who eliminated the word " weekly " from the title of the paper and con- 
tinued the publication until January 4, 1872. At this time the estab- 
lishment was purchased by Irwin A. Forte. On January 1, 1876, he took 
his brother, Irving C, as a partner, but at the end of a year the firm 
was dissolved, after which date Irwin A. Forte has successfully con- 
ducted the business until August, 1894, when he sold out to Albert M. 
Ehart. The Times is an earnest and able Republican organ, and has a 
large circulation. 

Irwin A. Forte, son of Allen- H., was born in Cazenovia, N. Y. , April 
20, 1844. He was educated in Cazenovia Seminary and Morrisville 
Union School, and for about three years, in partnership with his brother 
Irving C, and alone, was engaged in the editorship and publication of 
the Cazenovia Republican. He came to Clyde in 1872 and purchased of 
James M. Scarritt the Clyde Times. June 20, 1871, Mr. Forte married 
Ellen C, daughter of Stephen Chaphe, of Cazenovia, by whom he has 
one daughter, Eileen Muguette. 

The Northern Methodist Protestant was started in and published 
about a year from the office of the Telegraph by the proprietors of the 
latter newspaper. 

In the spring of 1862 William Daley established the Clyde Commer- 
cial, which had an existence of a few years, and suspended publication. 

About 1872 Philip Grimsha began the publication of the Local Preach- 
er's Advocate, but within a year suspended its publication for want of 
support. 

The Clyde Commercial Advertiser was started by A. V. Forbes in 
the spring of 1880, but after a year it was discontinued. 

Cyrus Conklin came to Clyde from Wolcott about 1885, and estab- 
lished the Independent and Commercial, which he continued some six 
months. 

July 4, 18K5, W. E. Churchill founded the Clyde Democrat, contin- 
ued the publication until about December 1, 1887, and sold out to Al- 
bert C. Lux, who changed the name of the paper to the Democratic 
Herald. As indicated by its title, the paper is Democratic in politics 
and commands the approval of a large constituency in that part}- in 
Wayne county, by whom it is commended for its aggressive and pro- 
gressive policy. It began the contest which resulted in making first the 



WAYNE COUNTY. 141 

sheriff and later the county clerk, salaried officers. The Herald was a 
four-page paper when Mr. Lux purchased it, but in September, 1890, 
he enlarged it to an eight-page, fifty-six column journal. 

Albert C. Lux was born October 15, 1864, in Clyde, whither his father 
came from Alsace, France, in 1852. He graduated from the Clyde High 
School in 1883 and in 1884 from the Hopkins Grammar School, of New 
Haven, Conn., preparatory to entering Yale College. At the death of 
his father, October 25, 1885, he was compelled to return home. He 
was engaged then in closing up his father's hotel business until he pur- 
chased the printing plant. In 1889 he served as village trustee and in 
1890, as village president, filling the offices with credit. 

The enterprising village of Newark also has its list of dead newspa- 
pers whose brief existence preceded the establishment of a permanent 
local journal. The first of them was the Newark Republican, which 
was started in November, 1829, by Jeremiah O. Balch. It lived until 
some time in 1831. The village was then without a paper until 1838, 
when Daniel M. Keeler began publishing the Wayne Standard, in sup- 
port of the old Whig party; in August, 1839, he sold out to Barney T. 
Partridge, J. P. Bartle, and Stephen Culver, the latter acting as edi- 
tor. The name of the paper was changed to the New J3gis and in Jan- 
uary, 1840, a transfer to one Norton was made. The paper suspended 
in the following May. In July of the same year Mr. Keeler again took 
the editorial chair and the paper was revived under the original title of 
the Wayne Standard. He continued until 1843, sold to H. L. Wenants, 
who stopped the publication at the end of the year. In 1850 Henry 
Fairchild purchased the plant and during one year published the Wayne 
County Democrat, selling out to B. F. Jones, who changed the title of 
the paper to the Newark Journal. In 1854 the establishment passed to 
George D. A. Bridgeman who changed the name of the paper to the 
Newark Whig and continued it to September, 1856. Charles T. White 
then bought the office and changed the title of the paper to the Newark 
Weekly Courier, making it neutral in politics. From him the office 
passed to Arthur White who in turn sold to B. H. Randolph in 1864. 
The paper was now made a four-page, thirty-six-column sheet, largely 
devoted to local news, and was well patronized. In 1869 Jacob Wilson 
purchased the establishment, changed the politics of the paper to Dem- 
ocratic a little later and has ever since continued the publication, con- 
stantly on the alert to add improvements, until now the Courier is an 
excellent example of the first class country newspaper. 



142 LANDMARKS OF 

The Newark Union was established in 1872 as a Greeley campaign 
sheet, but on January 1, 1873, began its career as a permanent publi- 
cation in support of Democratic principles, with James Jones as editor 
and proprietor. The paper was successful and after the death of Mr. 
Jones, the establishment passed to his son, Frank H. Jones, in January, 
1883. He continued the business until November, 1885, when it was 
sold to the present proprietor, H. H. Fisk, the politics of the paper 
having meanwhile been changed to Republican in 1884. The Union is 
now a thirty-six column, four-page paper, carefully and ably edited and 
reaching a large clientage. 

On the 6th of April, 1887, the Burgess Brothers (W. C. and F. D. 
Burgess), who had for about a year been doing a successful job printing 
business in Newark, began the publication of the Arcadian Weekly Ga- 
zette, as an independent, modern newspaper. This journal was a suc- 
cess from the start and at the end of about a year was enlarged from 
forty columns to forty-eight. In 1891 the Gazette was turned to the 
support of the Republican party, and in April, 1804:, in carrying out 
their determination to make the paper a leader among the journals of 
Central and Western New York, the proprietors added twelve more 
columns. The Gazette is now one of the best and handsomest papers 
in Wayne county and enjoys a circulation of 1,900. The Burgess 
Brothers are sons of Rev. A. P. Burgess, who settled in Newark in 1874 
as pastor of the Presbyterian church. 

The first newspaper published in Savannah was the Savannah News, 
first issued in 1876, by Frank Conklin, to aid in advancing the precarious 
fortunes of the Greenback party, and in support of the candidacy of 
James Deady for member of assembly. It lived only one year and the 
plant went back to the dealers. 

The Savannah News, as it now exists, was founded March 4, 1887, 
by W. J. Deady, son of James Deady before mentioned. The paper 
contained four pages of six columns each. In July, 1887, A. J. Conroe 
bought the business, and in October following admitted George W. 
Cooper as partner. In March, 1888, Mr. Cooper took entire control 
and has since conducted the paper. The News was originally independ- 
ent in politics, but when Mr. Cooper assumed its sole management, he 
made it as it has since been, aggressively Democratic. It is ably edited 
and exerts considerable influence. 

George W. Cooper was born May 5, 1869, in Theresa, Jefferson 
county, N. Y., and is a son of Captain Jerome Cooper. He was edu- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 143 

cated at Theresa and served a printer's apprenticeship in the office of 
the Watertown Post. He located in Savannah in 1888, and was chosen 
town clerk in 1891, the first Democratic clerk in the town. From 1890 
to 1894 inclusive he has held the office of village clerk. 

The Savannah Times was started April 7, 1894, by A. J. Conroe, who 
has been a merchant of the village twenty-four years, and conducts the 
printing business in connection. The Times is independent, with a 
leaning towards Republicanism. Mr. Conroe is a native of Dutchess 
county, where he was born in 1845. He removed with his mother to 
Savannah in 1848. 

Besides these two papers Savannah had the Savannah Reporter, 
started as a Republican organ in December, 1889, by O. C. Silver, which 
endured one year; and the Savannah edition of the Wayne County 
Dispatch, one year from April, 1893, printed in Palmyra by F. G. 
Crandall. 

The town of Sodus has had a newspaper since 1873, when George W. 
Tummonds started the Sodus Enterprise. Shortly afterwards the firm 
of Tummonds & Collins was formed, and about 1875 Galen Oderdirk 
became proprietor of the paper and changed its name to The Wayne 
County Alliance, at the same time effecting a consolidation with the 
Ontario Sun (which had been issued for a time in the town of Ontario), 
and the Williamson Enterprise of Williamson. In 1878 the establish- 
ment passed to the firm of Claven & Gilmore ; the latter soon afterwards 
died, and the office again changed hands, going to E. W. Gurnee& Co., 
who employed E. A. Benedict as editor. On September 1, 1882, they 
sold out to B. H. Cuddeback and Willis C. Teall. This firm continued 
to September, 1890, when Mr. Teall became sole proprietor and has 
since continued the business. In 1878 the paper was enlarged from a 
four- column folio to its present seven-column size. The Alliance has 
always been independent in politics. 

Willis C. Teall was born in Romulus, Seneca county, in 1852, was 
educated in Geneva and Sodus Academy, his parents having removed 
to this town in 1853. He began learning the printer's trade with Galen 
Oderdirk, and purchased an interest in the Alliance in 1882, as above 
stated. 

The Williamson Sentinel was started as the Williamson Banner in 
1884, by G. W. Tummonds, by whom the plant was removed from 
Ontario. In April, 1886, he sold out to the present proprietor, Dr. 
H. N. Burr. The name of the paper was changed in 1885. Dr. Burr 



144 LANDMARKS OF 

publishes the Sentinel in connection with his medical practice. A sketch 
of his life is given elsewhere in these pages. 

The Shut-in Visitor was started in Williamson in January, 1883, by 
Mrs. Kate Sumner Burr, wife of Dr. H. N. Burr. In January, 1885, 
the name was changed to The Invalid's Visitor. In May, 1886, Dr. and 
Mrs. Burr removed to Williamson, taking the journal with them. It is 
an octavo of sixteen pages, monthly, and devoted to the interests of 
invalids. It has a very extended circulation. 

The Macedon News was first issued in the village of Macedon in the 
fall of 1885, by M. Allen Eddy, who has successfully conducted it since. 
He was then only fourteen years old and attending school. The size 
of the paper was then six by nine inches. It has been three times en- 
larged, and now is an eight-page, seven-column journal. When the 
last enlargement was made the name was changed to The Newsgatherer. 
Since October, 1890, W. S. Eddy has been business manager for his 
brother, the publisher, M. Allen Eddy, who is on the city start of the 
Chicago. Herald. M. Allen Eddy was born in Macedon, December 14, 
1870, and graduated from the Macedon Academy in the class of '86. 
He served as reporter two years on the Oswego Palladium. William 
S. Eddy was born in Macedon, February 18, 1868, and educated in 
Macedon Academy. They are sons of Marvin A. Eddy, who settled in 
Macedon from Williamson, where his father, Joseph, was a pioneer. 

The Marion Enterprise was founded by E. Curtis in 1880, and by his 
ability as an editor and his practical business qualifications, has made it 
a success. Mr. Curtis was born in Madison, Madison county, N. Y., 
July 17, 1825, and is the youngest living of eight children of Eli and 
Hulda Curtis. He was educated in the common schools and Augusta 
Academy, and at the age of seventeen began teaching, which occupation 
he followed thirty years; was four years a teacher in Marion Collegiate 
Institute, of which his son-in-law, Charles E. Allen, was principal at the 
same time, while the wife of the latter was preceptress, and a daughter 
of our subject, Evangeline, was assistant. The family thus conducted 
the institution four years. On September 24, 1880, Mr. Curtis estab- 
lished the Enterprise, as above stated. In the conduct of this journal 
he is assisted by his son, Rollo D. Mr. Curtis was associated with C. A. 
White in the purchase of the Gorham Intelligence in 1878; he bought 
out his partner in 1879, and continued thereuntil he founded the Enter- 
prise. Through the public spirit of Mr. Curtis a telephone office was 
established- in Marion. He married in 1845, Laura A. Dudley, of 



WAYNE COUNTY. 145 

Augusta, N. Y., daughter of Rev. Ira J. and Laura Hurd Dudley, 
early settlers in Oneida county, and they have had four children: 
Genevieve, died August 18, 1889; Evangeline L., wife of C. Frank 
Radcler, of Marion ; Rollo D., a graduate of Yates Polytechnic Institute. 

The Ontario Sun was established in Ontario village in 1873, by Galen 
Oderdirk, who soon afterwards took his uncle, Rev. G. M. Hardie, as 
partner. They sold out to William H Spencer, who changed the name 
of the paper to The Lake Shore Independent. The journal was dis- 
continued within a few years. 

The first newspaper in the town and village of Rose was an amateur 
journal, called the Rose Times, published by Burt E., son of Jackson 
Valentine, in the fall of 1886. He continued it about fourteen months. 

Another amateur sheet, called the Rose Union, was started a week 
after the beginning of the Times, by Elmo R. Barless, son of Dr. R. C. 
Barless. In June, 1887, the establishment was purchased by Clinton 
J. Barless, and changed the name of the paper to The Farmers' 
Counsel, also changing its character to correspond. In the fall of 1887 
it was made a local journal. In January, 1888, the Rose Times and the 
Farmers' Counsel were consolidated by Barless & Valentine, and has 
since been continued as such. In March, 1888, Valentine sold his part 
of the material to G. A. Sherman, job printer, and C. J. & C. L. Barless 
formed a partnership, which continued till the summer of that year, 
when C. L. Barless retired. The partner continued alone to 1891, when 
the firm of C. L. & E. R. Barless was formed, and continued to 1893. 
Since then C. L. Barless has carried on the business. The paper is a 
nine-column folio, neutral in politics. 

In the spring of 1887 W. J. Deady started in Rose Valley the Jeffer- 
sonian Democrat, which lived about six months. In 1893 a monthly pa- 
per called Our Home was founded and printed in the office of C. J. 
Barless, who still continues it. It is a household paper. 

J. S. Cross started a six column weekly at North Rose about 1890, 
called the North Rose Herald. He sold it in the same year to C. J. 
Barless and the publication is discontinued. 

The Lake Shore News is a very successful weekly journal published 
in Wolcott village. It was founded October 8, 1874, by its present ed- 
itor and proprietor, William H. Thomas. It is independent in politics, 
and one of the best journals in the county. 

William H. Thomas is a native of Mentz, Cayuga count}*, and was 
born November 5, 1832. He learned the printing trade in the North- 

19 



146 LANDMARKS OF 

era Christian Advocate office, in Auburn. After a period of journey- 
man work he purchased in 1S55 an interest in the Port Byron Chronicle, 
but lie soon sold out and went west. Three years later he returned and 
enlisted in the 111th N. V. Vols. August 8, L862, and remained three 
years. Returning to Wolcott, he started a job printing office and nine 
years later founded the News. 

The first newspaper on the death-roll in Wolcott was started by John 
Mclntyre in 1851, and called the Wayne Banner. It was short lived. 
Joseph A. Payne made the next and equally abortive attempt. Charles 
I). Smith started the Wolcott Standard in 1S74, and it also soon fol- 
lowed its predecessors. The Wolcott Independent, a weekly Greenback 
organ, started in 1881 by Cyrus Conkling, was soon removed to Clyde 
where it became the Clyde Citizen and Independent. 

The town of Wolcott supports another journal in the village of Red 
Creek. The Red Creek Herald was started March 15, 1894, by its pres- 
ent editor and proprietor, W. G. Phippin. It is a seven-column folio, 
neutral in politics and is ably conducted. Mr. Phippin is a native of 
Iowa and was born January 5, 1867; learned the trade in Oswego and 
Watertown; in 1802 established the Wayland Register in Steuben 
county, which he sold in L893 and came to Red Creek. 

The Red Creek Press, a six-column paper was started in ( )ctober, 1*',]. 
by Wm. A. Spencer and A. Sayles, jr., it was soon discontinued. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

SECRET SOCIETIES. 

FREE AXJ) ACCEPTED M Avon's. 

The first lodge of Free and Accepted Masons in what is now Wayne 
county, was organized in 1811, as Pultneyville Lodge No. L59. It con- 
tinued work with a fair degree of prosperity until the Morgan anti-Ma- 
sonic warfare swept over this State, when it succumbed. It was reor- 
ganized after 1850 under the same name, with Philander B. Rovce, 
master. Its meetings were continued there until 1872, when the lodge 
ami its property were removed to Williamson village, where it has since 



WAYNE COUNTY. 1 17 

remained. At the time of its organization it had only seven members; 
it now has twenty-seven, and the following principal officers for 1894: 
J.»hn E. Tufts, W. M. ; Mortimer P. Tufts, S. W. ; Arthur Shipley, 
f. \V. ; George F. Cheetham, treasurer; William Pound, secretary. 

Sodus Lodge No. 392, F. & A. M., was organized in Sodus village in 
1856, with the following first officers: Asahel Yale, W. M. ; John A. 
Paddock, S. W. ; William Shaver, J. W. ; J. R. Sweeney, treasurer; 
Riley Belden, secretary. The following persons have been past mas- 
ters of this lodge: Dr. Asahel Yale, 1850-58 and 1860-61; W. Tillott- 
son, 1859; A. P. Warren, 1862-64; Amos Case, 1865-66; John A. Boyd, 
1867; W. P. Rogers, 1868; E. Thornton, 1869; C. C. Teall, 1870; Dr. 
William G. Thirkell, 1871, 1874-76, and 1878-79; R. S. Borradaile, 
1872; C. D. Gaylord, 1873; William Kansier, 1877; A. W. Brower, 
1880; L. D. F. Vaughn, 1881-82; John C. Hill, 1883; Ward Smith, 
1884-85; James Stebbins, 1886; L. D. V. Vaughn, 1887; C. C. Field, 
1888-89; Edward Pullman, 1890-91; L. D. F. Vaughn, 1892; C. C. 
Field, 1893. The officers for 1894 are: W. A. Nichols, W. M. ; Dr. F. 
L. Wilson, S. W. ; Eugene Merenus, J. W. ; M. F. Boyd, treasurer; 
W. G. Thirkell, secretary. This lodge is very prosperous and has about 
115 members, who are zealous in upholding the high principles of the 
order; this fact is indicated by the circumstance that they watched dur- 
ing 186 successive nights with the Rev. David Moir, Episcopal minis- 
ter of the village, and a member of De Molay Lodge No. 409, of Buffalo, 
when he was sick. The Buffalo lodge on April 11, 1893, presented 
Sodus Lodge with a handsome engrossed memorial embodying resolu- 
tions of thanks. 

Wayne Chapter, R. A. M., No. 276 was organized in Sodus village 
April 16, 1880, and was chartered February 8, 1881, with the following 
members: O. W. Bates, H. P. ; Dr. W. G. Thirkell, K.; W T ard Smith, 
scribe; Dr. L. M. Gaylord, treasurer; C. D. Gaylord, secretary; J. P. 
Canfield, S. Bloss, E. D. Ailing, R. B. Belden, E. A. Green, and J. A. 
Paddock. The high priests of this chapter have been: O. W. Bates, 
1880-83; Dr. W. G. Thirkell, 1884-87; H. S. Dennis, 1888-89; C. C. 
Field, 1890-92; Dr. W. G. Thirkell, 1893-94. The officers for 1894 are 
as follows: Dr. W. G. Thirkell, H. P. ; George E. Philo, K. ; William 
Horn, scribe ; L. D. F. Vaughn, treasurer and secretary. This chap- 
ter has now about fifty-two members. 

Humanity Lodge, F. & A. M., No. 283. — This was one of the more 
conspicuous of the early Masonic lodges of Wayne and its roll of mem- 



148 LANDMARKS OF 

bership embraces many names of early citizens and others down to recent 
years, who were prominent in the community in many ways. Prelim- 
inary to the ceremony of installation in the old lodge a meeting of those 
interested met in a building owned by Moses Hurlbert on the 14th of 
August, 1817. Here a procession was formed which marched to the 
Methodist meeting-house where a discourse was delivered by Brother 
Farley, following which Humanity Lodge was duly installed with its 
officers, by Philetus Swift, D. G. M., assisted by others of the Grand 
Lodge. The following were the first officers of this lodge: Ezra Jew- 
ell, W. M. ; David June, S. W. ; Gabriel Rogers, J. W. ; Josiah Wright, 
treasurer; Hiram Payne, secretary; Henry Seymour, S. D. ; William 
Stills, J. D. ; Peter Eisenlord and Oliver Granger, stewards; Samuel 
Davis, tyler. The first persons initiated by this lodge were Jacob 
Leach, and Moses B. Hurlburt. The committee to prepare b)Maws 
were H. Payne, Ezra Jewell, and Gabriel Rogers. The following is a 
nearly complete list of those who signed the by-laws during the life of 
the lodge, and is of interest as naming many of the leading citizens of 
that day: Caleb Gilber, Jacob Leach, Samuel Rossitur, Jenks Pullen, 
W. Perrine, Edward Swail, Moses B. Hurlburt, Nathan Worden, Wil- 
liam C. Guest, Peter Eisenlord, Jeremiah S. Jenkins, Joseph M. Dem- 
mon, Jacob M. Gilbert, John Varnum, Jesse Gulick, Charles Champ- 
lin, William C. Perrine, James Lamon, Oliver Granger, Upton Dorsey, 
Charles Raynor, William Clark, Stephen M. Palmer, Adam Learn, 
Newell Taft, Sawyer Bullock, Francis Pomeroy, Andrew Dorsey, Ed- 
ward Jones, John Gilbert, Horatio G. Kingsbury, Thomas E. Dorsey, 
John Lewis, William Trowbridge, Abraham Knapp, Lyman Granger, 
Harris West, Sanford Lipan, James J. Bernet, Pardon Worden, Thomas 
Hawley, William G. Hough, Peleg Betteys, John W. Carrigan, Alex- 
ander Beard, Abraham L. Beaumont, Freeman Rogers, William Sisson, 
James Sears, John Condit, Calvin D. Palmeter, Nelson Aldrich, Or- 
ville L. Holley, L. Hazen, L. R. Lalett, William Parker, Edward Bur- 
rell, Elisha Sisson, Graham H. Chapin, John Drake, Cyrus Hum-, 
Michael Miller, John S. Hall, John S. Tallmadge, Phineas B. Austin, 
Hiram S. Day, Reuben H. Forster, Stephen Ferguson,. Daniel Dunn, 
Abraham Fairchild, Daniel R. Rozell, David Peterson, Oliver Allen, 
Joseph Enns. Henry Beaumont, Abner Brown, Eli Blair, Nehemiah 
Sprague, Abner Pease, Henry Yerington, John Perrine, jr., John 
Adams, Robert Knnis, Hugh Brown, jr. , Peter Carney, Aaron Griswold, 
Orin \V. Giles, William Efner, Ora Piatt, James West fail, Ziba Lane, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 149 

Joseph Hall, Aaron S. Boylan — a total of 101 names. The masters of 
this lodge were Ezra Jewell, Jacob M. Gilbert, and Henry Seymour. 
The last recorded meeting of old Humanity Lodge tood place April 8, 
1824, and doubtless the wave of anti-Masonry caused the surrender of 
the charter. 

Humanity Lodge No. 406, was instituted in May, 1856, under dis- 
pensation from the Grand Lodge at Odd Fellows Hall, Lyons, with 
fourteen charter members as follows: William H. Sisson, Henry Gra- 
ham, jr., Southard Lewis, J. Welling, Daniel Ford, Zebulon Moore, 
John Gilbert, Daniel R. Rozell, Newell Taft, Ziba Lane, Darius H. 
Denton, and A. I. Van Camp. The first officrs were: William H. Sis- 
son, W. M. ; Henry Graham, jr., S. W. ; S. Lewis, J. W. ; J. Welling, 
secretary; Daniel Ford, tyler. The past masters have been: J. Wel- 
ling, who served eight years; Henry Graham, jr., Joseph McCall, Seth 

C. Searle, Beardsley Van Alstyne, Milton E. Mirick, Daniel Althen, 
William E. Hines, John B. Stoll, George W. Koester, William E. Mc- 
Collum. The dedication of the rooms in Masonic Block took place Feb- 
ruary 18, 1869, and thither the lodge removed. The membership is now 
over 100, and the following are the officers for 1894: Charles N. Crom- 
well, W. M. ; F. H. McOmber, S. W. ; C. E. Ernst, J. W. ; Joseph Mc- 
Call, treasurer; R. W. Ashley, secretary. 

Freemasonry began early in Clyde, the organization of Galen Lodge 
No. 367, dating back to 1823, and the warrant bearing date June 7, of 
that year. The officers were: Joseph Enos, G. M. ; John Brush, 

D. G. M. ; Nathaniel Allen, S. G W. ; Thomas Barker, J. G. W. ; John 
Lewis, M. ; Henry Northrup, S. W. ; Artemus Humiston, J. W. The 
lodge began work in a chamber in Sylvester Clark's storehouse, October 
15, 1823, and continued in prosperity until 1826, when with a member- 
ship of sixty-six, it was persecuted and driven from place to place under 
the Morgan excitement, finally settling in the ball room of the Clyde 
Hotel on the 26th of January, 1831. There a few of the faithful con- 
tinued to meet until February 15, 1832, when it was determined to 
suspend work until the excitement subsided. The officers at that time 
were: John Condit, W. M. ; Thomas J. Whiting, S. D. ; A. Pendleton, 
J. D. ; Samuel M. Welch, tyler; Arza Lewis, treasurer. 

Ctyde Lodge, F. & A. M. , No. 341, was organized in 1854, and suc- 
ceeded to the jewels, furniture, etc., of the old Galen Lodge. The 
petitioners for the warrant were: John Condit, Joseph Watson, Joseph 
Welling, William C. Ely, Aaron Griswold, S. J. Childs, William G. T. 



150 LANDMARKS OF 

Elliott, and John J. Dickson. The warrant is dated July 6, 1854, at 
which time John Condit was appointed W. M. ; Joseph Watson, S. W. ; 
Joseph Welling, J. W. This lodge has always prospered, and now has 
ninety-one members. Following are the officers for 1894: H. A. Water- 
bury/ W. M.; W. R. Vrooman, S. W. ; B. N. Marriott, J. W. ; J. J. 
Cookingham, treasurer; J. E. McGinnis, secretary; G. R. Bacon, 
chaplain; A. C. Lux, S. D. ; H. B. Exner, J. D. ; C. R. Kennedy, 
vS. M. C ; C. E. Jones, J. M. C. ; Clark Potts, tyler. 

Griswold Chapter No. 201, R. A. M., of Clyde, was chartered Febru- 
ary 7, 1807, and on the 6th of March following the first officers were 
installed; they were as follows: Aaron Griswold, M. E. high priest; 
J. Hasbrook Suhler, E. king; Robert Dobyns, E. scribe; Hugh Boyd, 
tyler; Seth Smith, captain of host; Dr. James M. Home, principal so- 
journer; John Trempor, Royal Arch captain; Edward B. Wells, master 
of third vail ; Jacob Strauss, master of second vail ; George O. Baker, 
master of first vail. This chapter came into existence in place of the 
old Lyons Chapter, which was chartered in 1824, with Oliver Allen, 
high priest, and James P. Bartlett, secretary. Mr. Allen was succeeded 
in his office by William Sisson, who continued until the suspension 
about 1828, during the anti-Masonic warfare. The officers of the 
chapter for 1894 are as follows: G. R. Bacon, H. P. ; H. A. Waterbury, 
K. ; E. B. Wells, S. ; J. Strauss, secretary; J. E. McGinnis, C. H. ; J. J. 
Cookingham, P. S. ; E. M. Ellinwood, R. A. C. ; W. W. Legg, M, 3d 
V. ; W. R. Vrooman, M. 2dV. ; E. R. Bockoven, M. 1st V. ; Clark Potts, 
tyler. 

Newark Lodge No. 83, F. & A. M., was chartered June 5, 1824. 
James P.. Bartle was the first master; Theodore Partridge, S. W. ; J. C. 
Roberts, J. W. The anti-Masonic war affected this lodge seriously, 
and in March, 1827, nine out of fifteen members present at a meeting 
voted to surrender the charter. Of the $100 then on hand the lodge 
gave $25 to the Methodist Society of the place, and $25 to the Presby- 
terian Society; the remaining $50 was given to the American Bible 
Society. In 1838 the Grand Lodge was asked to return their warrant, 
and the request was granted. Meetings were held in a room in Mr. 
Bartle's house, fitted up by him for the purpose, and a few members 
were initiated. In 1840 the charter was again surrendered. Ten years 
later, September 28, 1848, the lodge was revived with the following- 
officers: lames P. Bartle, M. ; John Daggett, S. W. ; Theodor Dickinson, 
]. \V. ; A. F. Cressy, secretary; E. T. Grant, treasurer. The number 



WAYNE COUNTY. 151 

of members was twenty-two, which has been gradually increased to 
more than hundred. G. L. Bennett, who joined in 1849, is the present 
oldest member, and has served as secretary twenty-five years. James 
P. Bartle was master several years, as also was John Daggett. Other 
masters have been: James D. Ford, Clark Mason, R. P. Groat, Richard 
White, G. L. Bennett, C. P. Fanning, Marvin I. Greenwood, Alexander 
Hayes, and G. M. Soverhill. The officers for 1894 are as follows: 
William T. Peirson, W. M. ; W. C. Conrad, S. W. ; T. R. Loomis, 
J. W. ; C. S. White, treasurer; E. F. Cowles, secretary; Rev. L. Coffin, 
chaplain; A. C. Fish, S. D. ; F. W. Traub, J. D. ; Godfrey Koetsch, 
S. M. C. ; Samuel Farnsworth, J. M. C. ; John K. Lyke, tyler. This 
lodge is noted for its enthusiasm in all good works. On the erection of 
Ford's Block, a room was secured in the third story, and on June 24, 
1875, it was consecrated' to Masonic purposes. 

Newark Chapter No. 117, received its original warrant Februa^ 10, 
1826; John P. Bartle, H. P.; John Daggett, K. ; Theodore Partridge, 
S. The warrant and lodge property, excepting the records, were burned 
in 1859, and another warrant was issued February 3, of the same year. 
The membership is now about eighty. The officers for 1894 are as 
follows: J. M. Pitkin, jr., H. P.; T. R. Loomis, E. K. ; E. B. Elliott, 
jr., E. S. ; E. R. Kelley, treasurer; E. F. Cowles, secretary; Rev. L. 
Coffin, chaplain; William T. Peirson, C. H. ; P. R. Sleight, R. A. C. ; 
A. C. Eish, P. S. ; F. W. Traub, 3d V.; G. Koetsch, 2d V. ; W. H. H. 
Stebbins, 1st V. ; John K. Lyke, tyler. 

One of the very early Masonic lodges of Wayne county was Mount 
Moriah Lodge No. 112, of Palmyra, which continued a prosperous 
existence until the Morgan excitement, when it surrendered its charter. 
Those who served as its masters were: David White, 1816 ; W. Winslow, 
S. Scovel, Ira Selby, H. S. Moore, David White; Durfee Chase, 1822- 
1823; Solomon St. John, 1824; when the lodge went out of existence. 

Palmyra Lodge No. 248, received its warrant March 8, 1852, but had 
•worked since September 10, 1851, under dispensation. Charles Hudson 
was the first master; Elijah Ennis, S. W. ; John C. Calhoun, J. W. On 
March 24, 1852, the lodge was formally constituted. The following 
persons have served as masters: Charles Hudson, 1852; Thomas Robin- 
son, 1854; John C. Calhoun, 1855; W. B. Crandall, 1856-58 and 1860; 
S. B. Smith, 1859; T. L. Root, 1861-62; C. S. Chase, 1863-65 ;-M. C. 
Finley, 1866-67 John G. Webster, 1868-69; T. S. Jackson. 1870; Joseph 
W. Corning, 1871; George McGown, 1872-75; Henry P. Knowles, 1876; 



152 LANDMARKS OF 

Joseph W. Taylor, 1877; Wells Tyler, L878-79; John C. Coates, 1880 
81; Oliver Durfee, L882-83; Henry Birdsall, 1884-85; Edwin B. Ander- 
son, 1886; S. Nelson Sawyer, 1887-88; C. H. Brigham, 1889-90; S. E. 
Braman, 1891-92; Alfred C. Hopkins, 1893-94. The officers of the lodge 
for 1894 are as follows: Alfred C. Hopkins, master; Louis M. Chase, 
S. W. ; George A. Barnhart, J. W. ; Alfred W. Salisbury, treasurer; 
George McGown, secretary; James L. Harrison, S. D. ; Alexander P. 
Milne, J. D. ; Walter P. Smith, S. M. C. ; Richard A. Yanderboget, 
J. M. C. ; William H. Dennis, tyler. 

A charter was granted to Palmyra Eagle Chapter No. 79, R. AM., 
on February 7, 1823. The first officers were: Addison N. Buck, H. P. ; 
Harry S. Moore, K. ; Seth Tucker, scribe. The high priests previous 
to 1828 were: Dr. Durfee Chase, Solomon St. John, Alexander Mcln- 
tyre, and Robert W. Smith. From 1828 to 1853 the chapter was not in 
existence. On April 7, 1853, work was renewed with Truman Heming- 
way, H. P. ; Marvin K. Rich, K. ; Edwin Dewey, scribe. There were 
then twenty members. ' The high priests have been : T. Hemingway, 
1853-55 ; William B. Crandall, 1856-60 ; Elijah Ennis, 1861-63; Thomas 
L. Root, 1804-67; J. H. Chase, 1868; M. C. Finley, 1869-74; Isaac F. 
Tabor, 1875-77; George McGown, 1878-82; Oliver Durfee, 1883-86; 
Edwin B. Anderson, 1887-88; S. Nelson Sawyer, L889 -90; George A. 
Earnhardt, 1891-93. The chapter officers for 1894 are as follows: 
Seiner E. Braman, H. P. ; Mark C. Finley, K. ; Alexander P. Milne, 
scribe; Alfred C. Hopkins, secretary; Fred E. Ryckman, C. H. ; George 
A. Barnhart, P. S. ; Robert H. Bareham, R. A. C. ; John Cunningham, 
M. 3 V. ; John D. Lane, M. 2 V. ; Addison L. Root, M. 1 V. ; William 
H. Dennis, tiler. 

Palmyra Council No. 26, R. & S. M., was opened under dispensation 
November 13, 186."), with these officers: E. Ennis, master; Thomas L. 
Root, deputy master; Mark C. Finley, P. O. of Work. A charter was 
granted February <'>, L866. E. Ennis served as master until L867; M. 
C. Finley, 1868-74; T. S. Jackson, 1875-76; George McGown, ls;; : 
John C. Coates, 1878; M. C. Finley, 1879-88; S. Nelson Sawyer, 1889- 
91 ; Edwin B. Anderson, 1892-93. The officers for 18!) I are as follows: 
A. C. Hopkins, T. I. M. ; George A. Barnhardt, D. M. ; John C. Coates, 
treasurer; George McGown, recorder. 

Zenobia Commandery, Knights Templar, No. 41, was organized in 
Palmyra, April ->'.), 1867, and its warrant bears date of October 2, L867. 
Its charter members numbered twenty-six, and thirteen more were soon 



WAYNE COUNTY. 153 

admitted. Jackson H. Chase was the first eminent commander; Elijah 
Ennis, generalissimo; Thomas L. Root, C. G. The following have held 
the office of E. C. since: J. H. Chase, 18(37-68; E. Ennis, 186!); T. L. 
Root, 1870-71; Rev. John G. Webster, 1872; M. C. Finley, 1873-75; 
Isaac F. Tabor, 1876-77 ; George McGown, 1878-83 ; John C. Coates, 
1881-88; Edwin B. Anderson, 1889-92; S. Nelson Sawyer 1893; Nel- 
G. Drake, 1894. The officers elected for 1894 are as follows: George 
A. Barnhardt, generalissimo; Seiner E. Braman, captain-general; Mark 
C. Finley, recorder; George McGown, treasurer. 

Wayne Lodge, F. & A. M., was organized at Ontario Center in 1866, 
and held regular meetings in the old hotel, on the site of the present 
one, until it was burned. For a few months after meetings convened 
in Thomas Hall, whence the lodge property was surreptitiously removed 
at midnight to Ontario village in 1891. The first officers were: T. 
Mitchell, W. M. ; J. Z. Hodges, S. W. ; John Raynor, J. W. ; Isaac 
Pratt, treasurer; W. H. Matherson, secretary; N. Bates, S. D. ; H. M. 
Sabin, J. D. ; S. Sabin, tyler. The number of members was eighteen. 
Among the past masters are T. Mitchell, J. Z. Hodges, S. Sabin, J. W. 
Speller, A. J. Pratt, C. M. Pease, A. Stark, and Freeman Pintler. The 
officers for 1894 are as follows: William Paine, W. M. ; H. E. Stanford, 
secretary; H. E. Van Derveer, treasurer. 

Walworth Lodge, F. & A. M., No. 254, was organized February 5, 
1852, with seven members and the following officers: Abel Wyman, 
W. M. ; Jones Findley, S. W. ; Tappan Merrill, J. W. ; Nathaniel Bates, 
treasurer; W. D. Wylie, secretary. The charter bears date June 8, 
1852. The charter members, besides those above named, were John 
Findley and Isaac Barnhart. The first meetings for about one year 
were held in Jones Findley's dwelling, on the site of F. C. Robie's pres- 
ent house. Removal was then made to the old hotel, on the site of the 
present one, and thence to its present quarters. This lodge had an 
earlier organization, but all of its records were burned in 1852, leading 
to the reorganization. The officers for 1894 are as follows: Edward M. 
Rodenberger, W. M. ; Clarence B. Palmer, S. W. ; Walter B. Slade, 
J. W. ; Charles Elliott, treasurer; J. J. Findley, secretary. 

Savannah Lodge, F. & A. M., No. 764 was organized in 1875, and 
chartered in the following year. The first officers under the charter 
were: J. A. Munson, W. M. ; A. E. Casey, S. W. ; J. N. Westbrook, 
J. W. ; J. B. Carris, treasurer; A. S. Farnum, secretary. The charter 
members of this lodge were as follows: J. A. Munson, C. H. Graves, 

20 



154 LANDMARKS OF 

James N. Westbrook, Alexander Gregg, H. E. Newton, John Williams, 
A. D. Wood, Nathan Fitch, B. G. Clark, John McGonegal, A. E. Casey, 
A. J. Holdridge, Andrew Pearsal, E. S. Wood, ,R. Widrig, and William 
Faulkner. The past masters : J. A. Munson, A. S. Farnum, and J. K. 
Bigsby. The officers of the lodge for 1894 are: H. W. Smith, W. M. ; 
L. C. Sherman, S. W. ; D. B. Reamer, J. W. ; C. B. Jepson, treasurer; 
W. R. Wiles, secretary. This lodge now has about eighty-three mem- 
bers. 

Raymond Chapter No. 100, Order of the Eastern Star, was organized 
in Savannah in June, 1803, with fourteen members, and the following 
officers: Mrs. L. C. Sherman, W. M. ; Mrs. R. H. Kelley, W. A. M. ; 
Mrs. J. M. Hill, secretary; Mrs. Charles B. Jepson, treasurer. These 
officers hold until January, 1895. 

Macedon Lodge, F. & A. M., No. 665, was organized and chartered 
June 9, 1868, with fourteen members. The first worthy master was 
Noah W. Hare, who held the office from 1867 to December, 1869. The 
following have held that office since: W, C. Lawrence, 1870-71; S. N. 
Gallup, 1872-73; Lyman Bickford, 1874-75-76 and 1880; Henry H. 
Reed, 1877-78-79, 1881-82, and from 1885 to 1891, inclusive; C. S. 
Lacey, 1883-84; G. P. Kaiser, 1892-93. For 1894 the following are the 
elective officers: Harvey Greenfield, W. M. ; Charles H. Parker, S. W. ; 
Frank G. Ramsdell, J. W. ; William B. Billings, treasurer; Robert P. 
Magee, secretary. Elective officers: E. J. Fulton. S. D. ; Walter R. 
Possee, J. D. ; Rev. C. L. Paddock, chaplain; A. Brennan, S. M. C. ; 
G. H. Kraus, J. M. C. ; Charles W. Kipp, tyler. January 1, 1894, the 
lodge had sixty-six members. 

Red Creek Lodge No. 560, F. & A. M., was instituted in 1856, with 
the following officers: Rev. S. P. Crosier, W. M. ; James H. Coope, 
S. W. ; G. H. Preston, J. W. ; E. H. Brown, treasurer; Philip Turner, 
secretary; I, F. Mosher, S. D. ; Jerome Barr, J. D. The lodge pros- 
pered until 1874, when the books and property were burned. A new 
charter was granted in April of that year. Meetings were held in the 
woolen factory during that summer, and later in Becker & Hall's hall to 
about L877, when the lodge removed to Woleott, and has remained there 
since. In Masonic year ls'.H the name of the lodge was changed to 
Woleott Lodge No. 560. The successive worshipful masters of this 
lodge has been as follows: Rev. S. I*. Crosier, James H. Coope. I. F. 
Mosher, F. M. Pasco, D. D. Becker, George Copeland, I). D. Becker, 
again, Charles Cromwell, William Lytic, J. Byron Smith, Garry Salis- 



WAYNE COUNTY. L55 

bury, Jefferson W. Hoag. The other officers for L894 are: F. A. Pre- 
vost, S. W. ; C. H. Hamner, J. W. ; B. J. Worden, S. D. ; Rolla Stew- 
art, J. D. ; N W. Merrill, treasurer; Frank Hale, secretary. 

Rose Lodge No. 590, F. & A. M., was chartered in 1805, with the fol- 
lowing members : James M. Home, M. T. Collier, Lucius H. Dudley, 
John J. Dickson. George Catchpole, Seymour Covel, Eugene Hickok, 
Seymour Woodard, James Covel, Samuel Gardner, and P. J. Thomas. 
The warrant was issued June 22, 1866. The following first officers were 
installed: James M. Home, W. M. ; M. T. Collier, S. W. ; L. H. Dud- 
ley, J. W. ; M. C. Klink, secretary; Samuel Gardner, treasurer; P. J. 
Thomas, S. D. ; Charles Covel, J. D. The officers in 1894 are as fol- 
lows: John E. Kaiser, W. M. ; Orrin C. Calhoun, S. W. ; Orrin Livings- 
ton, J. W. ; D. B. Flint, treasurer; E. Hickok, secretary. The lodge 
has seventy-two members. 

ODD FELLOWS. 

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows has had a long and honorable 
life in Wayne county, most of the lodges having been formed in the 
years 1845-46; but the earliest organization was Wayne Lodge No. 148, 
which was instituted in 1843 with ten members. John Chipman was 
N. G., and H. S. Fisher, V. G. This lodge continued its work until 
1852, when the charter was surrendered. The membership at one 
period reached 150, but had declined to sixty in 1852. 

The second lodge of Odd Fellows in Palmyra was Pierian Lodge No. 
243, which was instituted August 3, 1870, with the following charter 
members: Lewis B. Keeler, P. G. ; Samuel B. Mclntyre, R. L. Pritch- 
ard, Clarence A. Hersey, and Albert F. Duell. S. B. Mclntyre was in- 
stalled N. G. ; G. R. Pritchard, V. G. ; C. A. Hersey, secretary; and 
A. F. Buell, treasurer. Meetings were held weekly in rooms in Cuyler's 
block. For some unexplained reason this lodge eventually declined and 
finally suspended work to be succeeded by the Phil Sheridan Lodge. 

Phil Sheridan Lodge No. 430, I. O. O. F., was instituted October 25, 
1888, with the following charter members: George H. Crandall, Dorr 
Kent, Charles H. Soper, A. Moison, A. R. Knapp, W. A. Parker, E. B. 
Sutton, Frank A. Chase, H. W. Green, D. L. Congdon, A. C. Buell, 
F. A. Sawyer, W. H. Selleck, Alanson Freeman, Joseph S. Benedict, 
W. H. H. Osborne, Charles W. Powers, R. F. Poyzer, W. H. Dixon, 
John Devoist, F. G. Crandall, W. J. Vail, G. A. Williams, S. T. De La 



156 LANDMARKS OF 

Mater, Fred Smith, James Palmer, J. W. Hersey. Of these, five — 
Messrs. Crandall, Kent, Freeman, Soper, and Benedict — were members 
of the old lodge. The first officers were as follows: George H. Cran- 
dall, N. G. ; W. H. H. Osborne, Y. G. ; R. F. Poyzer, permanent sec- 
retary; Charles W. Powers, recording secretary; A. R. Knapp, treas- 
urer; R. F. Poyzer, W. ; W. A. Parker. C. ; W. H. Dixon, R. S. N. G. ; 

F. A. Sawyer, L. S. N. G. ; Jno. Devoist, R. S. V. G. ; F. A. Chase. 
L. S. V. G. ; F. G. Crandall, I. G. ; H. \V. Green, O. G. ; W. J. Vail, 
R. S. S. ; D. L. Congdon, L. S. S. The officers elected June 28, L894, 
are as follows: John Anderson, N. G. ; R. N. Backus, V. G. ; R. F. 
Poyzer, secretary; F. A. Chase, treasurer. 

In the latter part of the year 1845 five petitioners, including Zina 
Hooker, Joseph Congdon, Isaac Miller, Aaron Brooks, and one not now 
known, resolved to organize a lodge of Odd Fellows for the town of 
Galen. This resulted in the formation of Galen Lodge Xo. 198 in Jan- 
uary, 1846. The first tw r o principal officers were Zina Hooker, X. G. ; 
and Joseph Congdon, V. G. In the renumbering of lodges in this State 
in 1848 this lodge became No. 36. It enjoyed a fair degree of prosper- 
ity until 1860, when it was discontinued. Siloam Encampment, which 
was connected with the old lodge and had existed about ten years, sus- 
pended two years earlier than the lodge. Upon the petition of J. Scott, 

G. P. Livingston, J. Curry, X. Hovey, J. T. Van Buskirk, P. Simons, 
P. Furlong, P. Sloan, and B. Brewster, Clyde Lodge No. 300 was or- 
ganized on the 19th of February, 1872, with the following officers: J. 
Scott, N. G. ; G. P. Livingston, V. G. ; James Curry, secretary; J. T. 
Van Buskirk, W. ; N. Hovey, treasurer; D. L. Stow, C. ; P. Simons, 
R. S. N. G. ; A. E. Adams, L. S. N. G. ; P. Furlong, L. S. V. G. ; B. 
Brewster, I. G. ; P. Sloan, O. G. A room for this lodge was fitted up 
in Sloan's block, Glasgow street, and weekly meetings were held. The 
membership is now about sixty. The following officers were elected in 
July. L894: A. E. Littlejohn, N. G. ; A. C. Burnette, V. G. ; B. X. Mar- 
riott, secretary; W. E. Meade, treasurer; Thomas Howes, R. S. X. G. ; 
H. Fiske, L. S. X. G. ; C. A. Sloan, W. ; A. F. Groescup, C. ; F. A. 
Haugh, R. S. S. ; J. G. Groesbeck, L. S. S. ; C. H. Tuck, R. S. V. G. : 
John Stock, L. S. V. G. ; C. S. Eldridge, J. G. ; C. H. Ford, O. G. ; J. 
F. Ford, Rep. to G. L. ; A. E, Adams, proxy. 

Canton Galen Xo. 49, I. O. O. F., was mustered August 8, IS'.'o, with 
twenty-two members and the following officers : C. H. Ford, captain; 
Thomas Howes, lieutenant; 1). L. Edwards, ensign; J. W. ll.Shipler, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 157 

clerk; E. F. Stoetzel, accountant. These officers were re-elected in 
April, 1894. The company is uniformed. 

Newark Lodge No. 196, I. O. O. F., was originally instituted on the 
1st of January, 1840, with James D. Ford, N. G. This lodge ceased to 
work in 1859, through loss by fire. Their building, finished and dedi- 
cated March 27, 1849, was burned with all the lodge property. On 
October 19, 1870, the lodge was instituted as Newark Lodge No. 250, 
with the following charter members and officers: C. G. Pomeroy, N. G. ; 
AY. S. Bartle, V. G. ; H. F. C. Mayer, secretary; J. D. Ford, treasurer; 
and Peter McGregor and Moses P. Hamm; of these only Mr. Hamm is 
living. The following have served the lodge as N. G. : C. G. Pomeroy, 
E. P. Soverill, D. L. Ford, H. M. Shepard, L. S. Pratt, Solon Briggs, 
W. L. Willett, James Garlock, H. J. Pierson, S. Stuerwald, A. H. 
Yanderbilt, C. E. Burleigh, Wesley S. Drake, Peter C. Howe, James 
R. Brainard, W. B. Randolph, Richard P. Groat, Sylvanus Krum, Uri 
Hutchins, Reeves S. Welcher, Latham Coffin, Jacob E. Stever, P. E. 
Nellis, Cyrus A. Tator, Charles W. Sherman, George F. Palmer, Leman 
H. Purchase, Levi A. Loveland, Andrew D. Soverill, Frank G. Bailey, 
James T. George, Leonard Cozzens, Irving W. Colburn, James A. 
vStiles, Arthur Blackmar, Fred C. Shaw, Jacob H. Bender, George C. 
Brewer, D. J. Rehklau, A. E. Pike, John S. Hedden, Willard B. Gar- 
lock, Silas D. Borroughs, George W. Muth, L. S. Pratt, W. M. Filkins, 
Oscar D. Vanderbilt, L. H. Morse, Rev. Mr. Barber, George C. 
Pierson. This lodge has been prosperous and now numbers about 
eighty-five members. On April 26, 1876, the lodge hall in the Storv 
Block was formally dedicated. Officers elected July 1, 1894: George C. 
Pierson, N. G. ; E. D. Miller, V. G. ; Ralph Conklin, secretary, Warren 
S. Bartle, treasurer. 

W.ayne Encampment No. 85, I. O. O. F., was instituted at Newark, 
October 7,. 1875, with the following charter members: Solon Briggs, 
W. S. Bartle, C. Pell, A. H. Van Derbilt, E. E. Burleigh, L. Coffin, 
J. H. Pulver, W. L. Willett, P. McGregor. 

The first Odd Fellows organization in Lyons was Lyons Lodge No. 
75, which was organized in October, 1846, with the following five mem- 
bers: William W. Sanford, N. G. ; William H. Sisson, V. G. ; and Morton 
Brownson, John Frazier, and a Mr. Lawton. The first meeting was 
held in the Wayne County Hotel, and later a room in the third story of 
the Hartnagel building was leased for a term of years, and properly 
fitted up. The lodge prospered for a time, and had more than one 



158 LANDMARKS OF 

hundred members; but it closed in 1867, when its members numbered 
sixty-two. 

Lyons Lodge No. 317, I. O. O. F., was organized in April, 1872, in 
the Center building, and in June, 1874, removed to the third story of 
Gavitt's Block. A little later rooms were furnished in the third story 
of the Center building, and taken on a long lease. The six charter 
members were: Joseph McCall, N. G. ; Cornelius Pell, V. G. ; G. W. 
Cramer, secretary; Andrew Fries, treasurer; and M. vS. Leach and 
Horace Utter. The officers elected for 1894 are as follows: Valentine 
Kaiser, N. G. ; Charles Barnhardt, V. G. ; P. F. Seaman, secretary: A. 
T. Robinson, treasurer; W. E. McCullom, representative to Grand 
Lodge. 

Component No. 17, of Grand Canton Stebbins, of Rochester, was 
organized at Lyons in June, 1893, and has a membership of thirty-two. 
Nelson Morris is captain, and C. S. Thompson, clerk. 

Bay Shore Lodge No. 606, I. O. O. F., was organized at North Rose 
village, August 20, 1891, with A. R. Proseus, N. G. ; G. W. Seager, 
V. G. ; and F. E. Soper, secretary ; the lodge then had fifteen members, 
and has since increased to about twenty-five. The following persons 
have held the office of N . G. : A. R. Proseus, G. W. Seager, Clark Halli- 
day, Warren W. Morey, A. M. Gray, Elmer E. Mitchell. The follow- 
ing officers were installed July 14, 1894: B. T. Drury, N. G. ; C. W. 
Oaks, V. G. ; C. Halliday, secretary; A. M. Gray, treasurer. 

North Sodus Lodge No. 454, I. O. O. F., was initiated September 22, 
1876, with six charter members as follows: Alonzo Barnes, J. Henry 
Zelsche, Millard S. Robinson, S. G. Brumfield, Charles M. Sentell, 
Albert Dodd. The first officers elected were: Alonzo Barnes, N. (i. ; 
Albert Dodd, V. G. ; M. S. Robinson, secretary; S. G. Brumfield, 
treasurer. The officers for 1894 are as follows: S. N. Parker, N. G. ; 
Charles Edwards, V. G. ; G. F. Hendricks, secretary; J. Stebbins, 
treasurer. The lodge has a membership of forty-three. 

East Ridge Lodge No. 415, I. O. O. F., of Sodus, was initiated in 
August, 1849, and its charter was granted from Baltimore, Md., in De- 
cember, 1850. It continued in existence until 1857, when it disbanded. 

Butler Lodge No. 504, I. ( ). O. F., was initiated December 29, 1882, 
with twenty-two members. Its charter was granted October 13, 1882. 
The first officers were: N. De L. Bowen, N. G. ; Dr. James F. Munn, 
V. G. ; X. R. Hurd, secretary; James L. Wadsworth, treasurer. The 
lodge was instituted by district deputy G. M. James T.George of Newark, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 159 

assisted by others from abroad. The successive N. G.'s of the lodge 
have been: James F. Mtmn, M. D., E. H. Cady, J. E. Rogers, Andrew 
J. Bradway, De Witt C. Wheeler. H. O. Baggerly, jr., Henry W. Cro- 
foot, James L. Wadsworth, Ensign L. Adams, D. P. Mitchell, William 
H. Clapp, Henry D. Wetmore, Charles C. Taylor, Alexander C. Clapp, 
Selden E. Helmer, Thomas S. Law, Dudley S. Reed, James Wheeler, 
George W. Williams, Hurley H. Hopkins, Dr. William J. Coppernoll, 
Selden E. Helmer. The officers for 1894 are as follows: Silas D. Cro- 
foot, N. G. ; James Shannon, V. G. ; D. P. Mitchell, secretary; William 
H. Clapp, treasurer. Gorham H. Wilson is delegate to the Odd Fellows 
Home Association at Lockport, the first from this lodge. The member- 
ship is fifty. 

Ontario Shore Lodge No. 495, of Wolcott, was initiated February 9, 
1882, with H. L. Bowen, J. Madison Henslee, W. A. Coventry, J. A. 
Merrill, Albert Dodd, and S. H. Foster as charter members. The first 
officers were: Rev. H. L. Bowen, N. G. ; J. Madison Henslee, V. G. ; 
S. H. Foster, secretary; J. A. Merrill, treasurer; W. A. Coventry, P. G. 
Forty-five candidates were initiated. The officers for 1894 are as 
follows: Walter Darling, N. G. ; R. B. Smith, V. G. ; E. H. Kellogg, 
secretary; E. E. Shafft, treasurer. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES, COUNTY INSTITUTIONS, &c. 

Mention has made in an early page of this work that one of the meas- 
ures adopted by Charles Williamson for the encouragement of settlers, 
was the holding of fairs for the advancement of agriculture in Western 
New York. It was his intention to continue them semi-annually. The 
first fair held in Ontario county was at Geneva in 1807, and a notice in 
the newspaper announced the exhibition in October of a large number 
of cattle, horses, sheep, hogs, etc. , with samples of wheat and other 
grains from different parts of Genesee county. The next fair was held 
on the first Tuesday in May, 1808. 

Of the annual appropriation of $20,000, provided by the Legislature 
in March, 1818, to be distributed in various counties of this State and 



160 LANDMARKS OF 

to be used in aid of agriculture through premiums offered at fairs, On- 
tario county received $1,000. In February, 1819, a meeting was held 
at which the first Ontario County Agricultural Society was formed. A 
premium list was afterward prepared, and the first fair held, beginning 
October 18, at Canandaigua. 

We need not follow the fortunes of that organization further than to 
note that Wayne county farmers had their share in its exhibitions and 
general prosperity. In 1830 an exhibition of flowers, fruits, and gar- 
den vegetables was held in Lyons, which awakened considerable inter- 
est and was well attended. Other similar exhibitions were held in New- 
ark, Lyons and Palmyra, at some of which limited numbers of live 
stock were shown. 

In December, 1838, a meeting was held in Lyons and the Wayne 
County Agricultural Society was organized. The following first officers 
were elected: president, Hon. John Boynton; first vice-president. Dr. 
C. S. Button; second vice-president, Samuel Hecox; third vice-presi- 
dent, Samuel E. Hudson; fourth vice-president, Reuben H. Foster; 
fifth vice-president, J. P. Bartle; secretary, Hamilton Rogers; execu- 
tive committee, C. S. Button, F. Hemingway, John Baker, Samuel 
West, Abel Fairchilds: committee on field crops, William R. Smith, 
William D. Cook, A. G. Barney. 

After the adoption of the constitution this society had ten years of 
unexampled prosperity. The annual fairs were held at Palmyra, New- 
ark, Lyons, Clyde, and Rose Valley, the place selected each year at the 
annual meeting. 

At the meeting in Lyons, in December, 1848, the following officers 
were elected: president, J. D. Ford; vice-presidents, E. N. Thomas, 
Samuel Hudson, Jacob Furgeson, A. G. Percy, John Barrodale, Jede- 
diah Wilder, Joel Hale; recording secretary, N. B. Caswell; corres- 
ponding secretary, J. J. Thomas; treasurer, P. W. Kenyon;- executive 
committee, W. P. Nottingham, Cullen Foster, Daniel Kenyon, Daniel 
Jenison, E. Flint. 

At this meeting an important resolution was adopted, indicating both 
that the society was not in as prosperous a condition as formerly and 
that the belief was general that a permanent location should be secured 
as one means of renewing former prosperity. Six years later, in De- 
cember, 1851, it was finally resolved "that the fairs of the society shall 
hereafter be permanently located at Lyons." Tocarryout tin's purpose 
a new society was organized under a legislative act passed April 13, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 161 

1855, and* on the 23d of that month the old society met in Lyons, paid 
their liabilities, transferred the money remaining- in the treasury (about 
$300) to the new society, and disbanded. At a meeting- held May 15, 
1855, the following officers were elected: President, De Witt Van Slyck; 
vice-president, Robert Ennis; secretary, P. P. Bradish; treasurer, Wil- 
liam D. Perrine; directors, E. N. Thomas, A. G. Percy, E. B. Kellogg, 
S. Tincklepaugh, Alfred Hale, Henry Teachout. 

Subscriptions were solicited in Lyons, and the citizens promptly gave 
$1,700, and the Board of Managers purchased eleven acres of land on 
the Clyde River, a little east of Lyons village, possessing natural feat- 
ures that render it one of the best sites in the State for spch purposes. 
The board erected a large hall 56 x 80 feet, with galleries, at a cost of 
$1,200, the land having cost $1,710. The building was burned in 1877 
and a short period of discouragement and apathy succeeded. During 
two years, fairs were held first. in Wolcott and next in Sodus. About 
1879 the Lyons Driving Park Association was formed and bought six 
acres lying on the west side of the fair grounds, and constructed on the 
whole a half-mile track. A joint lease was made in the same year be- 
tween the two societies for ten years, each organization to have exclu- 
sive use of the grounds during fairs and races, and all revenues accru- 
ing from other sources were to be divided equally between the two or- 
ganizations. The arrangement created dissatisfaction which culminated 
in 1881 in the erection of the present fair building by the Agricultural 
Society, and the beginning of litigation, which ended only in the dis- 
bandment of the Driving Park Association in 1886. J. C. Myers was 
made president of the Agricultural Society in 1885, at which time he 
bought in the entire stock of the Driving Park Association amounting 
to $3,400, and transferred it to the Agricultural Society. This action 
gave the latter society possession of eighteen acres of land and build- 
ings. In the meantime it had become badly involved in debt and liti- 
gation, but under the energetic direction of Mr. Myers and his associate 
officers, a very successful fair was held in 1885, the premiums were paid 
in full, debts were extinguished and additional structures erected on 
the grounds. In 1889 Mr. Myers declined the presidency and another 
period of decline set in, continuing until the spring of 1894, at which 
time a debt had accumulated of over $1,800. Mr. Myers was then 
again induced to accept the presidency of the society, and an effort is 
now in progress to place its affairs in prosperous condition. The officers 
of the society for 1894 are as follows: president, Joseph C. Myers; vice- 

21 



162 LANDMARKS OF 

president, Dwight Chamberlain; secretary, William E. Collum ; treas. 
uaer, C. M. Baltzel. 

The following named persons, among others, became life-members of 
this society : R. L. Adams, William H. Adams, John Adams, Walter 
Akenhead, Philip Althen, Silas Bashford, Clark Bartlett, P. P. Bradish, 
W. L. Belden, S. W. Belden, Henry Baltzel, George H. Boehmler, J. 
S. Boice, E. W. Bottom, B. J. Bradley, M. Brownson, James M. Brad- 
ley, John Bradley, Daniel Chapman, E. C. Cosart, F. E. Cornwell, Co- 
lumbus Croul, George W. Cramer, William Clark, Frederick Deck, Mrs. 
M. Dunn, Robert Ennis, Elizur Flint, S. B. Gavitt, Daniel Goetzman, 
L. Griswold, N. W. Geer, H. Graham, William Howlett, Amos Har- 
rington, Thomas Harrington, S. S. Herrick, S. D. Holmes, John Hano, 
H. G. Hotchkiss, Alfred Hale, Jacob Jeheer, S. H. Klinck, William H. 
King, M. S. Leach, Heman J. Leach, Edwin B. Leach, S. Lewis, Isaac 
Lovejoy, John Lay ton, E. G. Leonard, Joseph McCall, N. R. Mirick, 
Milton Mirick, H. C. Mead, J. T. Mackenzie, Z. Moore, William D. 
Perrine, J. B. Pierce, H. W. Putney, E. B. Price, F. H. Palmeter, A. 

D. Polhamus, Charles Pickett, Caleb Rice, Aaron Remsen, Erastus 
Rogers, B. R. Rogers, Thomas Rogers, James Rogers, G. R. Rudd, 
John Robinson, D. R. Rozell, John C. Roys, William H. Sisson, E. W. 
Sylvester, B. R. Streety, John H. Spencer, Samuel Scott, jr., Lyman 
Sherwood, William Smelt, Newell Taft, Henry Teachout, E. N. Thomas, 

E. P. Taylor, E. G. Thurston, Job Travice, De Witt C. Van Slyck, 
William Van Camp, William Van Marter, B. P. Van Marter, Michael 
Vanderbilt, John Vanderbilt, P. R. Westfall, John Westfall, Daniel 
Westfall, W. W. Wormwood, John Walter, Harvey Warren, Denison 
Wilder. 

The Palmyra Union Agricultural Society. — About the time that 
measures were adopted for the permanent location of the County Agri- 
cultural Society in Lyons, the farmers of the southwestern and western 
parts of the county organized the society bearing the above title. The 
date of organization was June 26, 1856, and the following were elected 
the first officers: President, Martin Butterfield ; vice-presidents, Stephen 
Hyde, William H. Teller, Russell Stoddard; secretary, Carlton II. 
Rogers; treasurer, Joseph C. Lovett; directors, Luther Sand ford, 
Stephen K. Williams, Theron <1. Yeomans, Daniel dates, William H. 
Rogers, and Jacob C. Pettitt. Besides these men the following were 
charter members: A. Salisbury, L. Robinson, Joel Foster, F. D. 
Rogers, A.' J. Downing, J. M. Briggs, J. G. Philipps, William R. John- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 163 

son, George H. Cuyler, W. P. Nottingham, A. Sherman, and W. F. 
Aldrich. 

This society purchased about twenty acres of land of Daniel dates in 
1856 at a cost of $3,000, and a floral hall was erected the same year. 
The first fair was held in the fall of 1856, and they have been continued 
annually ever since, all of which have been successful. The society as 
a whole has been prosperous; premiums have been paid in full; several 
dividends on stock have been paid and there is now (1894) about $700 
in the treasury. 

The officers of this society for 189-4 are as follows: President, Charles 
D. Johnson (served since 1879 and was recording secretary from 1864 to 
1889); corresponding secretary, E. S. Averill (served since 1868); re- 
cording secretary, P. F. Aldrich; treasurer, David S. Aldrich. 

The following persons have held the office of president of this society : 
Martin Butterfield, 1857; Luther Sanford, 1858-59; Eliab Yeomans, 
1860-61; Abraham I. Carle, 1862; Henry J. Foster, 1863; N ahum War- 
ner, 1864-65; William P. Nottingham, 1866-69; Henry Sawyer, 1870; 
William P. Nottingham, 1871-77; Henry M. Clark, 1878-79; Charles 
D. Johnson, 1880-94. 

The Agricultural, Horticultural and Mechanical Association of Galen 
was organized at Liberty Hall in Clyde, December 22, 1849, and had 
quite a successful existence until a few years since, when it was closed 
out. The first officers were: Joseph Watson, president; Benjamin H. 
Streeter, secretary; Matthew Mackie, treasurer; Jacob T. Van Buskirk, 
librarian. Owing to the determined opposition of the early officers to 
horse racing, the organization passed through a period of decline, and 
on December 27, 1856, the last board of officers of the old association 
was elected as follows: Maynard Dayton, president; E. D. Kellog, A. 
Snedaker, E. Ringer, S. J. Lape, P. T. Chamberlain, vice-presidents; 
George W. Cowles, secretary ; Thomas Plumtree, treasurer. Just prior 
to this date a new interest had been awakened in the annual fairs and 
prosperity seemed about to dawn. Having no legal existence, the of- 
ficers and members met March 14, 1857, and dissolved the old associa- 
tion, immediately reorganizing as the Galen Agricultural Society, which 
was duly incorporated. The following officers were chosen : Maynard 
Dayton, president; Matthew Mackie, vice-president; George W. Cowles, 
secretary; Thomas Plumtree, treasurer. From this time until 1888. in- 
clusive, the society held fairs and had exhibitions of trotting horses in 
the park established by William H. Saunders, where commodious build- 



164 LANDMARKS OF 

ings had been erected. January 21, 1888, the name was changed to the 
Eastern Wayne Agricultural Society, with William S. Hunt, president; 
L. N. Snow, vice-president; E. W. Sherman, secretary; and Frank 
Backman, treasurer. The exhibition of 1889 was held at Wolcott, and 
soon afterward the society disbanded. 

The Newark Fair Association was organized at Newark in 1891, with 
these officers: J. Dupha Reeves, president; C. E. Leggett, treasurer; 
C. H. Perkins, secretary. Successful fairs were held for three years. 
In 1894 the association disbanded and the property passed to another 
society. 

The Sodus Agricultural Society was organized August 16, 1878, with 
the following as the first officers : H. C. Weaver, president; H. B. Pulver, 
vice-president; L. H. Clark, secretary; W. J. Filkins, treasurer; E. 
Rogers, general superintendent; R. F. Norn's, J. Vosburgh, J. A. 
Boyd, Milton Proseus, John Hopp, Orville Carpenter, directors. Grounds 
owned by Lorenzo Whitney, on which he had constructed a half-mile 
track, were leased by the society, and successful fairs have been regu- 
larly held since the first organization. The successive presidents of this 
society have been as follows: Harvey C. Weaver, 1879-81; M. Tinkle- 
paugh, 1882-84; C. A. Whitbeck, 1883; John A. Boyd, 1885-86; M. 
Tinklepaugh, 1887-93; C. R. Sprong, 1888-90; C. A. Whitbeck, 1891- 
93. The officers for 1894 are as follows: M. Tinklepaugh, president; 
E. B. Whitbeck, vice-president; W. J. Toor, secretary; A. J. Maxon, 
treasurer; D. L. Weaver, general superintendent; H. M. Barnes, M.J. 
Seymour, M. Tinklepaugh, John A. Sargent, John Gulick, William 
Tinklepaugh, directors. 

The Marion Horse Trotters' Association was organized August 1, 
L890, its name indicating its objects. Officers: T. M. Clark, president; 
J. C. Rich, secretary; A. P. Williams, treasurer. A tract of land, one- 
half mile north of Marion village, was leased of B. D. Davis for five 
years, and a half-mile track constructed. The Executive Committee 
consists <>f A. P. Williams, J. B. Malcolm, F. C. Rich, T. M. Clark, and 
J. C. Rich. 

County Poor House. — The buildings of the Wayne county poor-house 
are situated upon the county farm, which lies some two miles west of 
the village of Lyons. The farm contains 190 acres, the greater part of 
which is tillable. The buildings consist of a main part (sixty by eighty 
I and two stories above the basement; a wooden structure connects 
with the 'same, in size twenty by forty feet; there is a wood, a wash, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 165 

and other out-buildings; there is also in the same inclosure an asylum 
for lunatics, built of brick (twenty-six by fifty-four feet), and one story 
high. A project is now (1894) on foot for the erection of a hospital 
building. Rooms are kept clean and well ventilated. James T. Wisner 
was superintendent a number of years, and made many improvements. 
Annually the supervisors visit the farm on a tour of inspection. 



CHAPTER XV. 
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF PALMYRA. 

Palnryra, including Macedon, originally formed a part of the district 
of Tolland in the County of Ontario; this district was organized in a 
primitive manner in January, 1780, being contemporary with the great 
district of Sodus on the north and west. Macedon was set off January 
29, 1823, and upon the organization of Wayne county on April 11, of 
that year, the town of Palmyra comprised its present area of 19,430 
acres. It includes township 12, second range, of the Pultney estate. 
It is bounded on the north by Marion, on the east by Arcadia, on the 
south by Ontario county, and on the west by Macedon, and lies in the 
southwest part of Wayne county. 

The surface is broken into hills and valleys, which trend generally 
north and south. The soil is a calcareous loam, with marl on the creek 
bottoms, and drift, sand, and gravel on the highlands. Ganargwa 
(Mud) Creek, the principal stream, flows easterly through the town, 
and affords some good mill sites; in earlier days it was utilized for 
navigation. Its main tributaries are Red Creeks, one joining it at 
Palmyra village, and the other a little east of East Palmyra. The soil 
is well adapted to agricultural purposes, and throughout the town are 
found many excellent farms. It was originally covered with heavy 
timber, which long afforded employment for several saw mills. These 
dense forests have long since given place to fertile fields, productive 
orchards, and pleasant homes. The inhabitants, some of whom are 
descended from the original settlers, ably maintain the thrifty principles 
implanted by the sturdy pioneers, who opened the way for commercial 
progress and personal enjoyment. Wheat raising, once the chief agri- 



166 LANDMARKS OF 

cultural production, has been suspended by a system of mixed farming; 
for many years considerable attention has been devoted to fruit grow- 
ing, especially to apples. Here the famous Osband pear originated. 
Of late years the production of peppermint has been profitably carried 
on. 

The first highway was what is now Canandaigua street, leading south- 
ward from Palmyra village; it was opened about 1703, and for many 
years was maintained as a plank road. An extension of this thorough- 
fare was the old Sodus road, which ran north and northeast to Sodus 
Point, and which was opened in 1704 by Captain Charles Williamson, 
who paid $757 for its construction. In 1703 a road was surveyed from 
Deacon Foster's house, westwardly, by the houses of Joel Foster, Wil- 
liam Wilison, Weaver Osband, Gideon Durfee, and Swift's Ash Works, 
to Webb Harwood's. In the old book of records appears this notice 
under date of June 6, 1706: "A division of the highways in the district 
of' Tolland in County of Ontario are as follows:" and the record pro- 
ceeds to describe twelve road districts; William Rogers and Reuben 
Town, highway commissioners, and Jonathan Edwards, town clerk. In 
1707 another division was made. In 1805 the town had 15 road districts; 
1807, 18; 1810, 23; 1816, 32. A part of the present road from Palmyra 
to Pultneyville was surveyed June 13, 1<^20, by Isaac Durfee and Luman 
Harrison, highway commissioners, "with the poor old town compass." 
Canandaigua street, above mentioned, was resurveyed in 1810, and 
October 8, L828, was again surveyed, this time five rods wide, to Man- 
chester, Ontario county; it then became a State road, and at this time 
George Crane, Alva Hendee, and Joshua Downer were commissioners 
of highways. The town now has 47 road districts. 

January L6, L799, "Mud Creek" (Ganargwa Creek) was officially de- 
clared a navigable stream from the west line of road district 12, second 
range, to mouth of same (creek), by Benjamin Wells and John Swift, 
"superintendents of highways." 

The completion of the Erie Canal through the town in L825 imparted 
a new impetus to local settlement and commercial prosperity, and the 
advent of the New York Central Railroad in 1853, with stations at Pal- 
myra and East Palmyra, added another improvement. The West Shore 
Railroad, with a station at Palmyra village, was opened in 1884. These 
thoroughfares afford unsurpassed transportation facilities. 

Tlic town was primitively known by the name of Swift, tor John Swift, 
the first settler, but it was soon changed to Tolland, or the District of 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Hu 



Tolland, which remained the designation until January 4-, ll'.iii, when, 
at a meeting held for the purpose, the historic name of Palmyra was de- 
cided upon, in this wise: Daniel Sawyer, brother of Mrs. Swift, was en- 
gaged to Miss Dosha Boughton, the first school teacher, and had been 
reading ancient history ; and as Palmyra of old had a Zenobia he thought 
it proper his future wife should have a Palmyra, so the name was adopted 
without dissent. 

The first town meeting was held at the house of Gideon Durfee in 
April, 1796, more than eight years after the District of Tolland was 
formed. The first officers elected were: John Swift, " moderator, in- 
spector, and supervisor;" Jonathan Edwards, town clerk: Festus Gold- 
smith, Jonathan Warner, Humphrey Sherman, assessors; William Por- 
ter, collector; Noah Porter and Thomas Goldsmith, overseers of the poor; 
JaredComstock, Reuben Town, William Rogers, commissioners of high- 
ways; James Bradish, and James Reeves, constables; James Reeves, 
John Hurlbut, Joel Foster, Luther Sanford, David Warner, Benjamin 
Wood, Abner Hill, Cyrus Parker, Thomas Hamilton, Henry Lovell, 
Nerman Merry, Nathan Harris, Jacob Gannett, pathmasters; David 
Warner, John Hurlbut, Elias Reeves, f ence viewers ; Isaac Kelly, pound- 
master. Joel Foster bid off the first earmark and Jonah Howell the 
second ; forty-nine persons paid for earmarks at this meeting. A bounty 
of $5 was voted on wolves and two cents each on " crows, squirrels, 
woodpeckers, and blackbirds." It was voted that a pound be erected 
"near Daniel Sawyer's old house." 

The following list of those who had " earmarks " for stock recorded 
embraces nearly all of the heads of families in the District of Tolland 
in 1796; 



James Reeves, 
Lemuel Spear, 
William Porter, 
Israel Delano, 
Timothy Conant, 
Festus Goldsmith, 
William Jackway, 
John Crandall, 
Pardon Wilcox, 
Henry Lovetell, 
Reuben Town, 
Benjamin Luce, 
Luther Sanford, 
Alexander Rowley, 



David Warner, 
Isaac Howell, 
John Russell, 
David Culver, 
Gideon Durfee, jr. , 
Reuben Town, 
John Gibson, 
Noah Porter, 
Oliver Clark, 
Thomas Goldsmith, 
Joseph Bradish, 
John Hulburt, 
Benjamin Clark, 
Benjamin Woods, 



Joel W. Foster, 
David H. Foster, 
John Swift, 
Nathan Reeves, 
Gideon Durfee, 
Humphrey Sherman, 
Job Durfee, 
Moses Culver, 
Elias Reeves, 
Thomas Rogers, 
Edward Durfee, 
Bennett Bates, 
Darius Comstock, 
Nathan Harriss, 



168 



LANDMARKS OF 



Elisha San ford. 
Jonah Howell, 



Jonathan Warner, 
Joel Foster, 



Robert Hinds. 



The supervisors of Palmyra have been as follows: 



John Swift, 1796, 
Jonah Howell, 1797-98, 
John Swift, 1799-02, 
Nathan Comstoek, 1803, 
John Swift, 1804-06, 
William Rogers, 1807-08, 
Pardon Durfee, 1809-14, 
David White, 1815-20, 
James White, 1821-22, 
William Rogers, 1823, 
Stephen Sherman, 1N2 4, 
Frederick Smith, 1825, 
Stephen Sherman,- 1826, 
Frederick Smith, 1827-28, 
Ambrose Salisbury, 1829-31, 
Frederick Smith, 1832-34, 
Ambrose Salisbury, 1835.37, 
George W. Cuyler, 1838-39, 
James Hubbell, 1840-41, 
Ambrose Salisbury, 1842, 
Samuel Cole, 1843, 
Samuel E. Hudson, 1844, 
Pomeroy Tucker, 1845, 



William Beal, 1846, 
Augustus Elmendorf, 1S47-48 
Thomas W. Gurney, 1849, 
Augustus Elmendorf, 1850, 
Pomeroy Tucker, 1851-52, 
Abraham I. Carle, 1853, 
Philip Palmer, 1854, 
Charles E. Thurber. 1855, 
A. P. Crandall, 1856-58, 
William H. Bowman, 1859, 
William B. Crandall, I860, 
Henry S. Flower, 1861-65, 
Charles I. Ferrin, 1866, 
Charles D. Johnson, 1867-70. 
William Foster, 1871, 
Henry P. Knowles, 1872-73, 
Robert Johnson, 1874, 
Geoi'ge Harrison, 1875-79, 
Henry M. Clark, 1880-81, 
Nelson Reeves, 1882-84, 
Henry R. Durfeee, 1885-88, 
James O. Clark, 1889-92. 
William W. Edgerton, 1898-94, 



The town officers for 1894 are: W. W. Edgerton, supervisor; Alex- 
ander P. Milne, town clerk; Charles P. Winslow, Charles H. Chapman, 
Jones L. Warner, assessors; Charles H. Brown, overseer of the poor; 
Sylvester Selleck, collector; Salem W. Sweezey, highway commissioner; 
E. H. Clark, Joseph J. Rogers, James P. Tuttle, Mark C. Finley, jus- 
tices of the peace. The first record of incumbents of the latter office 
appears in 1805, when William Rogers and Pardon Durfee became jus- 
tices. 

In 17(52 a colony of 200 settlers located in the beautiful valley of 
Wyoming in Northeast Pennsylvania; in 1774 their number had in- 
creased to about 2,000. Conflicting claims led to the Pennamite war, 
and several of the settlers, forming a company, decided to emigrate. 
They chose John Swift and John Jenkins their agents to select and buy 
new lands. Jenkins had previously been a surveyor for the Phelps and 
Gorham purchase, and with Mr. Swift he came to Canandaigua, where 
they contracted for township twelve, second range (the present town of 




(2f. C/V. <2fczwLy,m 



WAYNE COUNTY. 169 

Palmyra). Mr. Jenkins at once began the survey of farm lots along 
the Ganargwa (Mud Creek) ; he built a cabin about two miles below 
Palmyra village, which sheltered his surveying party, consisting of Solo- 
mon Earle, Alpheus Harris, Daniel Ranson, and a Mr. Barker. Early 
one morning, while asleep, they were attacked by a party of Tuscarora 
Indians, who fired through the unchinked logs of their cabin. Barker 
was killed and Earle was wounded ; the others put the assailants to 
flight, and at daylight buried Barker. They immediately went to 
Geneva, gave the alarm, pursued the savages, and captured two on the 
Chemung; one was executed under "committee law" with a hatchet, 
but the other escaped; Earle recovered and became the pioneer ferry- 
man on the Seneca outlet. 

This incident caused the abandonment of the Pennsylvania move- 
ment. John Swift went to New England, where he labored to induce 
emigration, and in September, 1790, established his family in a bark- 
covered log house just north of the lower end of Main street in Palmyra 
village. This was the first permanent white settlement in the present 
town, and his location was long known as Swift's landing. His wife 
was a typical pioneer woman, and had more than one encounter with 
the dusky Indians. He was a very prominent man in the pioneer set- 
tlement, being supervisor in all eight years, and holding several other 
positions of trust. In 1810 he built the first grist mill in town opposite 
the old Harrison mill, and at his cabin, as captain, held the first militia 
training; there also the first church in Palmyra and the third west of 
Onondaga county was organized. He also gave lots for the first school 
house, the first burial place, and the first church in Palmyra village. 
His son, Asa Swift, was the first white male child born in town. Mr. 
Swift became brevet general in the war of 1812, and at Queenston 
Heights led a force against Fort George, where he captured a picket- 
post and about sixty men. " An oversight permitted the prisoners to 
retain their arms," and one of them asking, " Who is General Swift? " 
he replied: "/am General Swift!" Instantly a fatal shot mortally 
wounded the gallant man; he was taken to the nearest house and died, 
and was buried July 12, 1814. Afterwards the citizens of Palmyra re- 
moved his remains to the old cemetery, and the Legislature, as an ac- 
knowledgment of his patriotism and services, presented a sword to his 
eldest son, and ordered a full length portrait of the general hung in the 
City Hall in New York. 
22 



170 LANDMARKS OF 

Webb Harwood, who came from Adams, Mass., with his wife, in the 
fall of L789, settled just over the line inMacedon; with him came Jona- 
than Warner, Noah Porter, and Bennett Bates, three single men. David 
White moved in with his family in 1790; he died soon afterward, and 
his was the first funeral in this. town. Of those who settled soon after 
were James Galloway, sr., John Hurlburt, Nathan Parshall, William 
Jaekway, Barney Horton, Jonathan Millett, and Mrs. Tiffany. Lemuel 
Spear had purchased land of Isaac Hathaway, a mile west of Palmyra 
village, for twenty-five cents an acre, and moved his family of eleven 
children hither in February, 1791, bringing two yoke of oxen, some 
cows, and a few sheep. He was a Revolutionary soldier, and came 
from Massachusetts. He died in 1809, and his last surviving children 
were Ebenezer, Abraham, and Stephen. Ebenezer Spear burned for 
Gen. Othniel Taylor, of Canandaigua, the first limekiln west of Seneca 
Lake. The first corn carried to mill from this town was by Noah Por- 
ter in 1790, who made the trip to Jerusalem, Yates county. Mr. Por- 
ter erected the first frame barn in Palmyra, and Lemuel Spear the 
second. 

In 1790 Gideon and Edward Durfee came on foot from Tiverton, R. I., 
to the Genesee country and purchased 1,600 acres of John Swift, paying 
for the same in coin. Swift had been unable to meet his payments to 
Phelps and Gorham, but this deal enabled him to secure a warranty 
deed of the town. Gideon Durfee moved the entire family to Palmyra 
in 1791, and settled on their tract, long known as Durfee street, below 
the village. With them came Isaac Springer, and the three men built 
a log house and planted six acres of corn ; they also planted apple seeds, 
from which grew the old Durfee orchard — the first cultivated apples 
raised in Palmyra. Pardon Durfee subsequently planted some pear 
seeds, which produced a seedling that he gave to his brother-in-law, 
Weaver Osband; the latter brought it into bearing, and in this way 
originated the famous Osband pear. Pardon, Stephen, and Job Durfee 
were brothers of Gideon, and became settlers soon after 1791, as did 
also the father, Gideon, sr. , and a sister, Ruth. The latter married 
Captain William Wilcox, which was the first marriage in the town; she 
died November 13, 1858. Lemuel Durfee came here in 1794. Gideon 
Durfee, jr., had eleven children and numerous grandchildren. Stephen 
Durfee, in raising his frame house in 181 1, inaugurated the first prac- 
tical temperance movement in Palmyra. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 171 

Gideon Durfee opened as a tavern his log house, which stood on the 
site of the subsequent residence of George H. Townsend, and Louis 
Philippe, afterwards king of France, is said to have stopped with him 
while on a visit to this country in 1796. Pardon Durfee established a 
rope-walk, and continued it until his death, April 28, 1828. Job Durfee 
purchased 375 acres of land, March 7, 1792, and died in town in 1813. 
His son, Job, built a stone house on his farm on the Marion road about 
1860, and died soon afterward. 

In 1794 a block house was erected to protect the settlers in case of 
hostilities with the Indians; in stood under the brow of " Wintergreen 
hill." 

Following the Durfees from Rhode Island came Weaver Osband, 
William, James, and Thomas Rogers, Zebulon Williams, Isaac and 
Festus Goldsmith, and Humphrey Sherman. The Rogers brothers 
came in 1792. William was a judge of Ontario county, a magistrate, 
and a member of the Legislature. Himself a widower, he married the 
widow of his brother James, and died in 1836. A daughter became the 
wife of Noah Porter. A son, William, was an early packetmaster on 
the Erie Canal. Thomas Rogers, son of James and the father of 
David, assisted in surveying the town. 

David Wilcox, from Rhode Island, came with his wife and two chil- 
dren in April, 1791 ; his daughter, Mary (Mrs. Alvah Hendee), born 
June 29, 1791, was the first white child born in Palmyra. Nathan 
Harris, father of Martin Harris, the Mormon, was a noted hunter and 
fisherman. His wife was Rhoda, and in 1793 they moved from Rhode 
Island to this town. February 3, 1794, he purchased of John Swift 600 
acres of land at fifty cents an acre. He was familiarly known as 
"Trout Harris." 

Humphrey Sherman married Mary, eldest daughter of Gideon 
Durfee, sr. , December 2, 1761. He purchased of John Swift for 
eighteen cents per acre a tract of 1,000 acres, lying south of the creek 
and bordering Arcadia. With his brother David Mr. Sherman began 
clearing, and in 1793 built a log house and sowed ten acres of wheat. 
In September, 1794, the family, consisting of eight children (including 
Alexander, the father of Durfee A. Sherman), moved to their new 
home. Humphrey Sherman built a blacksmith shop, and an ashery in 
1794, a distillery in 1795, and a large brick building in 1801, which he 
opened as a tavern. His wife died in 1794, and her burial was the first 
at East Palmyra. The Sherman tract was sold in various parcels, 



172 LANDMARKS OF 

about as follows: Gideon Durfee, 200 acres, who sold to Israel Perry; 
James Finney, 100 acres; Ashur Doolittle, a tract on the northwest; 
Lnke Mason, south of Doolittle; and the remainder was divided between 
the sons Gideon, Stephen, Alexander, Samuel, and Jacob. Ashur 
Doolittle built and operated quite a large tannery for that period. 

On lot 71 a Mr. Seeleyhad a small distillery; the land passed to P. D. 
Fellows. Lot 70 was occupied by Joshua Zeny, then by B. J. Jordan, 
and later by Peter Whitbeck; on lot 65, afterward the Hudson farm, 
lived John Patrick; George P. Stever owned lot 69, and sold to P. D. 
Zeller, who was succeeded by his son. Other residents in the neighbor- 
hood were: Alexander Forcett, Charles Curtis, B. Franklin, and Thomas 
and A. T. Goldsmith. James Galloway, sr., purchased 100 acres south 
of the creek, paying for the same with a sow and litter of pigs ; this 
tract passed to his son, James, jr. A large tract in the south part of the 
town was owned by the Rogers family, and west of them lived E. Cornell 
and Thomas Galloway. 

The Long Island colony was perhaps the most important body of 
settlers to take up their residence in Palmyra. A company consisting 
of eleven persons was formed at Southampton, L. I., in 1788, and in the 
spring of 1700 they sent their agents, Elias Reeves and Joel Foster, to 
purchase a suitable location. These men visited Pittsburg, Pa., where 
they were joined by Luke Foster, and the three went on to Fort Wash- 
ington (now Cincinnati, O. ). There they bought land on the Turkey 
bottoms, and leaving Luke Foster to build a log house returned to re- 
port their success. Arriving home they found William Hopkins (uncle 
to Elias Reeves and a son of Hon. Stephen Hopkins, a signer of the 
Declaration of Independence) and Abraham Foster on a visit from New 
Jersey. William Hopkins, who had been informed of the Genesee 
country, induced the colon}" to relinquish their Ohio lands and seek a 
location in Ontario county. 

Accordingly Reeves and Hopkins were sent to Western New York, 
and Joel and Abraham Foster and Luther Sanford were detailed to ex- 
plore Northern Pennsylvania. The former left Long Island on the 20th 
of August, 1791, and arriving in what is now Palmyra cut their names 
upon some trees as a pre-emption mark. They soon joined the other 
party at Lindleytown (now Corning), where the following compact was 
drawn and signed : 

This instrument of writing witnesseth, that William Hopkins, of the State of New 
Jersey, Elias Reeves, Joel Foster, Abraham Foster, and Luther Sanford, all of the 



WAYNE COUNTY. 173 

State of New York, do agree and bind themselves severally, each to the other, under 
the penalty of fifty pounds, to abide by and make good any purchase of land, which 
Elias Reeves and Abraham Foster shall make of Oliver Phelps, esq., or. any other 
person, within twenty days from the date hereof. The proportion of the land which 
each of us shall have is to be concluded among ourselves hereafter. In witness of all 
of which we have hereunto set our hands and seals, in Ontario county, State of New- 
York, this ninth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hun- 
dred and ninety-one. 

William Hopkins, 
Elias Reeves, 
Joel Foster, 
Abraham Foster, 
Luther Sanford. 

A contract was made with Oliver Phelps in September, 1791, for 
5,500 acres for 1,100 pounds New York currency; 100 pounds were paid 
down. John Swift was unable to meet his payments, the title was in 
doubt, and the purchase was made directly of Phelps & Gorham ; 
Durfee's arrival, previously noted, enabled Swift to pay for his tract, 
and in 1792 the Long- Island company took their deed from him. This 
is the second recorded deed of East Palmyra land, the first being that 
for the 600 acres south of the creek, sold and deeded to Gideon Durfee, 
May 19, 1791, by John Swift. 

The colony, consisting of ten families, started from Long Island on 
Monday morning, April 4, 1792, on a sail boat, built by Joel Foster, 
and arrived at the mouth of Mill brook on May 2, following. Mrs. 
Joel Foster brought in her arms her eldest son, Harvey, then eleven 
months old. Among the pioneers were the Clarks, Posts, Howells, 
Jaggers, Culvers, Jessups; Calvin, Charles, and Luther, sons of Col. 
John Bradish ; Joseph Colt, Asa Lilly, Enoch Sanders, and Silas Stod- 
dard. Their boat that brought them here was finally used on Seneca 
Lake as a pleasure craft. 

The lands comprising the present town of Palmyra were surveyed 
into lots, save the Long Island farm of 5,500 acres, which was divided, 
by those of the company present, into lots, and drawn by them as 
shares. Each man of the Long Island colony owned from the creek to 
the Marion town line. The lands along the creek were first settled. 
Among the original owners were Zebulon Williams, 100 acres; Abraham 
Gallop; John Russell, 200 acres; Isaac Arnold; Isaac Thayer, 200 acres 
(including the present depot site); Job, Edward, and Pardon Durfee; 
Weaver Osband ; William Wilcox; Robert Hinds; Howell Post, father 
of S. G. ; Joel and David H. Foster; James and Elias Reeves, 400 acres; 



174 LANDMARKS OF 

Jedediah Hopkins and Reuben Stark, 175 acres each; John Hopkins, 
360 acres; and Seth Howell, Oliver Clark, Moses Culver, and Luther 
Sanford, whose combined purchases aggregated 450 acres. 

Luther Sanford married Jennie Robinson; he was a carpenter and 
built the first frame barn in town. Joel Foster was a shoemaker, Paul 
Reeves a millwright, Oliver Clark a tailor as late as 1824, Elias Reeves 
a weaver, Joseph Burnett a hatter, and Seth Howell a roughhewer. 
Isaac, Jonah, and Gilbert Howell placed a saw and grist mill in opera- 
tion on the creek, a half-mile east of Palmyra village, in September, 
L793. The first wedding in the settlement was that of Charles Reeves 
and Eunice Howell, the ceremony being performed by Rev. IraCondit, 
October 27, L793. Stephen Cook, a member of the colony, landed at 
East Palmyra with $1,000 in coin. Mr. and Mrs. William Hopkins 
reached the house of John Hopkins on July 9, L793; both died on the 
17th, eight days later. 

Joel and Abraham Foster erected the first saw mill, and Jedediah 
Foster built in 1803 the first two-story house in town. The latter's 
great-granddaughter became the wife of J. W. Hardy. The first build- 
ing in the vicinity of the Central Railroad depot at Palmyra village was 
erected by Zebulon Williams, the pioneer merchant, who occupied it as 
a store and dwelling; it stood near the east water-house. About L805 
Williams returned to Seneca county, whence he had come, and the 
building was converted into a cooper shop by William Cook. Subse- 
quently it became Gregg & Chase's furnace, which burned, and the site 
was afterward occupied by Mrs. Sarah GrinneH's orchard and garden. 

Capt. James Galloway was a surveyor of the Phelps and Gorham pur- 
chase. He came from Newton, where he had witnessed the Indians 
transfer their lands by treaty, and April 27, 1791, purchased of Swift a 
farm, on which he settled, and which in time passed to his son James, 
jr., whose brick house stands near the site of the family's original log 
cabin. Captain Galloway constructed the first mill dam across the 
Ganargwa, where now stands the old Harrison mill; he was obliged to 
cut a passageway for boats when the creek was declared a navigable 
stream. On the south bank he built a primitive saw mill, of which 
Paul Reeves was the millwright; it was burned two years later and at 
once rebuilt. 

Hiram Foster, a brother of i\braham, was born here November 8, 
L794, and at his death was the oldest native of the town. He married 
Nancy, daughter of James Reeves in 1819. He was long a Sabbath 



WAYNE COUNTY. 175 

school superintendent, a school teacher, and prominent in the Presby- 
terian Church. 

John Swift, the Durfees, and others, engaged in clearing Ganargwa 
Creek of old logs. Regarding the creek as a permanent highway, they 
cut through the wood-riffs to Lyons. Spring freshets swept off the logs 
and left the channel free. Swift claimed the stream through Palmyra 
as individual property. At his death Joel McCollum, holding a judg- 
ment against his estate, levied on the creek, intending to exact tribute 
from the millers or a removal of their dams. The mills had been 
erected by special legislative grants and deeds from John Swift, so 
McC611um failed in his purpose. Swift's landing, near the Palmyra 
Central depot, was the head of navigation for seventeen years. Paul 
Reeves built a mill in Arcadia, and constructed a plank-lock, but the 
freshet washed it away. He circulated a petition in 1807, making the 
center of township twelve, first and second ranges, the head of naviga- 
tion. 

Col. Ambrose Salisbury, born in Conway, Mass., in 1792, removed to 
Phelps, N. Y., with his father's family in 1801, and in the war of 1812 
went to the Niagara frontier as orderly sergeant in Capt. Selma Stan- 
ley's rifle company of the 31st Regiment. Returning home in June, 
1813, he again went out, as substitute for his uncle, John Salisbury, in 
Capt. Aaron Reamer's company of dragoons from Geneva. Crossing 
to Canada in pursuit of the enemy, he particpated in several skirmishes, 
and coming to this town he purchased, with Caleb Beals, lots 7, 20, and 
21, at East Palmyra; these contained 540 acres, and were bought of 
Elisha Satterlee in the fall of 1814 for $1,402. Colonel Salisbury held 
several town offices, being a justice of the peace thirty years, and of- 
ficiating at mere than forty weddings. He was elected to the State 
Legislature in 1832, 1833, and 1839, and was appointed canal appraiser 
May 11, 1843. The same year he contracted to build the M. E. Church 
at East Palmyra. In 1822 he became an ensign in the 39th Regiment 
N. Y. State militia, and rising to the grade of colonel resigned in 1834. 
He died July 21, 1864; his wife, Anna (Vandermark), died October 6, 
1848. Of their two children only the daughter attained maturity. 

Maltby Clark was a son of Oliver and a grandson of Samuel Clark, 
and was born at East Palmyra, March 31, 1798. Samuel's children 
were: Benjamin, Samuel, jr., Oliver, Mrs. Luther Sanford, Mrs. Sam- 
uel Soverhill, and Mrs. Gabriel Rogers. Oliver's children were: Maltby, 
Dennis, Jerry, Nelson, Mrs. J. M. Grow, Mrs. Henry O. Miles, Hiram, 



176 LANDMARKS OF 

and Matilda. He died in L843. Maltby Clark married Maria M. Ma- 
son, who died, and he married Jerusha Jagger. He was early eleeted 
school inspector, assessor, and justice of the peace, and from 1837 was 
county coroner six years. In 1847 he was elected county superintend- 
ent of the po'or, holding the office two terms, and being re-elected in 
IS,'),'). He died June 4, 1875. He had seven children, of whom the 
sons were Henry M., Lucius H., and Oliver M. Henry M. Clark was 
member of assembly in 1873; he was born in East Palmyra, March 6, 
1826. 

Gen. Thomas Rogers, born in Richmond, R. L, February 13, 1790, 
came to Palmyra with his parents when a child, and died here October 
,">, L853; his wife, Harriet Holmes, died May 10, 1872. Their only child 
was the late Carlton Holmes Rogers. 

Col. George Beckwith, a native of Connecticut, born October 1(3, 1790, 
came to Palmyra while a young man and entered into a mercantile part- 
nership with a brother under the name of N. H. & G. Beckwith; he 
afterward conducted business alone and amassed a fortune. In the days 
of general trainings he organised an " independent " company, and rose 
to a colonel's commission. For many years he was an elder in the Pres- 
byterian Church; he died in 1867. 

Daniel Chapman served about three years and was wounded in the 
war of 1812. He settled two miles north of East Palmyra, and died 
there November 9, 18] ■». 

Col. Frederick Morley, who died in Detroit, Mich., in February, 1889, 
was born, in England in 1 8 "2 1 , and was a son of Rev. Luke Morley, for 
several years pastor of the Baptist Church in Clyde. He established the 
Palmyra Courier in 1838, and was also appointed collector of tolls on 
the canal. He was afterward connected successively with the Detroit 
Enquirer, the Advertiser, and the Post and Tribune. During the war 
he was an adjutant-general and in 1881-82 was immigration commis- 
sioner of Michigan. 

Col. Joseph W. Corning, a native of Nova Scotia, settled on a farm 
in Ontario in L838, and in 1841 was appointed a postmaster there. Re- 
moving to Palmyra in 1 S47 he was admitted to the bar in L855, and in 
lSi;o be became a member of the Legislature. In 1864 he raised a com- 
pany for the war, and rose to the position of lieutenant-colonel of the 
33d X. V. Vols, and afterwards became colonel of the 194th Regiment. 
He was mustered out February :!, I860, and returning to Palmyra en- 
gaged in the grocery business. In I SSI he was appointed to a position 



WAYNE COUNTY. 177 

in the New York custom house and in 1889 became postmaster at Pal- 
myra; he died June 29, 1890, and was succeeded in the latter office by 
his widow. 

Morris Puxley drove the first 'bus to the first train in Palmyra village, 
and continued in that occupation until his death in October, 1889, aged 
seventy years. 

Hon. George W. Cuyler was a prominent Democrat, and was appointed 
by Governor Hoffman one of the committee to consider State taxation. 
He was candidate for State senator in 1873, and was several times del- 
egate to State and National conventions. He died here July 20, 1876. 

The first burial place in the town was on the original Durfee home- 
stead, subsequently the Lakey farm, and the first interment therein was 
a child of Gideon Durfee; soon afterward James Rogers, the first adult, 
was laid to rest there. In that plat lie the remains of many of the first 
settlers. The present beautiful cemetery in Palmyra village was estab- 
lished in 1844; in 1846 a public vault was erected. The Rogers Me- 
morial Chapel was built in 1886; it is of stone, and owes its erection to 
a fund of $4,000 left for the purpose by* Carlton H. Rogers. George 
W. Wheeler has been superintendent since 1858. The cemetery is owned 
by the village and is governed by a committee appointed by the trustees 
of the corporation. 

In 1793 two log school houses were erected, one on the site given by 
John Swift in Palmyra village, the other, known as the Hopkins school 
house, in East Palmyra. In a part of D. H. Foster's house Abigail Fos- 
ter, his daughter, early taught a school of fifteen pupils; she afterward 
married Benjamin Davis and died in Sodus, February 12, 1872. Two 
frame school buildings were erected in Palmyra village designated re- 
spectively "Federal" and "Democratic." " So strong was political 
feeling that the partisans of each party sent only to their own school." 
Early teachers in them were Ira Selby and a Mr. Blackman. A two- 
story brick school house having four departments was built on the site 
of the Catholic church, and on it was placed the first bell brought to the 
town; this is now in use on the engine house. Chapman Jackson, 
Lemuel Parkhurst, James S. Douglass, and Alexander Plumley were 
among its earlier teachers. The institution was incorporated as a high 
school, of which James F. Cogswell, Alexander Forbes, C. Giles, and 
others were principals. The district was divided into three in 1835, and 
a stone school house built in each. 

23 



ITS LANDMARKS OF 

The Palmyra Classical Union School had its inception in the consol- 
idation of the above three school districts into "Union School, No. 1, 
of Palmyra," in the winter of 1846-47. March 19, 1847, an act author- 
ized a levy for the purchase of grounds and erection of a building. 
April 11 the institution was incorporated. The first trustees were A. P. 
Crandall, T. R. Strong, and Pliny 'Sexton ; R. G. Pardee was clerk. A 
lot was secured from the heirs of Samuel Beckwith for $2,500 and the 
erection of a school house commenced. A. P. Crandall was the finan- 
cial trustee and Elihu Hinman the contractor. It was of brick, three 
stories above the basement, cost $11,000, and was completed May 1, 
1848. It contained eleven rooms. In 1889 this building was torn down, 
and on the same lot the present handsome brick structure was built at 
a cost of about $30,000. Joseph Blaby was the architect and George 
C. Williams the contractor. It is three stories high, including base- 
ment, and contains in all sixteen rooms. February 14, 1848, four de- 
partments were organized, twelve teachers employed, and $800 raised 
for the purchase of a bell, library and apparatus; that year the total 
attendance was 697. The first faculty consisted of Justus W. French, 
A. M., principal ; William M. Crosby, A. M., Miss Sarah D. Hance, 
Charles D. Foster, Miss Clarissa Northrup, Miss Harriet E. Walker, 
Edward W. French, Miss Melinda C. Jones, Miss A. Maria West, E. 
Lush, C. D. Foster, J. C. French, De AVitt Mclntyre. 

In 1857 the Palmyra Classical Union School was incorporated, and on 
the 8th of April, under this act, Stephen Hyde was elected president, 
Joseph W. Corning, secretary, and Joseph C. Lovett, treasurer; the 
board consisted of nine trustees. April 18th an academical department 
was organized. The following have served as principals: Professor 
Baldwin, 1857; C. M. Hutchins, 1857-62; John Dunlap, 1862-66; Wil- 
liam H. Fitts, 1866-68; C. M. Hutchins, again, 1868-75; Henry F. 
Curt, 1S75-82; E. B. Fancher, 1882-86; A. S. Downing, 1886 to Jan- 
uary, 1887; H. G. Clark, 1887-90; George W. Pye, 1890 to August, 
1894. The present incumbent is Professor S. D. Arms. The average 
yearly cost of maintaining the school is about $7,300. The library, 
which in 1848 numbered 600 volumes, now contains •2,350, and is valued 
at $2,400; the chemical apparatus is worth $500. The school building 
and site are valued at $40,000. In L893-94 the average enrollment was 
575 scholars, and the officers of the board for that school year were: 
H. R. Durfee, president; F. E. Converse, secretary; Henry P. Knowles, 
treasurer; H. M. Wood, collector; G. S. Tinklepaugh, clerk. 



WAYNE COUNTY. IT!) 

The town has thirteen school districts and school houses, which were 
taught during 1892-3 by twenty-four teachers and attended by 911 
scholars. The school buildings and sites are valued at $47,000; as- 
sessed valuation of districts, $3,008,000; public money received from 
the State, $4,030.59: raised by local tax, $9,091.35. 

During the War of the Rebellion the town of Palmyra sent more than 
440 of her brave and loyal citizens to fight the nation's battles. Several 
were promoted to commissioned offices, and nearly 100 killed in action 
or died of starvation in rebel prisons. Few remain of those who re- 
turned to tell the thrilling story of that long, sanguinary conflict, and 
on Memorial Day of each year the dead and living alike are honored by 
a grateful people. 

In 1810 the town of Palmyra (including Macedon and perhaps other 
territory) had, according to Spafforcl, 2,187 inhabitants or 355 families, 
with 290 senatorial electors; that year 33,719 yards of cloth were manu- 
factured. In 1858 there were 17,100 acres improved land; value of real 
estate, $1,190,524; personal property, $195,000; 2,062 male and 2,053 
female inhabitants; 713 dwellings; 846 families; 527 freeholders; 14 
school districts; 1,319 school children; 859 horses; 1,303 oxeci and 
calves; 1,193 cows; 7,954 sheep; 1,900 swine; the productions were 
31,073 bushels winter and 112,235 spring wheat, 3,713 tons hay, 16,701 
bushels potatoes, 33,113 bushels apples, 105,711 pounds butter, 14,816 
pounds cheese, and 268 yards domestic cloths. 

In 1890 the population was 4,188, or 247 less than in 1880. In 1893 
the assessed valuation of land was $937,179 (equalized $929,282); vil- 
lage and mill property, $1,015,817 (equalized $1,092,553); railroads and 
telegraphs, $617,533 (equalized $583,049); personal property, $525,500. 
Sehedule of taxes 1893: Contingent fund, $3,088.45;. town poor fund, 
$700; special town tax, $150; reimburse county poor fund, $1,404.32; 
school tax, $2,864.06; county tax, $6,852.59; State tax, $3,776.15; State 
insane tax, $974.17; dog tax, $314. Total tax, $20,138.65; rate per 
cent., .00650466. August 8, 1890, the town was divided into four elec- 
tion districts. 

Palmyra Village. — Situated on the west border of Palmyra near the 
southwest corner of the town, on the Erie Canal, and just south of the 
New York Central and West Shore railroads, this village is one of the 
finest and one of the most historic in Wayne county. It was the birth- 
place of Mormonism and Morganism, and closely connected with the in- 
stitution of spiritualism, all of which are detailed in other pages of this 



180 LANDMARKS OF 

volume. It is also the site of the first permanent settlement — that of 
John Swift in L790 — in the district of Tolland. Swift built a wool card- 
ing machine, an ashery in 1791, laid out Main street in 1792, and estab- 
lished a boat landing at the month of Red Creek in L793; he also re- 
served for a gospel and school lot the site of the present old cemetery, 
and surveyed out village lots of four acres each on the south side of 
Main street the same year. In the rear of these, ten-acre lots were laid 
out, and the first village property, including the present residence lot of 
C. D. Johnson, was sold to James Galloway. The gospel and school lot 
was reserved for a burial place in L796. Stephen Phelps purchased a 
part of Galloway's lot and built, in 1796, on the site of the Powers 
Hotel, the second tavern in the village. June L3, L796, Swift sold 
nearly all his landed property to Sarah Brockway for $2,000; this was 
reconveyed to him June 8, L799, for $2,500. Capt; John Hurlburt, in 
I 795, bought lots of Swift on the north side of Main street in the upper 
part of the village, and about the same time John Russell purchased the 
first lot east of Chapel street, the site of the Presbyterian Church. 
Theodatus Sawyer, a brother-in-law of Swift, bought one of three lots 
between Fayette and Cuyler streets, which he sold to Constant South- 
worth, who in L806 sold to William Howe Cuyler, from whom Cuyler 
street was named. The other purchasers of these three lots were Ste- 
phen Phelps and Joseph Colt. Swift's landing at first promised to lie- 
come the village, for there Zebulon Williams, as previously stated, early 
established the first store, but the prevalence of fever and ague cheeked 
further progress. 

In 1812 the village consisted of Main, Canandaigua, and Church streets, 
the Ensworth tavern, Abner Cole's office, the house of Rev. Eliphalet 
Roweon Canandaigua street, the dwellings of James Benson and George 
Beckwith (Washington Hall) on Church street, a church on the old 
cemetery site, the drug store of Dr. Cain Robinson, a low building oc- 
cupied by William Jackway and Piatt and Zebulon Williams, a distil- 
lery, the store of N. H. & G. Beckwith, the tailor shop of A. PI. Reed, 
the saddlery of Abraham Shattuek, the drugstore of Mr. Mclntyre, the 
stores of Nathan Thayer, Samuel Wagstaff, and O'Rourke, the Durfee 
mill and dwelling, the cooper shop and house of William Cook, known 
as the " Long House," the " I Jemocratic " and " Federal " school houses, 
the store of Selby & Phelps and the Phelps tavern, the dwellings of 
Ezra Shepardson, William P. Wilson (the tanner), Levi Daggett (black- 
smith), Benjamin Cole (brother of Aimer), Mr. Blackman (blacksmith), 



WAYNE COUNTY. 181 

John B. Robson, Levi Thayer, Peleg Holmes, John Swift, Deacon Jes- 
sup (tanner), Stephen Skellinger, William T. Hussy, Samuel [ennings 
(merchant), Mr. Johnson (tailor), Dr. Robinson, Joseph Colt, Silas 
Hart, Dyer Ensworth, John Russell, and a few others, the house, of- 
fice, and store of William Howe Cuyler, and the clothiery of Andrew 
G. Howe, where the Episcopal Church now stands. 

The first merchant inside the corporation was Joseph Colt; Hubbard 
Hall was his partner for a time. About 1831 Colt died, and his son 
Joseph S. carried on business until he removed. Colt owned two Dur- 
ham boats, and it is said that Cooper Culver, William Clark, Silas 
vStoddard, John Phelps, and Gilbert Howell took them, in 1S0-4, to 
Schenectady, loaded with pork and flour, and returned with a load of 
merchandise, occupying two months making the trip ; other trips fol- 
lowed. Hall succeeded the Colts, and was followed by Seymour Sco- 
ville. Patrick O'Rourke and Samuel Jennings were also early merchants ; 
the hitter's building was burned in November, 1876. James and Orren 
White built the first brick building, two stories high, in the village, on 
the site of the Episcopal church ; they were succeeded by Israel J. 
Richardson, afterward a lawyer, and Samuel Allen, later stage propri- 
etor between Palmyra and Canandaigua. T. C. Strong occupied a 
building where the Baptist church now stands, which was opened as a 
supply store by Lasher & Candee, canal contractors, who brought here 
the first stock of gilt-framed mirrors. Nathan Thayer was succeeded 
by Joel and Levi, brothers, who also had an ashery where the gas house 
now is. The latter were twins, and built several canal boats, one of 
which was named Twin Brothers. The first canal collector was Philip 
Grandin. 

Subsequent merchants were: Davenport, Barnes & Co., succeeded by 
S. L. Thompson & Co. ; George N. Williams; Barach, a brother of 
George Beckwith ; Stephen Phelps and Ira Selby ; and Leonard Wescott, 
Daniel G. Pinch, Giles S. Ely, Zuell & White, J. C. Lovett, William H. 
Farnham, M. Story, A. C. Sanford, Thomas Birdsell, Pliny Sexton (the 
first hardware dealer and jewelry merchant), Martin Butterfield, George 
W. Cuyler, Bowman & Seymour, H. M. Johnson & Co., Bowman & 
Walker, Brigham, Royce & Co., Alexander Mclnyre, Dr. L. Cowen, 
Cassius C. Robinson, Hoyt & May, William H. Peckham, Elihu 
Durfee, Thomas Douglass, James F. Barker, David Hotchkiss, and 
Franklin Williams. The first physician was Dr. Reuben Town. 



182 LANDMARKS OF 

Joseph Smith, sr. , came here in 1816 from Royalton, Vt. ; his family 
consisted of Alvin, Sophronia, Joseph, jr., Samuel H., William, Catha- 
rine, Carlos, and Lucy. He opened a "cake and beer shop," and used 
a hand-cart in peddling' his wares through the streets. In 1818 the 
family moved to a wild farm, two miles south of the village, and lived 
in a log house about twelve years. In 1831 they removed. "They 
were a shiftless set, and Joseph, jr., was the worst of the lot." The 
Mormon " religion " was instituted, as detailed in a previous chapter, 
by Joseph Swith, jr., and the organization known as "Latter-Day 
Saints" came into existence in June, 1830. Even to this day members 
of that sect come to Palmyra and drive to "Mormon" hill, upon which 
they gaze with reverential awe. 

The first tanner was William P. Wilson about 1800; in 1832 he sub- 
stituted his old vat system by a brick building, which burned in 1805, 
and the business was discontinued. About 1820 Wells Anderson started 
a tannery in the rear of the Powers Hotel, which in 1850 was converted 
into a carriage shop by the father of A. R. Sherman. Henry Jessup 
was in partnership with Wilson, whose interest he finally purchased, 
and about 1816 took George Palmer as partner. Jessup died in 1854. 
James Blackman was the first blacksmith; others were Asa Lilley and 
Marshall Johnson. The first saddler was Salmon Hathaway, whose 
shop occupied the site of the present town hall. Palatiah West was a 
harnessmaker in 1824. The first cloth dressing and wool-carding mill 
was built by Calvin Perrine, and Edward Durfee and Jonah Howell 
established the first grist and saw mills. About 1830 the Palmyra 
Manufacturing Company built a steam mill on the canal, at the foot of 
William street, which was burned ten years later. Jessup started 
another about 1846, which was discontinued in 1860. West of the vil- 
lage is the "Yellow Mill" of the Downing Brothers, while inside the 
corporation is the grist mill of A. P. Barnhart. The old George Harri- 
son mill, now discontinued, is owned by his sons. 

The first tavern in the village was built and opened about 1792 by 
Dr. Azel Ensworth, brother-in-law to William Rogers; it stood on the 
site of the Methodist church. The second public house was the Stephen 
Phelps tavern, which occupied the location of the Powers Hotel. In 
L820 Phelps removed to Illinois, and in 1S24 the structure was rebuilt 
and enlarged to three stories. It became the Eagle Hotel, and among 
the landlords were: Horace Warren (a son-in-law to Phelps), Alexander 
R. Galloway, William Rogers, jr., Lovell Hurd, and Solomon St. Johns. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 183 

Abou,t 1835 it was removed and became a store, giving place to the 
present semi-courtly structure, the erection of which was clue to a corn- 
pan)'' consisting of Thomas Rogers, Henry Jessup, B. Butler, Robert 
C. Jackson, and others. It cost $13,000, and in 1840 was purchased and 
kept by William P. Nottingham as the Palmyra Hotel. Successive 
landlords were: Cleveland, Gates, Joseph E. Cochran, and Delos Cum- 
mings. A few years since the present proprietor, W. A. Powers, 
assumed' charge and changed its name to the Powers Hotel. In early 
days Asa Lilley kept what was called Lilley's Coffee House; the build- 
ing was nnalhy removed and occupied by Francis Bartles as a dwelling. 
vSalmon Hathaway built and kept the Franklin House where the village 
hall now stands; Kingsley Miller was later its landlord. The Bunker 
Hill House was opened about 1825 by William W. Burrell, who was 
succeeded by W. P. Nottingham. The present Eagle Hotel was built 
by Abner F. Lakey for a cabinet shop, and opened as a public house by 
William Doran. The Farmers' House was opened and rebuilt by 
Butler Newton. The Cummings House was formerly a dwelling. 

Palmyra post-office was established as early as September, 1806; the 
postmasters, with the dates of their appointments, have been as follows: 

Dr. Azel Ensworth, September, 1806; Ira Selby, June 16, 1814; Lemuel Parkhurst, 
December 31, 1817; Ezra Shepardson, October 23, 1818; William A. McLane, Novem- 
ber 17, 1819; Joseph S. Colt, May 5, 1824; Marlin W. Wilcox, August 6, 1829; Pomeroy 
Tucker, February 13, 1839 ; David D. Hoyt, March 18, 1841 ; John O. Vorse, October 
24, 1844; William H. Cuyler, January 20, 1848; Thomas Ninde, May 3, 1849; William 
L. Tucker, April 1, 1853; William H. Cuyler, April 20, 1857; William H. Southwick, 
May 28, 1861 ; Charles J. Ferrin, August 3, 1865 ; John W. Corning, October 10, 1866 ; 
Charles J. Ferrin, April 12, 1867; Edward S. Averill, 1871; Wells Tyler, 1873; Henry 
A. Chase, 1877; Frank C. Brown, 1885; Joseph W. Corning, April 15, 1889. Mr. 
Corning died June 29, 1890, and his widow, Louisa N. Corning, was appointed and 
held the position until September, 1894, when Daniel B. Harman, the present in- 
cumbent, took charge. 

Palmyra village was incorporated March 29, 1827, and the first election 
of officers was authorized to be held May 1 ; there was no election, how- 
ever, and the charter was amended, designating February 4, 1828, and 
the house of Lovell Hurd as the time and place for the first meeting. 
The presiding justices were : Alexander R. Tiffany and Frederick Smith, 
and the first officers chosen were: Trustees, Joseph Colt, president, 
Joel Thayer, Thomas Rogers, Nathaniel H. Beckwith, James White; 
clerk, Thomas P. Baldwin; treasurer, William Parke ; assessors, George 
N. Williams, Alvah Hendee, George Beckwith; fire wardens, Stephen 



184 LANDMARKS OF 

Ackley, Pliny Sexton, Benjamin Throop. February L9, it was voted to 
purchase a fire engine and ladders, to remove obstructions from Gan- 
argwa (Mud) Creek, to purchase or lease a site for a pound, and to 
procure a water supply for use in ease of fire. The first street (Division ) 
was laid out February 22, and a fire company was organized May 2:!, 
with twenty members: Thomas P. Baldwin, Giles S. Ely, Lovewell 
Hurd, Martin Butterfield, Egbert B. Grandin, Hiram K. Jerome, 
Joseph D. Hay ward, Philip Grandin, Dorastus Cole, Pelatiah West, 
John W. M. Zuell, James F. Barker, George W. Gazely, Nathaniel 
Crandall, Adolphus T. Newdand, Harry Cooley, Truman Heminway, 
Jehiel Todd, Sutton Birdsall, and Homer B. Williams. The last sur- 
vivor was Hiram K. Jerome. That year Franklin, Holmes, and Clinton 
streets were laid out. 

In 1829 Division and Fayette streets were extended, Washington, 
Cuyler, Jackson, and Carroll streets were laid out, and May 4, the 
charter was amended. In 1832 it was voted to build an engine house, 
and August 22, 1835, a tax of $125 was authorized for the purchase of 
a horse and harness for the village. In 1830 $500 was voted for a new 
engine, and April 10, 1836, a legislative act increased the number of 
firemen to thirty-four, which act was supplemented by another, April 
•i4, 1837, adding twenty more. In 1839 an engine and hose house were 
authorized, and in 1842 a night watch was established. May 9, 1843-, 
$500 were voted to buy a burial place and fence it, and in 1S44 the 
present cemetery was opened. In 1846 anew fire engine was purchased 
for $1,000. Fires burned Anderson's barn, etc., November 2'.); and 
February 7, 1S4T, the Methodist chapel and Jenner's chair factory were 
destroyed. March 13, 1 S52, the village was divided into three fire 
districts, and a fire alarm attached to the Presbyterian church ; May 21, 
Red Rover Engine Co. No. 1 was organized. May 25, 1853, $l,r>o<) 
were voted to improve Railroad avenue, which was laid out August 1. 
May i, L855, the fire department was reorganized; the old companies 
were disbanded, and Continental Fire Co. No. 1 was formed with thirty- 
six members. September 18, a tax of $2,800 was voted to purchase 
lots and erect engine houses. In August, 1857, the Franklin House 
was purchased, and November 2, the old engine houses were ordered 
sold at auction. In 1S58, Joseph W. Corning was appointed the first 
police justice. January 1 :!, I860, the fire department was again re- 
organized, with G. C. Williams, foreman of Eagle Fire Co. No. 1, and 
C. |. Ferrin,' f orman of No. 2. May 11, L869, a Silsby steamer and 950 



WAV NIC COUNTY. 



IN.', 



feet of hose were purchased for $6,000. October 25, L802, the steel 
flag- pole was dedicated. 

July 5, L876, the Jarvis Block was burned and at once rebuilt of brick. 
The fire losses in 1876 aggregated about $60,000. 

In 1838 the following advertisements appeared in the local papers : 
Arnold E. Rice, Bunker Hill House; Williams & Filmore, livery and 
exchange; Higby & Coleman, D. S. Aldrich, and C. W. White, dry 
goods, etc. ; J. K. Cummings, J. & L. Thayer, and Beech er & Glossen- 
den, forwarding; Ely & Delamater, Butler & Williams, Seaman & 




Eastern View in Main St., Palmyra. — From on old print, 1840. 



Thompson, tailoring and clothing; James Jenner, cabinet warehouse; 
Ely & Beckwith, looking-glasses and frames; E. Williams, Richmond 
& Brown, plow factories and furnaces; S. Jackson, Palmyra rifle fac- 
tory; E. S. Townsend, Elihu Durfee, formed a partnership for manu- 
facturing rope ; W. B. Tilden, Linus North, copper, tinware, etc.; Wil- 
liams's mills, on the Outlet, ground plaster and cash paid for wheat; 
Jessup, Smith & Co. and Cyrus Leonard, shoes and leather; C. Terry, 
groceries; A. P. Crandall, Sherman & Crandall, carriages; W. W. 
Gordon and Z. Williams, dissolution notice ; Lyman W. Post, Higby & 
Coleman, general stores; Sexton & Butterfield, cash paid for flax seed; 
D. Hotchkiss, jeweler; Hoyt & May, E. A. Jackway, drugs; S. & T. 
T. Birdsall, hatter; H. Linnell, chair manufacturer; Warren & Rob- 

24 



186 



LANDMARKS OF 



bins, marble factory; C. B. Bingham, H. Armington, blacksmiths; 
L. G. Buckley, saddler; H. K. Jerome, Pomeroy Tucker, lawyers; 
Wayne County Bank, J. S. Fenton, cashier; Wells Anderson, shoes; 
Miss H. L. Putnam, select school; High School, H. K. Jerome, sec- 
retary; A. Evans, D. D. Hoyt, physicians. 

The presidents of the village have been as follows: 



Joseph Colt, 1828, 

Frederick Smith, 1820, (resigned, and 

James White, elected), 
James White, L830, 
M. W. Wilcox, 1831, 
Draper Allen, 1832, 
Truman Heminway, 1833, 
Joseph Colt, 1834, 
R. C. Jackson, 1835-36, 
Martin W. Wilcox, 1837. 
Frederick Smith, 1838-39, 
Pomeroy Tucker, 1840. 
Truman Heminway, 1841, 
Isaac E. Beecher, 1842, 
Draper Allen, 1843, 
Augustus Elmendorf, 1844-45, 
David Hotchkiss, 1840, 
O. H. Palmer, 1847, 
David Hotchkiss, 1848, 
A. C. Sanford, 1849, 
Augustus Elmendorf, 1850, 
A. G. Myrick, 1851-52, 
George G. Jessup, 1853, 
Thomas Ninde, 1854, 
D. Glossender, 1855, 



J. W. Corning, 1856, 
A. G. Myrick, 1857-59, 
W. H. Southwick, 1860, 
A. G. Myrick, 1861-63, 
P. P. Huyck, 1864-66, 
George W. Cuyler, 1867, 
A. P. Crandall, 1868, 
G. W. Cuyler, 1869, 
F. C. Brown, 1870, 
William M. Smith, 1871-72, 
Samuel W. Sawyer, 1873-74, 
Henry H. Haile, 1875, 
William S. Phelps, 1876, 
Mark C. Finley, 1877, 
Charles D. Johnson, 1878, 
Pliny T. Sexton, 1879-83, 
Edwin B. Anderson, 1884, 
Oliver Durfee, 1885-86, 
Aaron P. Seeley, 1887, 
Charles H. Brigham, 1888, 
Albert S. Rogers, 1889, 
Lewis M. Chase, 1890, 
William W. Williamson, 1891, 
Henry P. Knowles, 1892, 



S. Nelson Sawyer, 1893-94. 

The village officers for 1894-5 are: S. Nelson Sawyer, president; 
Eugene Nichols, George L. Clark, Larue A. Olvitt, R. A. Vanderboget, 
trustees; Henry D. Sanders, clerk; Alexander P. Milne, treasurer; 
Charles H. Chapman, Peter H. Ford, George H. Crandall, assessors; 
M. C. Finley, police justice; J. Morrison Ford, street superintendent; 
Eugene Conant, chief of police; George C. Williams, chief, and W. A. 
Fowers, assistant chief of fire department. 

The Palmyra village hall, a brick structure, was erected in 1867 and 
completed in January, L868, the contractor being Elon St. John, and the 
building committee A. P. Crandall and Carlton H. Rogers. It cost 
about $20,000, and contains the post-office, village offices, fire appara- 
tus, lockup, and a large auditorium. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 187 

In 1853 permission was given Messrs. Jones and Osborne to erect gas 
works and lay pipes in the street. They failed to carry out the fran- 
chise, and October 29, 1856, the Palmyra Gas Light Company was or- 
ganized, comprising George W. Tyler, president; William F. Aldrich, 
secretary; Franklin Williams, treasurer; and William H. Bowman, 
James E. Walker, A. C. Sanford, A. P. Crandall, William B. Crandall, 
Stillman Jackson, and Joseph C. Lovett, of whom the only survivor is 
A. C. Sanford. A plant was erected on the present site, north of the 
canal, and the first gas distributed in the fall of 1857. The works have 
twice been burned and rebuilt. The capital has been increased from 
$12,000 to $20,000. A. P. Crandall was, until his death in 1893, prin- 
cipal officer and manager. The present one is Charles McLouth, presi- 
dent, secretary, and treasurer. 

In March, 1882, a franchise was granted W. W. Williamson, Fred- 
erick W. Griffith, W. A. Powers, and Frank H. Brown, to establish an 
electric light system in the village. They were unsuccessful. 

The Palmyra Electric Light and Power Company was incorporated in 
March, 1891, by B. H. Davis, president; W. J. Morrison, vice-presi- 
dent; G. T. Tinklepaugh, secretary; L. P. Nichols, treasurer; and C. 
C. M. Hunt. The capital is $10,000. The company obtains the elec- 
tric current from the plant at Littleville, Ontario county, about eight 
miles south from Palmyra. The system was placed in operation in the 
fall of 1894. 

The Wayne County Bank of Palmyra was chartered April 30, 1829, 
with a capital of $100,000. The president was A. Strong, who was suc- 
ceeded by Thomas Rogers; the cashier was J. S. Fenton. The institu- 
tion finally wound up its affairs and passed out of existence. 

The Palmyra Savings Bank was incorporated April 12, 1842, but after 
a brief career it went down. 

December 25, 1865, Lyman Lyon and S. B. Gavitt began a private 
banking business in an upper room of Williams's store. Mr. Lyon pur- 
chased Gavitt's interest in June, 1867, continued alone until his death 
in August, 1887, when the affairs of the bank were closed up. Mr. Lyon 
was county clerk two terms. 

The Firsi National Bank of Palmyra is the successor and outgrowth 
of the earlier banking business, conducted for man3^ years in its present 
offices by the late Pliny Sexton and the late George W. Cuyler. In 1844 
Pliny Sexton established, under the then new free banking law, the 
" Palmyra Bank." Sometime afterward George W. Cuyler also estab- 



188 LANDMARKS OF 

lished under the same law the " Cuyler's Bank." The business of both 
parties was later merged, and as partners they continued the business 
of banking, under the organization of the ''Cuyler's Bank," until the 
incorporation in January, L864, by the same parties and their associates, 
of the First National Bank of Palmyra, soon after which time their 
former State bank was wound up. The incorporators of the First Na- 
tional Bank were George W. Cuyler, Pliny Sexton, Pliny T. Sexton, 
William H. Cuyler, Charles McLouth, and David S. Aldrich, and they 
also constituted its first board of directors. Its first officers were: 
George W. Cuyler, president; Pliny Sexton, vice-president; Pliny T. 
Sexton, cashier. The officers remained unchanged until the death of 
Mr. Cuyler, in July, L876. The vacancy thus occasioned was filled on 
December 30 of that year, by the election of Pliny T. Sexton as presi- 
dent of the bank. At the same time Robert M. Smith, who had been 
its teller for several years, was made cashier of the bank, and Stephen 
P. Seymour was chosen its second vice president. The three last named 
officers still(1894) retain their respective positions. On March 26, L881, 
Pliny Sexton, the first vice-president, died, and on the Pith of the fol- 
lowing month Harriot II. Sexton succeeded him as a director of the 
bank, and was also, on January is, L882, chosen his successor as vice- 
president. The capital of the bank at its organization was $100,000, 
with the privilege of increasing the same to $1,000,000, to which latter 
amount, by three separate additions, it attained in September, L882. 
The building in which the bank is located was erected in L830 by the 
Wayne County Bank, an institution which soon afterward passed out of 
existence. It was remodeled in 1S70, ami is now occupied by the of- 
fices of the FirSt National Bank, and also includes the family residence 
of Pliny T. Sexton, its president and principal owner. It is a hand- 
some building and is situated on the corner of Main and William streets. 

H. P. Knowles & Co. (William Scott) opened a private banking office 
in L866. Mr. Scott was succeeded by P. R. Rogers and he by George 
W. Knowles, a brother of IP P. The firm also conduct the express 
business of the village, which is contemporary with the establishment 
of their bank. 

The Wayne Building, Loan, and Accumulating Fund Association, 
the only concern of the kind in the count}-, was incorporated March 8, 
L888, with a capital of $5,000,000, which in L891 was increased to $1.00,- 
000,000. The first officers were George R. Brown, president; 1). A. 
Aldrich, vice-president; A. C. Hopkins, secretary; S. P. Nichols, 




'-/: O}. 




WAYNE COUNTY. 189 

treasurer; S. E. Harkness, L. M. Chase, W. W. Williamson, S. N. 
Sawyer, F. E. Ryckman, trustees; all of whom constituted the Board 
of Directors. The successive secretaries have been Frank H. Hale and 
J. O. Shipman; the other executive officers have remained the same. 
The present trustees are S. N. Sawyer, L. M. Chase, W. W. William- 
son, W. A. Powers, and John C. Coates. Shares are $100 each, and 
from $1,080. «J0 of assets January 1 , 1 889, the business has grown to $1 1 I , 
403.37 to June 30, 1894. 

The Globe Manufacturing Company. — In 1864 J. M. Jones patented 
the "Globe" job printing press, began its manufacture, and in lsi;; 
formed the Jones Manufacturing Company, of which Henry Johnson 
was president, George Bowman vice-president, and Mr. Jones superin- 
tendent. In 1870 the firm was reorganized, Mr. Jones giving place to 
W. I. Reid. In 1873 the name became the Globe Manufacturing Co., 
incorporated, with A. P. Crandall, president; Geo. Bowman, secretary; 
W. I. Reid, superintendent. The capital was $152,000. The present 
officers are Henry R. Durfee, president; B.H.Davis, treasurer; A. P. 
Seeley, secretary. They manufacture job printing presses and paper 
cutters, giving employment to a large force of skilled mechanics. This 
is one of the largest printing press factories in the United States, and 
the goods are sold throughout this country, Mexico, South America, 
and Europe. 

J. M. Jones & Co., in 1871, established another printing press and 
paper cutter factory opposite the above works, in which from fifteen to 
twenty-five hands are employed. They manufacture goods almost ex- 
clusively from Mr. Jones's inventions. 

The Garlock Packing Company had its inception about 1880, when 
O. T. Garlock, a practical engineer, invented and afterwards patented 
a packing for steam engines. He began its manufacturing about 1884, 
and for a few months was in partnership with T. V. Garlock. In the 
fall of 1885 the firm became Garlock & Crandall and in December of 
that year Eugene Nichols became a partner under the name of Garlock, 
Crandall & Co. In September, 1887, F. W. Griffith purchased Crandall's 
interest and the present firm was organized. In 1888 a branch factory 
was started in Rome, Ga. The company has branch offices in the larger 
cities, and employ from fifteen to twenty men here. The extensive 
business has been built up from a capital of less than $500. 

The Crandall Packing Company was started as Crandall & Chase in 
1887, and in June, 1891, the present firm was incorporated, the officers 



190 LANDMARKS OF 

being George H. Crandall, president; W. J. Hennessey, vice-president; 
C. H. North, secretary; B. H. Davis, treasurer. The present officers 
are: A. S. Downing, president; B. H. Davis, vice-president; C. H. 
North, secretary; W. J. Hennessey, treasurer. The capital is $15,000, 
and ten or fifteen men are employed. Packing for steam engines is 
manufactured. 

Palmyra village in 1828 had eighteen dry goods stores and three tan- 
neries, and the usual complement of shops, mills, etc. It now contains 
three dry goods stores, ten groceries, three hardware stores, three 
printing offices and weekly newspapers, three clothing stores, three 
millinery shops, three furniture and imdertaking establishments, four 
drug stores, two jewelry and two shoe stores, two banks, a bakerv, five 
variety stores, five hotels, three liveries, seven lawyers, five physicians, 
three dentists, six churches, a classical union school, two printing press 
and two packing manufactories, a second-hand store, two cigar factories, 
a laundry, two agricultural implement dealers, two carriage shops, a 
harness shop, one warehouse, two coal dealers, a lumber yard, two 
produce dealers, three malt houses, two grist mills, several small shops, 
and a population of about 2,100. While the canal was depended upon 
as a means of transportation, the village grew and prospered, but the 
construction of the New York Central Railroad, with a station at some 
distance from the business center, had a blighting effect. The worst 
blow to its activity, however, was the opening of the Lake Ontario 
Shore (now the R. W. & O.) Railroad, which shut off a large territory 
that had long been a field of tributary trade. 

East Palmyra. — This is a post village on the New York Central Rail- 
road, near the east border of the town. It was settled by Humphrey 
Sherman in 1794, in which year he buit an ashery and a blacksmith 
shop, the former near the subsequent shop (erected in 1837) of his 
grandson, D. A. Sherman. In 1795 he started a distillery, which in 
1812 passed to his sons Alexander and Stephen; Stephen Sherman died 
in 1823, and in 1831 it came into the hands of Charles Curtis, and in 
1842 to D. A. Sherman, with whom it went down. Humphrey Sher- 
man erected on the site of the old log cabin a large brick building in 
L801, which he opened and kept many years as a tavern; Stephen and 
Gideon Sherman were his successors until the death of the latter in 
1825, when the structure was converted into a dwelling, and finally 
passed into the possession of Caleb Heals. In 1 SO*'; Sherman built a 
brick storehouse, which was kept by a Mr. White; it eventually became 



WAYNE COUNTY. 1«ll 

a dwelling and was occupied by John Beals. In 1811 the Shermans 
erected a dam and grist mill, of which Erastus vStacey was proprietor 
several years. In 1835 Moore & Stacey built a second grist mill. 
Jacob Sherman was an early shoemaker, and J. Girard a groceryman; 
the former lived in the old house near the railroad and was postmaster 
for forty years. In 1830 a school house was built, in which Dexter 
Clark was an early teacher; later the present stone school house was 
erected. The village now contains two stores, a blacksmith and wagon 
shop, an evaporator, a peppermint still, two churches, a district school, 
and about 180 inhabitants. The postmaster is Andrew P. Gambell, 
who succeeded William H. Cronise. 

Churches. — Religious services in the present town of Palmyra were 
first held in private houses among the members of the Long Island 
colony in 1692. They were of the Presbyterian order, and in 1793 were 
moved to the annex of David H. Foster's house, which had been used 
as a school room, where, on December 5, a church was organized under 
the Congregational form of government. The organizer was Rev. Ira 
Condit, and the constituent members were : David H. Foster and wife 
Mary, Stephen Reeves and wife Mary, Howell Fort, Mrs. Sarah Starks, 
Nathaniel Terry and wife Anna, Moses Culver, Jonah Howell, sr., 
Benjamin Hopkins and wife Sarah. James Reeves was clerk; Stephen 
Reeves and David H. Foster, elders; Elias Reeves, Stephen Post, and 
Benjamin Hopkins, trustees. This was the first church organized in 
the State west of the pre-emption line. Meetings were held in the 
school house and in private dwellings until 1807. November 10, 1806, 
fifty-one members subscribed $1,026 for the erection of a house of wor- 
ship, and March 23, 1807, Gideon Durfee and Humphrey Sherman 
deeded the site at East Palmyra to the trustees, who were: Arnold 
Franklin, Samuel Soverhill, Paul Reeves, Benjamin Hopkins, James 
Reeves, and Howell Post. Paul Reeves had charge of the work, and 
the raising of the frame occupied a day and a half. A recent number 
.of the Palmyra Dispatch contains a history of this church, and it is 
stated therein that the frame was not raised until a few gallons of 
whisky had been supplied to the men. In September, 1807, the edifice, 
having been inclosed, was opened for services, but its dedication did not 
occur until September 11, 1810, when Rev. Benjamin Bell was pastor. 
Rev. Howell Powell, of Phelps, officiated. The building was inclosed 
with basswood boards and contained doors on the east, north, and west. 
It had galleries on three sides and the pulpit resembled a goblet. It 



192 LANDMARKS OF 

was taken down in IS 10, and the present edifice erected on the old site; 
the new structure was dedicated January 12, 1843, by Rev. Ira Ingra- 
ham, of Lyons. This was remodeled, and on January 12, 1870, was re- 
consecrated by Rev. Horace Eaton, D.D. In 1807 this church adopted 
the Presbyterian form of government and was attached to the Geneva 
presbytery. In February, 1817, two churches were formed, this one 
taking the name of the Presbyterian Church of East Palmyra. The 
society has about 130 members, and the pastor is Rev. M. G. Henry. 

The Western Presbyterian church of Palmyra was "set off" from the 
parent society at East Palmyra on February 2(3, 1817, with fifty-six 
members, the organizer being Rev. Francis Pomeroy. The first pastor 
was Rev. Jesse Townsend, who was installed August 29, of that year, 
and who died in Palmyra in August, 1838. Other pastors took charge, 
and in November, 1828, Rev. G. R. H. Shumway w r as ordained and 
remained seven years; he was subsequently pastor in Newark for a 
quarter of a century, and died in Pennsylvania in 1874. Services were 
held in the Union church (the town hall, built in 1811, and destroyed 
by fire) until 1832, when the present brick edifice was erected on the 
northeast corner of Main and Church streets. It was dedicated in ] 834. 
This society is the second daughter of the East Palmyra church, the 
first or oldest being a union of all creeds at Lyons on October 23, 1809, 
from which the Lyons Presbyterian church was organized in 1816. 
Rev. Horace Eaton, D.D., began his pastorate in the Palmyra church 
in 1849, and died here in October, 1883. The society has about 350 
members, under the pastorship of Rev. Stephen G. Hopkins. 

The First Baptist Church of Palmyra was organized May 29, 1800, at 
the house of Lemuel Spear, with nineteen members. In 1808 a frame 
meeting house, 40x50 feet, was built at Kent's Corners in Macedon, and 
the society continued worship until 1835. November !), 1832, another 
Baptist church was organized at the house of Rev. John D. Heart in 
Palmyra, with forty-seven members; on December 13, it adopted articles 
of faith and covenant, and January 16, 1833, the church was formally 
recognized by council. Rev. Mr. Heart was pastor, William Parke and 
Erastus R. Spear were the deacons, and Josiah Francis was the clerk. 
This society existed but one year, for on December 14, 1833, it asked 
to be received back into the church at Kent's Corners, which was done. 
Rev. Mr. Richards, the pastor, thenceforward preached in the High 
School building in Palmyra every alternate Sunday until February 1 1, 
1835, when a mutual separation was agreed upon and tw r o distinct 



WAYNE COUNTY. 1!):; 

churches were formed — the old society to retain the property and change 
its name to the First Baptist Church of Macedon, and the new one to 
become the First Baptist Church and Society of Palmyra. This latter 
organization consisted of seventy-eight members, who chose R. C. 
Jackson, William Rogers, and Stephen Spear, trustees; R. C. Jackson, 
William Parke, and E. R. Spears, deacons; and Denison Rogers, clerk. 
Their first pastor was Rev. Henry V. Jones, who was installed April 
26, 1835, at a salary of $250 per year. The old town hall, located on 
the old burying ground, a little north of the Methodist parsonage, hav- 
ing been vacated in 1834 by the Presbyterians, was occupied by the 
Baptists until it was burned in April, 1839, when Horton's hall (after- 
ward known as Williamson's hall) was secured and used as a place of 
worship. September 19, 1838, "Deacons R. C. Jackson, Stephen 
Spear, S. B. Jordan, and Samuel Palmer were appointed a committee 
to look up a site for the location of a meeting house," and February 24, 
1839, it was voted to "exchange the lot owned by Hendee Parshall for 
the lot cornering on Main and Canandaigua streets, and owned by R. 
Nichols, by paying him $400." This indicates that Deacon Parshall had 
given the church a lot, which was exchanged for the present one. 
Denison Rogers, Stephen Spear, S. T. Horton, S. B. Jordan, Alanson 
Sherman, Hendee Sherman, Samuel Palmer, and D. J. Rosman were 
constituted a building committee. The structure was built of stone 
and dedicated January 28, 1841, by Rev. W. I. Crane, a former pastor. 
April 18, Rev. A. H. Burlingame assumed the pastorate. In June, 
1868, a parsonage was purchased for $5,000. In 1870 the old stone church 
was demolished and the present brick edifice erected on the site at a 
cost of $20,000; it was dedicated March 29, 1871. October 23, 1881, 
$13,000 were contributed to liquidate the indebtedness, leaving a small 
sum for repairs. The society has received a total of over 1,000 mem- 
bers since its organization. It was received into the Wayne Baptist 
Association at its first annual meeting, at Rose, in 1835, and now com- 
prises a membership of 335. The present pastor, Rev. J. R. Henderson, 
assumed charge in September, 1885, and is also superintendent of the 
Sunday school, which numbers about 275 scholars and officers. His 
pastorate is the longest in the history of the church, to which he lias 
added 112 members. The first parsonage, purchased in 1807, stood on 
the corner of Jackson and Canandaigua streets ; the second was located 
on the corner of Main and Liberty streets; the third and present one 
stands on the north side of Jackson street. 

25 



194 LANDMARKS OF 

The First Methodist Episcopal Church of Palmyra had its inception 
in a class of this denomination that was founded as early as L811. It 
was connected with the Ontario Circuit of the Genesee Conference, and 
for several years worshiped in barns, dwellings, school houses, and 
-roves. In 1822 a society was organized and incorporated, and a church 
built near the cemetery on Vienna street, where services were held for 
twenty-five years or more. In 1832 the membership numbered 155 
persons, of whom the last resident survivor was William F. Jarvis. 
In 1S4? the meeting house was moved to Cuyler street, south of the 
Jarvis block, where it. was enlarged and remodeled and still stands, now 
the property of the Dutch Reformed Church. At the time of the re- 
moval Rev. B. McLouth was pastor and when a new edifice was pro- 
jected, about 1864, Rev. Thomas Tousey occupied the pulpit. The, 
latter secured a fund of $15,000, and July 23, 1866, .ground was broken 
for the present structure, the corner stone of which was laid on August 
21 of that year. It was dedicated during the pastorate of Rev. C. S. 
Fox on October 31, 186?, on which day $6,000 was raised to remove all 
indebtedness. It stands on the corner of Main and Church streets and 
cost complete $30,000. It is of brick with stone trimmings, and will 
seat 600 persons. The society has 260 members and is within the bounds 
of the Geneva district of the Central New York Conference. Rev. 
James H. Rogers is pastor and G. A. Tuttle superintendent of the Sun- 
day school, which numbers 235 scholars and officers. The parsonage 
just north of the church was formerly the old Washington hall. 

Zion Episcopal Church of Palmyra was organized as a parish June 23, 
1823, under the ministry of Rev. Rufus Murray, who had been elected 
to the charge in 1822, prior to which occasional services had been held 
here by Rev. Davenport Phelps. In 1824 Rev. John A. Clark became 
rector and was succeeded in 1826 by Rev. Ezekiel G. Geer. The next 
rector was Rev. John M. Guion in 1829, and was followed in 1830 by 
Rev. Burton H. Hickox. Originally the services were held in the school 
house situated near the site of St. Ann's Roman Catholic Church. Sep- 
tember 28, L827, the corner stone of their first edifice was laid, and on 
February 1, 1829, it was consecrated by Rt. Rev. Bishop Hobart. It 
was of wood, 40 by 55 feet, with galleries on three sides, and would seat 
200 persons. In 1852 a chancel was added with other improvements, 
and it served its purpose until 1872, when the present handsome struc- 
ture was commenced. It is of Medina sandstone, in the early English 
style of ecclesiastical architecture, and graced by a tower and spire, the 



WAYNE COUNTY. 195 

latter being 125 feet high and built at the cost of the late George W. 
Cuyler as a memorial to his deceased children. It was consecrated by 
Rt. Rev. Bishop A. Cleveland Coxe July 22, 1873. The name of the 
church, formerly in white, was embellished with mural decorations in 
October, 1890. During the rectorship of Rev. Charles T. Coerr a pipe 
organ was put in by the Young Ladies' Society and a reredos of quar- 
tered oak and mural decorations in the chancel were added by Mrs. 
Heminway in memory of her husband, Albert G. In 1831 a bell was 
procured and through the liberality of two members a rectory was built 
which was enlarged in 1854. In 1851 Rev. George D. Gillespie became 
rector, and during his pastorate the Gillespie fund, intended to endow 
the parish against adversity, was started ; he resigned in 1861 and be- 
came bishop of Western Michigan. The first wardens were Joseph Colt 
and Benjamin Billings. Their successors have been William Chapman, 
Martin Butterfieid, George W. Cuyler, Benjamin Billings, jr., George 
Capron, Isaac G. Bronson, William H. Farnham, and Christopher Til- 
den. Truman Heminway was a vestryman thirty-two years; he died in 
1864. The parish has about 120 communicants and a Sunday school of 
150 scholars and officers with H. P. Knowles as superintendent. The 
present rector, Rev. Leonard Woods Richardson, assumed charge in 
August, 1886. 

The Methodist Episcopal Church of East Palmyra was legally incor- 
porated May 8, 1834, with Samuel Moore, A. Salisbury, Olien Evans, 
Samuel E. Hudson, Caleb Beal, sr. , Samuel Sherman, and James Hub- 
bell, trustees. The certificate of incorporation was signed by Samuel 
Moore and Jacob Howell. Its organization was due to a series of meet- 
ings held in August, 1823, at the house of Alexander Sherman, sr., by 
Samuel Moore and Wilson Osborn, local preachers, and among the first 
members of the class were Ambrose Salisbury and wife, Samuel Sher- 
man and wife, Jacob Howell and wife, Stephen Sherman and wife, Is- 
rael Perry and wife, Harry Rowley and wife, S. I. Buck and wife, Syl- 
vanus Rowley and wife, William and Washington Beal, Marcus Swift, 
Gideon Osborn, Wilson Osborn, William Fowler, I. Foster, andWillard 
Chase, seven of whom became Methodist preachers. The organizers 
were Revs. R. M. Everetts and William Snow, and meetings were held 
for a time in the Hopkins school house in East Palmyra. In 1825 the 
society bought the Hawthorne house and lot, just south of that building, 
and fitted it up for a place of worship. July 21, 1866, it was burned, 
and the present edifice was erected on the site and dedicated December 



196 LANDMARKS OF 

29, L867, by Rev. B. I. Ives. The society was successively connected 
with the Lyons, Palmyra, Marion, and Port Gibson charges, and in 1852 
it became a separate station. There are now about 130 members under 
the pastoral care of Rev. C. E. Hermans. 

St. Ann's Congregation (Roman Catholic Church) of Palmyra was or- 
ganized by Rev. Edmund O'Connor, pastor of St. Mary's Church, 
Canandaigua, about 1848. He occasionally celebrated mass in William- 
son's hall, and about 1840 he purchased from William Aldrich the old 
brick academy building and lot on Church street. This was used for 
worship until 18G4, when, on July 26, the corner stone of the present 
edifice was laid by Rev. Michael O'Brien, vicar-general of the diocese 
of Buffalo, and then pastor of St. Patrick's Church, Rochester. The 
old building was demolished. The new structure was blessed by Bishop 
Timon in February, 1861, completed in 1870, and dedicated by Rt. Rev. 
Bernard J. M. McQuaid on October 23, 1S70. The earlier pastors were 
Revs. John Toohey, Michael Gilbride, James Donelly, and Thomas 
Walsh. Rev. William Casey was appointed to the charge August 1, 
1855, and served until May 20, 1893, when he was succeeded by the 
present pastor, Rev. James E. Hartley. Rev. Father Casey was very 
active in extending the work and founded several churches in neighbor- 
ing towns, among which were those at Macedon, Ontario, Fairport, etc. 
In September, 1850, he purchased of George G. Jessup for $2,000 two 
lots, with house and barn, south of the old church. This parsonage has 
been twice remodeled, the last time in 1873 at a cost of $3,000. In L868 
he bought of Carlton H. Rogers three and one-fourth acres of land 
southeast of the village cemetery, which he consecrated and laid out into 
lots for a Catholic burial ground. The parish now has about 180 fami- 
lies or 850 souls. 

The Reformed Dutch Church of Palmyra was organized August 15, 
1887, with thirty-four members. The first pastor was Rev. W. G Baas, 
who began March 21, 1888, and served until January, 1890, when he 
was succeeded by the present incumbent, Rev. Wietze Lubach. The 
society now has about 160 members and a Sunday school, of which the 
pastor is superintendent. The Presbyterian Church was used for wor- 
ship until March 19, 1890, when the old frame M. E. edifice on Cuyler 
street was purchased of Pliny T. Sexton for $1,700. It was repaired 
and has since been occupied by this society. In May, 1894, a frame 
parsonage on Jackson street was bought of Messrs. Allen Brothers. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 197 



CHAPTER XVI. 
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF SODUS.* 

The town of Sodus lies upon the northern border of Wayne county, 
with Lake Ontario on the north, Wolcott on the east, Lyons and Arcadia 
on the south, and Williamson on the west. It comprises the northeast 
part of the old "District of Sodus," 2 which was organized on or about 
the same day the Legislature created the county of Ontario — January 
27, 1789. At the formation this " District " embraced what are now the 
towns of Sodus, Lyons, Arcadia, Marion, Walworth, Ontario, and Will- 
iamson. Williamson (then including Ontario, Walworth, and Marion) 
was set off February 20, 1802, and Lyons (then including Arcadia) on 
the 1st of March, 1811 ; a narrow strip was subsequently taken from the 
west side of Williamson and annexed to Sodus, leaving this town with 
its present area of about seventy- three square miles. It includes town- 
ships thirteen and fourteen of the first range of the Pultney estate, and 
that part of the " Gore " lying east of them. 

The northern part of this town is mostly level, inclining towards the 
lake. The "Ridge " forms the southern boundary of this level portion, 
and south of that the surface is considerably broken by ridges extending 
from north to south. The eastern part belongs to the great basin of 

1 The editor hereby acknowledges his indebtedness to the masterful labors of Prof. 
Lewis H. Clark, of Sodus Academy, who has long been an indefatigable collector of 
local history. Professor Clark has rescued from oblivion quantities of interesting 
matter pertaining to the town and county, and in the preparation of this and other 
chapters of this volume his efforts have been of material aid. 

3 Authorities differ as to the derivation of the name Sodus. On Governor Tryon's 
map the large bay is designated " Asserotus " (an Indian word meaning "silvery 
waters"), while Little Sodus Bay is called Sodus. In Clark's History of Onondaga 
County the former is given as " Osenodus." Rev. H. L. Beauchamp, of Baldwins- 
ville, N. Y., suggests the last three syllables of " Te-ga-hone-sa-o-ta " ("place of the 
beautiful rivers ") as significant; another writer states that the Seneca Indians called 
the great inlet " Seadose," but early in the eighteenth century it was known as the 
" Bay of the Cayugas." The French, however, termed it Sodus Bay, and this desig- 
nation was applied to the district or town upon the organization of the latter. 



198 LANDMARKS OF 

Sodus Bay, which washes the northeast corner. The largest streams 
of the town are Salmon and Second Creeks, the former emptying into 
the lake at Preston's Mills, and the latter into the bay at Nicholas Point. 
There are many smaller streams which flow into the lake. 

To Briscoe's cove on the shore of Sodus bay is attached a pathetic 
tale In 1791 a party of surveyors was sent to this region to lay out cer- 
tain lines, and just as they had finished, one of their number, a man 
named Briscoe, sickened and died. His companions buried the remains 
at the water's edge of an indentation of the coast, which became ever 
afterward Briscoe's cove. About 1843 the Fourierite Association, desir- 
ing the site for a saw mill, removed the bones to the high bluff near by. 
Constant splashing of the waves finally wore the bank away, and the 
exact location of the grave is now unknown. In August, 1877, a rude 
flat stone was picked up and found to bear this inscription; "A. N. 
Briscoe, May 22, 1791. 

The soil in the northern part of the town is a clay and sandy loam and 
in the southern a gravelly loam. The limestone formation, which has 
been described herein, extends across the town line and has been ex- 
tensively manufactured at various points. Iron ore is found on Salmon 
Creek, and many years ago was worked in a small way. In the south- 
west part the quarrying of red sandstone was formerly quite an impor- 
tant industry. Sodus forms a part of the excellent apple and pear pro- 
ducing district of this county. 

In 1858 the town had 29,961 acres of improved land, and produced 
25,396 bushels of winter and 207,539 bushels of spring wheat, 5,073 tons 
of hay, 30,847 bushels potatoes, 70,448 bushels apples, 177,259 pounds 
butter, 9,756 pounds cheese, and 779 yards domestic cloth; it also had 
1,616 horses, 2,516 oxen and calves, 1,846 cows, 15,525 sheep, and 3, L49 
swine. 

Salt springs exist on First Creek and at other points in the northern 
part of the town, and salt was once produced in considerable quantities. 
At what is known as "Salt Hollow," or Salt Works, the manufacture 
was begun about 1831 by Charles Field and his brother, but they con- 
tinued it only a few years. The business was revived about 1886 by the 
Sodus Manufacturing Company, of which Manley Sturges was presi- 
dent. Wells were sunk, but the industry proved unprofitable. 

The R. W. &0. Railroad (formerly the Lake Ontario Shore Railroad) 
was finished through the town east and west in 1874, with stations at 
Alton, Wailihgton, and Sodus. The Sodus Bay division of what is now 



WAYNE COUNTY. 1<)9 

the Northern Central Railway, running- from Sodus Point, southwardly 
through Wallington and Sodus Center, to Stanley, Ontario county, was 
projected in 1851 ; but several years passed before it was finished. It 
was opened for traffic July 4, 1873. The construction of these railroads 
had a marked influence on the development of the town; they created 
new markets and brought into existence new industries. 

The road leading from Sodus to Lyons was surveyed. by Samuel Sut- 
ton and was recorded August 14, 1799. In 1803 Sodus (including Lyons 
and Arcadia) had eight road districts. The old " Sodus road " from the 
Point to Palmyra was laid out by Capt. Charles Williamson in 1794 and 
cost him a total of $757 ; it was cut through by Messrs. Lovell and Phil- 
lips. In 1794 Mr. Williamson also laid out the old Geneva road from 
Sodus Point to Lyons, nearly on the line of the present Lyons road 
through Wallington. A system of highways was inaugurated about 1800, 
and the town now has 108 road districts. 

The earliest record of a Sodus town meeting is dated April 2, 1799, 
ten years after the formation of the district of Sodus. The town or dis- 
trict meeting was held at the house of Evert Van Wickle, a mile or 
more northwest of Lyons village, on the present Rogers farm, and the 
following officers were chosen : Supervisor, Azariah Willis, of Alloway ; 
town clerk, Joseph Taylor, Lyons; assessors, Norman Mary, Sodus 
Point, Samuel Caldwell, Marion, Charles Cameron, Lyons; highway 
commissioners, Moses Gill, Sodus Point, Evert Van Wickle, Lyons, 
Timothy Smith, Marion; constables, David Sweezey, Marion, Joseph 
Wood, Lyons; pound master, Samuel Nelson, Arcadia; collector, David 
Sweezey, Marion; fence viewer, John Van Wickle, sr. , Lyons; poor- 
masters, William White, Williamson, Reuben Adams, Marion. At a 
special town meeting in 1799, held at the house of John Riggs, John 
Perrine, Timothy Smith, and Samuel Caldwell were chosen school com- 
missioners. Sheep marks were registered by Robert Miller, John Per- 
rine, Thomas Cole, David Sherman, Evert Van Wickle, Joseph Taylor, 
William Patten, Samuel Soverhill, Charles Cameron, William White, 
and John Miller. 

There was at this period on the tax roll the names of fifty persons, 
some of whom were non-residents; the settlers were doubtless located 
in Lyons village, on the road from there to Sodus Point, at the Point, 
and on the Palmyra road, with very few exceptions. Following is the. 
list: 



200 



LANDMARKS OF 



Evert Van Wickle. 
John Van Wickle. 
Samuel Nelson. 
John Perrine. 
Charles Cameron. 
Joseph Wood. 
John Riggs. 
Henry Beard. 
Joseph Taylor. 
George Carr. 
Ralph Gregory. 
Robert Miller. 
Elijah Brown. 
Ephraim Cleveland. 
Henry Lovewell. 
Amos Richards. 
Daniel Towle. 



Azanah Willis. 
Moses Sill. 
Jabez Sill. 
Stephen Bushnell. 
Norman Mary. 
Leonard Stewart. 
Leonard Aldrich. 
Andrew Hillett. 
Timothy Smith. 
William Cogshall. 
Reuben Adams. 
Moses A. Blakely. 
David Sherman. 
Lydia Cady. 
Robert Springer. 
William Cook. 
Wanton Morey. 



William White. 
David Sweezey. 
Samuel Caldwell. 
Daniel Russell. 
Robert Martin. 
Abraham Pratt, 
Nathan Stewart. 
Charles Williamson. 
Richard Williams. 
Sanford Williams. 
David Trowbridge. 
John Taylor. 
Francis Dana. 
William Dunn. 
William Cogshall. 
Benjamin Wisner. 



In 1799 the district gave Charles Williamson and Nathaniel Norton 
each twenty-five votes for the Assembly. In 1800 Thomas Morris had the 
unanimous vote of the district (sixty-eight) for Congress. It has been 
stated that only twenty-five families were living in the whole town in 
1799, and of the fifty persons on the tax roll, six were assessed for per- 
sonal property. In 1800 $2.00 were voted for wolf scalps "with the 
skin thereon;" and it was also voted that "hog yokes be eight inches 
above the neck." It was also voted that Elias Dickinson "be allowed 
$">.oo for opening town meetings two years past." William Sheppard, 
Lemuel Chapin, William Dunn, and Nathaniel Norton were candidates 
for the Assembly ; Samuel Caldwell was town clerk. The town meeting 
for 1800 was held at the dwelling of Moses Sill at Sodus Point, and that 
of 1801 at the house of Timothy Smith. In this year thirteen path- 
masters were chosen, and the territory of the present towns of Wil- 
liamson, Marion, Walworth, and Ontario was set off to form a separate 
school district. Mr. Caldwell was again chosen town clerk. 

In 1802 the district held no meeting, but three justices of the county — 
William Rogers, Darius Comstock, and Ezra Patterson — met at the 
house of Oliver Kendall and appointed John Perrine, supervisor, and 
Richard Jones, town clerk; the latter served until 1806. 

In 1803 the annual town meeting was held at the house of William 
Gibbs in Lyons, and the pound was located at that village. In 1806 
Ezekiel Price was elected town clerk, and served until 1811. In 1807 
the wolf bounty was increased to $5.00, and was discontinued in 1808. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 201 

The town meeting- of 1809 was held in Lyons at the dwelling of 
Ezekiel Price; a pound thirty feet square and eight feet high was voted 
to be built at Sod us, and a tax of $25 was voted for the town poor. In 
1SU) a bounty of $10 for wolves and panthers was voted, and the towns 
of Lyons and Arcadia were set off. 

The first town meeting of the present town of Sodus was held in isi l 
at the house of Daniel Arms, nearWallington, and the following officers 
were chosen: Nathaniel Merrills, supervisor; Joseph Hathaway, town 
clerk ; Jenks Pullen, Daniel Arms, John Holcomb, highway commis- 
sioners; Daniel Arms, Daniel Hart, Mark Johnson, assessors; Jenks 
Pullen, collector; Daniel Hart and Stephen Bushnell, overseers of the 
poor; Jenks Pullen and Dan H. Harvey, constables. In 1813 the first 
school inspectors were elected, as follows: Enoch Morse, Thaddeus 
Bancroft, William Danforth, William N. Lummis, Daniel Arms, and 
Peter Failing; and the school commissioners for that year were: John 
Holcomb, Byram Green, and William Wickham. In the same year the 
town was divided into eleven school districts ; a wolf bounty of $25 was 
voted, and a fine of $5.00 was to be imposed on any person permitting 
" Canada thistles to blossom on his farm or the highway adjoining." 

The first town meeting held at Sodus village was in 1815, and since 
that year that has been the regular place of meeting. The first justice 
of the peace was probably Thomas Hathaway, although Williamson 
held a sort of judicial appointment in Ontario county. In 1827 the fol- 
lowing were elected : Byram Green, one year ; Alanson M. Knapp, two 
years ; Thaddeus Bancroft, three years ; James Edwards, four years. 
The supervisors of Sodus have been as follows : 

1799, Azariah Willis, 1842, Byram Green, 

1800-1, Timothy Smith, 1843-44, Alanson M. Knapp, 

1802-3, John Perine, 1845, Alexander B. Williams, 

1804-6, Daniel Dorsey, 1846, Jerry C. Rogers, 

1807-10, Gilbert Howell, 1847, Thomas Wickham, 

1811-13, Nathaniel Merrills, 1848, Jedediah Allen, 

1814-24, Enoch Morse, 1849, Andrus A. Whitbeck, 

1825-26, Jonathan L. Powell, 1850, Alanson M. Knapp, 

1827, Byram Green, 1851-52, Jerry C. Rogers, 

1828-32, William Danforth, 1853, Alanson M. Knapp, 

1833-34, James Edwards, 1854, Aldice P. Warren, 

1835-37, Robert A. Paddock, 1855, Noadiah M. Hill, 

1838-39, William Edwards, 1856-58, David Poucher, 

1840, Byram Green, 1859-60, Merritt Thornton, 

1841, Charles W. Rees, 1861, Levi Gurnee, 
26 



202 LANDMARKS OF 

1862-64, Durfee Wilcox, 1881-83, Lewis H. Clark, 

1865, George W. Tillotson, 1884-86, John A. Boyd. 

1866-67, Lewis Bates, 1887-89, Aldice W. Brower, 

1868-71, George W. Tillotson, 1890, Lewis Bates, 

1872-74, Louis Bates, 1891-92, Edward H. Sentell, 

is::,, David Poucher, 1893, E. J. Gatchell, 

1876, Charles D. Gaylord, 1894, John A. Boyd. 
1877-80, Rowland Robinson, 

The town officers for 1894 are: John A. Boyd, supervisor; Frank D. 
Gaylord, town clerk; E. W. Kelly, Charles C. Wright, C. O. Brundige, 
Albert Harris, George Emery, justices; George Van Antwerp, Stephen 
Turner, John T. Pearsall, assessors; John B. Bayless, jr., collector; 
Charles Emery, David Yaudy, overseers of the poor; P. Riggs, Charles 
M. Sentell, S. V. Hewelt, highway commissioners. 

From time immemorial the Indians gathered about Sodus Bay to 
hunt and fish, and as white settlements crowded them westward they 
long clung to its old associations by occasional visits. From 1725 to 
] ;.",(> the French government was frequently advised by its emissaries 
to built a fort here. In 1759 a force of English and colonial troops, 
moving westward for the capture of Fort Niagara, stopped one night 
at the bay. Other expeditions often made it their rendezvous, all of 
which* have been properly noticed in earlier pages of this volume. The 
locality had undoubtedly been visited previous to 1794 by surveyors, 
agents, hunters, and other white men, but it was not until that year 
that Charles Williamson took his small army of choppers, builders and 
surveyers, and began clearing lands and erecting buildings at Sodus 
Point. He was not alone in the belief that he was there founding a 
place destined to future commercial importance. In the year just 
named and previous to Williamson's arrival, Daniel Russell in the^town 
of Williamson is believed to have been the only permanent settler in all 
the region north of Palmyra. 

Among the first operations at the Point by Williamson was the erection 
of a tavern. He also built a yacht and launched it on the bay. It is 
said that his improvements made during about two years cost $20,000. 
In this tavern he placed Moses and Jabez Sill as landlords. Williamson's 
hopes and expectations of the locality were not realized. 

The builders of this tavern were Hoylarts & Borrekens, who in L811 
were assessed for "eleven lots in Troopville " and "twenty-six acres in 
the Gore, buildings, etc., $908." During the war of 1812 it was attacked 
by British soldiers (in June, L813). It was burned in May, 1!S81. 



WAYNE COUNTY 203 

In 1795 Amos Richards, who had lived a short time with his wife 
and daughter near Daniel Russell (before mentioned), removed to the 
lake shore, seven miles west of Sodus Point, and built a log cabin on 
land now owned by Charles H. Toor. After some years Richards left 
his home and never returned; his wife afterwards married a Mr. Alcock, 
who died, leaving a widow and daughter to continue the hardships of 
pioneer life alone. Mrs. Alcock died in 1849, and her daughter, who 
became Mrs. Jeduthan Morfat, in 18(39. Many of the friendly Indians, 
explorers, and first settlers, as well as Charles Williamson himself, were 
welcomed in their log cabin, and to Mrs. Morfat a monument has been 
raised as a memorial to the last of the earliest permanent settler family 
in town. 

About 1796 Elijah Brown located on the Swales lot four miles west 
of the Point, but soon removed to the mouth of Oak Orchard Creek, in 
Orleans county and died at Irondequoit in 1805. Norman Mary also 
settled at the Point the same time and Stephen Bushnell purchased the 
farm occupied in recent years by Ephraim Leiter, and brought in his 
family in 1803; Mr. Bushnell was commissioner of highways in 1801 
and several terms overseer of the poor. 

John Boyd and his son Frederick, from Maryland, came in 1798 and 
settled on the east side of the bay and made a little improvement ; but 
in the next year, being without near neighbors, they removed to the 
other side and settled on Salmon Creek in what is called "Christian 
Hollow." Two years later Thomas Boyd, a younger son of John, came 
and lived in the cabin with his father until 1815, when he married and 
located on the Geneva road. John Boyd died in 1817 and Frederick 
returned to Maryland. Sons of Thomas were John A., and Reuben. 
Other settlers on the Geneva road in 1797 were the Pollock families. 
In 1800 Richard Sergeant came from Boston and boarded with them 
for time. He settled a little later on what became the Kitchen farm, 
and had sons, Artemas, Richard, George, Nathan, William, James and 
Thomas, and three daughters. 

In April, 1801, Ammi Ellsworth, from Connecticut, settled on the 
Pulver place; Asahel Osburn, his brother-in-law, came with him and 
built a log house and sowed ten acres of wheat on what has been known 
as the Irwin farm. Ellsworth also built a log house. Mr. Ellsworth 
said in later years that when he came in the only neighbors west of him 
were Daniel Russell, Amos Richards, and Elijah Brown. Stephen 
Bushnell was, however, a resident at that time. A log house that had 



204 LANDMARKS OF 

been built near the Thornton place was early opened as atavern. Mr. 
Ellsworth lived long in the town and left many descendants, among them 
Levi Ellsworth, a son, and Mrs. Samuel Hanford, daughter, both resi- 
dents of Sodus. His daughter Aurelia, familiarly known as "Aunt 
Aurelia, " was born here December 8, 1804, and died on the homestead 
unmarried, October 29, 1889. 

Dr. William N. Lummis, from Philadelphia, settled in the town in 
1801, and is noticed in the chapter on the medical profession. He built 
the old Preston grist mill, a saw mill, a forge, and several dwellings, 
and was the foremost citizen of the town. His son, Benjamin R. , died 
at Sodus Point in June, 1882. Dr. Thomas G. Lawson came from 
England and located at the Point at an early day. 

Slavery was introduced into Sodus by Col. Peregrine Fitzhugh, who 
had served in the Revolutionary war and held a position in Washington's 
life guard. He migrated from Maryland to Geneva in 1800 and thence 
to Sodus Point in 1803, bringing his family and thirty to forty slaves. 
The slaves were freed in a few years and for some time composed a 
colony of their own in the neighborhood of the Point; at one time they 
numbered eighty persons. 

Elder Seba Norton, the pioneer Baptist minister, came to the town 
in 1804. He was a Revolutionary soldier and lived a short time in 
Marion before settling in Sodus. 

Joseph Hathaway made his settlement on the Thornton place in 1803 ; 
and in 180G John Corey came from Warren county and settled at South 
Sodus, while Elder Gerum located north of Wallington on the Geneva 
road. About 1803 Matthew Clark settled near the brick meeting house 
and at about the same time Isaac Mason began improvement on the 
farm latterly occupied by D. Wilcox. 

Several settlers came in 1807 — Jenks Pullen, from Phelps, who loca- 
ted at South Sodus; Abner Torrey, from the west side of Lake Cham- 
plain; Samuel Warren from New Hampshire, located at South Sodus 
and in February, 1.S08, brought his family; Elijah and Clark were his 
sons, the former becoming a Methodist preacher, and the latter a pilot 
on Lake Ontario, where he served in several naval engagements and 
also at the battle of Sandy Creek in 1812. Gardner Warren, father of 
A. P. Warren, was also in the latter engagement. 

In 1808 Silas F. Andrews, grandfather of Joseph Andrews, lived in a 
log house at Sodus Center. About the same year William Young set- 
tled south of the old Thornton limekiln; he was an old sea captain and 



WAYNE COUNTY. 205 

father of Joseph Young. In 1793 Drniel Arms moved from Chenango 
county to Ontario county, and afterwards lived in Phelps, whence he 
came to Sodus in 1808, settling- near a spring a little west from Wall- 
ington station, north of the house of Edward Messenger. In his house 
the first town meeting was held in 1811, after Sodus had assumed its 
present limits. In 1809 Mr. Arms erected a saw mill, going to Phelps 
for men to raise it. He held several town offices, and died November 
11, 1830. 

Dr. Elisha Mather settled in Sodus in 1810, coming from Jefferson 
county, and originally from Connecticut. Locating first on the east 
side of Salmon Creek, he removed in 1821 to Sodus Center, where he 
practiced his profession. He had a son of the same name. 

In township 13 in the southwestern part of Sodus, settlement began 
in 1807, when Elisha Granger, Noble Granger, and Parson Hunn came 
in. In March, 1808, John Granger removed from Phelps to Sodus, and 
three days later Mark Johnson, from Pompey, Onondaga county, came 
and settled at the "Corners" that took his name. In 1809 Flavel 
Kingsley settled on the William Filkins farm. In this township (13) 
Pierce Granger bought 800 acres of land at twenty cents an acre. His 
tract was divided into four farms of about equal size and the locality 
became known as " Granger's Settlement." 

In 1811 Lyman Dunning, Nathaniel Kellogg, Joseph and Samuel 
Green, Kitchell Bell, Robert A. Paddock, William Danforth (later a 
justice) and others, from Williamstown, Mass., settled along the Ridge, 
while on or near Morse Hill were the families of Bacon, Morse, and 
Smith. Byram Green was educated in Williams College, and was long 
one of the assessors, a justice, school commissioner, school inspector, 
State senator in 1823-4, and supervisor in 1827, 1840 and 1842. His 
widow, Elizabeth, died here in October, 1881. His father, Captain 
Joseph Green, was an early settler. Mr. Danforth was supervisor from 
1828 to 1832. 

In the neighborhood of the Centenary church and towards Alton the 
families of Bancroft, Barnard, Knapp, Axtell, Terry, and Warner 
settled prior to 1812; and at Sodus Point Rodolphus Field, William P. 
Irwin, and William Wickham located, the latter being a merchant. 
Gamaliel Case was another settler of that date. About 1813 Enoch 
Morse came to the town; from 1814 to 1824 inclusive he was supervisor, 
and in 1826 was member of Assembly. Thomas Wickham and his 
brother were also early and prominent settlers. Thomas, a son of the 



206 LANDMARKS OF 

brother, died here, November 3, 1882. Rodolphus Field served in the 
war of 1812, cut the first tree on the site of Alton village, and died 
October 11, L880. 

Levi Allen, born in East Windsor, Conn., March 4, 1780, came to 
Sodus in March, 1817, and died January 20, 1867. His son, Charles J. 
Allen, a farmer, carpenter, and groceryman, was born here, March 14, 
1820, and died October 12, 1888. Francis Reed, born in L809, removed 
to Sodus with his parents about 1816, and died June 12, 1882. Austin 
M. Richardson, a native of Genesee county, came here in 1829, and died 
in February, 1881. 

In 1815 William Delano came from Maine to Sodus, and settled op- 
posite the Lefurgey burying ground. He had been here in 1813 in com- 
pany with Enoch Carl, Richard Hayden, and John Butler; in 1815 also 
came the Dennis and the Lane families, and soon afterwards the 
Lightons. William, James, and Joseph Walling, William Champlin, 
and the Pendell family were also early settlers. Lemuel Higgins, 
about 1812; Henry Pulver, who died in March, 1853; Abner Arms, 
younger brother of Daniel Arms; Mr. Wride, an Englishman and father 
of Robert; Mr. Hanby, father of Charles Hanby; William Dolloway; 
Thomas Granger, born in 1803, and died here, September 2, 1881; John 
Preston, born in England in 1808, and died January 16, 1881; Pardon 
and Jeremiah Harrington, brothers and noted Inmters; and others were 
prominent among the earlier comers to Sodus. 

Among others who became settlers down to about 1845 were: Merritt 
Thornton in 1816, Robert Bean in 1817, Linus Coleman and Robert D. 
Dennis in 1818, John R. Proseus in 1821, John Bates in 1825, George 
W. Baker in 1827, John Harborton and John Toor, sr., in 1831, Sheldon 
and John B. Gbodsell and Clement Harvey in 1832, Harry Pulver in 
L833, Benjamin Rogers, Thomas Lund, and Rodolphus Dingman in 
1835, Henry Ward in 1836, Daniel Bloomer, Anson Beebe, and Samuel 
B. and B. B. Green in 1837, Lyman and P. P. Butts, and John Toor, 
jr., in L838, John Mclntyre and B. B. Seaman (lawyer) in 1843. John 
Toor, sr., was born in England in 1801, and died November 11, 1S82. 

Solomon G. Smedley, a native of Vermont, born in 1798, came to 
Sodus in 1846, and died Narch 27, L889. Gilbert Van Allen Hill, born 
in North Chatham, N. Y., in IS 17, settled in this town in 1845, and died 
January IS, 1889; he was father of John C, Noadiah, and Henry Hill, 
and Mrs. T. H. Hathaway. Azel Carpenter came to Sodus in July, 
L817, and died January 5, 1882. Noah W. Silver was born in New 



WAYNE COUNTY. 207 

Jersey in 1 S • » 1 , removed to Sodus about 1845, and died in Alton in 
August, 1880. Stephen Tinklepaugh was born in this town April 14, 
1810, and died at Sodus Point September 10, 1885. Rev. John Gates, 
born in England in 178!), settled in the town north of the old stone 
school house in 1830, and died a few months later; he was a Methodist 
preacher, a teacher, and a farmer; his son John died in February, 1886. 
Andrew A. Whitbeck, who was born at Kinderhook in 1808, came to 
Arcadia at the age of twenty-one years, and a few years later settled in 
Sodus, where he died April 23, 1885; he was a farmer and served as 
supervisor in 1849. John G. Kelly, born in 1809, came to this town 
with his father, Myric, in 1827, held several town offices, and died in 
July, 1882. Jonas Miller, who came to Sodus village in 1841, was born 
in Columbia county in December, 1817; he died March 19, 1881. Colonel 
Enoch Granger aquired his title in the State militia; he was born in 
Phelps, N. Y. , in 1801, removed here when eighteen years old, and died 
in Joy in July, 1882. He was railroad commissioner during the con- 
struction of the Sodus Point and Southern Railroad. 

Daniel McMillen settled near South Sodus at an early day, and built 
the first log house and later a frame dwelling ; the latter burned in May, 
1887, at which time it was occupied by the four McMillen sisters — Mrs. 
Betsey Weaver, Mrs. Mary Knapp, Mrs. Rosana Reynold, and Miss 
Eunice McMillen. Major W. H. Sentell, who died in December, 1887, 
was the first commander of Dwight Post No. 109, G. A, R., and several 
years was collector at Sodus Point. 

Dr. William D. Cooke, who was born in Geneva, October 18, 1807, 
studied medicine and began practice at Penn Yann. In 1835 he pur- 
chased 200 acres of the old Lummis farm. He was active in the promotion 
of the Sodus Point Railroad, and was its president and a director for a 
time. He did not practice his profession here, and died in Vineland, 
N. J., October 13, 1885. 

Major General Gordon Granger was a son of Gaius Granger, and was 
born in Joy in 1818. In 1841 he was appointed a cadet at West Point, 
and upon his graduation in 1845 he joined the 2d Infantry for garrison 
duty in Michigan. In the Mexican war he was promoted captain, and 
from then until the late war began he served mainly on the Indian 
frontier. During the Civil War he rendered gallant service, and in 
March, 1865, was made brevet major-general of volunteers. In July, 
1866, he was appointed colonel of the 55th Regiment of Regulars, of 
which he took command in December, 1870, and held the post until his 
death in January, 1876. 



208 LANDMARKS OF 

Thomas H. Potwine was born in East Windsor, Conn., August 5, 
lsii.'), and came to the Sweet Settlement in Sodus in 1835. He was a 
respected farmer. 

Eli Clark came from Massachusetts to this town in 1816, and settled 
on a farm on lot 9, which he owned until his death in 1871. Here his 
son, Professor Lewis H. Clark, was born, September 11, 1827. Professor 
Clark was educated in the common and select schools of this town, and 
in the Walworth and Macedon Academies, studied law in Chicago, and 
has devoted most of his life to teaching - . He has been principal and a 
trustee of Sodus Academy several years, and long an elder and prom- 
inent member of the Presbyterian church. In 1873 he was librarian of 
the Assembly, and in 1876-77 was executive clerk in the State Senate. 
Professor Clark is a scholarly writer and has assiduously labored in pre- 
serving local history. He has published several volumes, among them 
being his invaluable Military History of Wayne County. 

Major A. B. Williams began business in Sodus as a dry goods 
merchant in the firm of Warner & Williams. In 1840 he was elected 
supervisor, and in 1841 was appointed collector of customs at Sodus 
Point. He resigned, and in 1845 was elected county clerk, and again 
in 1848. In 1855 he was defeated for State treasurer on the Whig 
ticket, and in 1858 was elected State senator. During the Rebellion he 
was appointed paymaster with the rank of major. He finally removed 
to Chicago and died in April, 1873. 

David Poucher was several times supervisor of Sodus; he settled here 
in 1836, and was for a time superintendent of the Erie Canal through 
the county. In 1880 he was appointed collector of customs at Sodus 
Point. He died August 11, 1893. 

Many other settlers and residents of the town are noticed a little 
further on in this chapter and in Part II. of this volume. 

At the town meeting in 1814 the following resolutions were adopted: 

Resolved, That this'town being most exposed to the enemy, it is deemed best to 
provide ourselves for the defense of the frontier. 

Resolved, That William N. Lummis, William Wickham, John Fellows, Thomas 
Wafer, and Ashur Doolittle be a committee of safely for the town of Sodus. 

Resolved, That said committee offer a subscription to the good people of Sodus for 
funds to defend said town, and that such subscription be demanded only in case of 
the enemy obtaining command at Lake Ontario. 

Nothing of importance came of these proceedings, as the necessity 
for action did not arise. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 209 

In the war of the Rebellion the town made a brilliant record, more 
than 4(H) of her citizens participating' in the service, and over a hundred 
losing their lives in the long" struggle. The organizations in which 
these volunteers went out have beenmoticed in an earlier chapter. 

The first burials in this town were on the lake bank at Soclus Point. 
The brick church and the Bushnell burying grounds were opened at an 
early day, while the old graveyard south of the Whitney House in Soclus 
village was laid out soon after settlement began. Through the labors 
of Professor Clark this has been cleaned up and put in respectable con- 
dition; it contains the remains of Dr. William N. Lummis, and many 
other pioneers. The burial plat near the Whitbeck school house was 
opened about 1812, but prior to this several interments had been made 
on the north side of the hill, from which the remains have not all been 
removed. 

Tradition asserts that the first school in this town was taught by Mrs. 
Armsbury, a sister of Daniel Arms, on the Geneva road north of Wal- 
lington. Another early and short lived school house was built on the 
northeast corner of Nathaniel Merrill's farm, and among its first teach- 
ers were Dr. Gibbs and Huldah Ter^ry. Elder Seba Norton built a 
school house near his dwelling, and at an early date another was erected 
at the forks of the Lyons road, called " Merchant's." In 1812 a school 
house was built at Sodus Center, and on September 28 of that year it 
was voted to build another at Sodus village. Among early teachers are 
recalled the names of Dr. Elisha Mather, Enquire Colbath, Capt. Will- 
iam Champlin, Otis C. Knapp, Willard Bancroft Morley, Josiah Rice, a 
Mr. Lovejoy, Ann Strong (Mrs. Sanford Williams), Clarissa Snow (Mrs. 
Austin Rice), Mrs. Young, Miss Stone (Mrs. Josiah Hayward), James 
Rogers, Zenas Horr, Bethuel Reed, and Charles Kellogg. 

At the annual town meeting in 1813 it was decided to divide the town 
into eleven school districts, and three school commissioners — Byram 
Green, John Holcomb, and William Wickham — and six school inspec- 
tors — Thaddeus Bancroft, Enoch Morse, William Danforth, Dr. Will- 
iam N. Lummis, Peter Failing, and Daniel Arms — were chosen. In 
June following the commissioners formally laid out the eleven districts, 
among them being No. 1, Sodus Point; No. 4, Sodus village; No. 8, 
Arms Cross Roads (now Wallington) ; No. 9, Sodus Center; No. 10, 
South Sodus ; the others embraced the parts of the town not named. 
A series of select schools were taught at Sodus village by A. M. Win- 
chester in 1838-39 ; Charles L. Curtiss in 1840-41 ; Jesse Andrews in 

27 



210 LANDMARKS OF 

1842-43; Rev. Hosea Kittredge in 1844-45; Rev. William Hall about 
L849; and Lewis H. Clark in 1851-52. In the winter of 1851-52 Profes- 
sor Clark wrote and posted a notice for a meeting to consider the ques- 
tion of establishing an academy at Sodus village. The meeting was 
held February 3, 1852, with William Tillotson as chairman; and A. M. 
Winchester secretary. Dr. Levi Gaylord drew resolutions providing 
for the formation of an academy association, which were adopted Feb- 
ruary 28. The first Board of Trustees comprised Michael O'Keefe, 
John White, Jerry C. Rogers, Dennis Lefurgey, Miles L. Landon, 
Lewis H. Clark, Anson Proseus, Enoch Granger, Jesse H. Green, An- 
drew C. Williams, William Sergeant, and Silas P. Hulett. April 30 a 
site was chosen, the building was erected in the summer of 1853 and the 
school opened October 18 of the latter year. In the fall of 1854 a library 
and scientific apparatus fund was raised, and on January 11, 1855, the 
Regents of the University of the State incorporated it as an endowment 
academy. In the winter of 1858-59 the sum of $800 was raised by sub- 
scription to extinguish the indebtedness, which left the institution un- 
embarrassed. The principals of the academy have been as follows: 

A. B. Johnson, 1853-4. B. F. Dake, is:,; s 

Dexter E. Clapp, 1854-5. Lewis H. Clark, 1858-64. 

Elisha Harris, 1855-6. Elisha Curtis, 1864-5 to 1891-2. 

Charles D. Dann, 1856-7. Lewis H. Clark, 1892-3 to present time. 

In 1858 the town had twenty-three districts, in which 1,880 children 
were taught. In 1894 there are the same number of districts with a 
school house in each, taught during the year 1892-3 by twenty-seven 
teachers, and attended by 1,014 scholars. The school sites and build- 
ings are valued at $19,890; assessed valuation of districts, $2,286,830; 
money received from the State, $3,535.42; amount raised by local tax, 
$4,337.21. 

Statistics of 1858: Valuation of real estate, $1,085,811 ; personal prop- 
erty, $116,089; there were then 2,331 male and 2,207 female inhabi- 
tants, 908 dwellings, 932 families, 777 freeholders, and eleven churches 
in the town. 

In 1890 the town had a population of 5,151, or 128 less than in L880. 
In 1893 the assessed valuation of real estate was $1,244. 14 (equalized 
$1,309,096); village and mill property, $484,939 (equalized $448,481); 
railroads and telegraphs, $257,259 (equalized $25:i, 12<>); personal prop- 
erty, $246,425. Schedule of taxes, 1893: Contingent fund, $3,654.87; 
roads and bridges, $250; special town tax, $10, II L.83; school tax, $2,- 




4> 




WAYNE COUNTY. -II 

065.11; county tax, $4,041; State tax, $2,722.76: State insane tax, 
$702.42; dog- tax, $178.50. Total tax, $26,209.14; rate per cent., 
.01173909. 

Sodus Village. — This thrifty village is situated on the R. W. & ( >, 
Railroad, a little northwest of the geographical center of the town. 
Most of its pioneer history has been noticed in the foregoing pages. The 
first settler was John Holcomb, who built here in November, 1809. In 
1812 the place contained, besides Holcomb's log house, a tavern, a frame 
school house in front of the site of the Whitney House barn, and five or 
six other log dwellings. The post-office was established at an early day 
as " East Ridge," and its name was eventually changed to Sodus. The 
present postmaster is M. W. Gurnee. 

E. A. Green started the first banking business in the village between 
I860 and 1870 (he was born in this county in 1826). He failed in 1876 
and soon afterward E. W. Gurnee & Co. opened what was called Green's 
Banking Office in the store now occupied by A. E. Buckler. The in- 
direct successor of that institution was the Bank of Sodus, of which C. 
K. Knapp is proprietor. This was established in 1883, and is continued 
in connection with Mr. Knapp's drug and notion store. 

The present banking business of C. D. Gay lord was founded October 
1, 1881, by S. P. Hulett and Mr. Gaylord. Mr. Hulett died in July, 
1884, and since then Mr. Gaylord has been sole proprietor. The bank 
building was erected by E. W. Gurnee & Co. , and has been occupied by 
the present incumbent since 1885. 

Fish & Hulett's basket factory was started by Granger, Golding & Co. 
in 1886. In 1887 they sold to B . J . Case, who sold out to the present 
firm in the fall of 1891. During the summer they employ forty-five 
hands making fruit baskets, crates, etc., and in the winter operate a 
custom steam saw mill . 

The Norris Fruit Evaporator was built in 1880 by Felker, Danfords 
& Co. In 1881 Willis C. Teall purchased the interests of Mr. Felker 
and the two Danfords and with Mr. Norris enlarged the establishment 
to a daily capacity of two tons of dried apples. In 1887 Mr. Teall sold 
his interst to E. B. Norris who, with W. R. Norris, organized the firm 
of E. B. Norris & Co., which was dissolved in August, 1894, by the 
admission of Byron J. Case. This is one of the largest fruit evapora- 
tors in Wayne county and during the busy season gives employment to 
twenty hands. 



212 LANDMARKS OF 

The Whitney House is one of the oldest hotels in the town and is so 
called from a long time landlord of that name. The present proprie- 
tor is E. N. Snider. 

Sodus village now contains two private banks, a newspaper, three 
churches, an academy, a graded school, five general stores, two hard- 
ware stores, two drug stores, two jewelry stores, three milliners, a 
clothing store, a variety store, three meat markets, two hotels, two har- 
ness shops, a bakery, three physicians, two dentists, four lawyers, two 
undertakers, one foundry, a grist mill, a box factory, a lumber yard, 
three coal yards, two produce dealers, an evaporator, two carriage re- 
positories, two wagon and four blacksmith shops, two warehouses, a 
hay rack factor)-, one machine shop, a marble works, and 1,028 inhab- 
itants. 

Sonrs Point. — The early history of the present town as well as that 
of Wayne county largely centers at this interesting village. It was 
here that Captain Charles Williamson, with a small force of laborers, 
commenced improvements in 1794. Situated on the lake shore and on 
the west side of Great Sodus Bay, and possessing one of the best har- 
bors along the American shore of Lake Ontario, he predicted for it a 
future importance scarcely conceivable in the light of modern develop- 
ments. In his vivid imagination he planned a city, even to a prelimi- 
nary survey, to extend " between Salmon Creek and Great Sodus Bay, 
and a spacious street with a large square in the center." At a very 
earh' date it bore the name of Troupville, from Robert Troup, of New 
York. Williamson's expectations were never realized; instead, the 
place, after a lethargic growth, assumed the position of a small country 
village combined with that of a pleasant summer resort. 

Captain Williamson erected a hotel where David Rogers's house now 
stands; be also built several dwellings, and on Salmon Creek, two miles 
west, he put up a saw mill and grist mill — all in 1794. The grist mill 
remained in operation until about L807. The saw mill, which also went 
down about the same time, stood near the pond south of Preston's mills 
on the east side of the creek. Timothy Axtell built a saw mill for 
Judge Nichols about L795. Among the early industries at the Point 
were those of John Wafer, blacksmith; David McNutt, shoemaker; 
Captain William Wickham, the first merchant; James Kane, John Mc- 
Allister, John Gibson, Thomas Wickham, and a Mr. Sage, merchants. 
The first lighthouse was built about L820, and piers were erected from 
L828 to is;; | by William Barckley and E. W. Sentell, government con- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 213 

tractors. Subsequently the lighthouse was rebuilt and another one 
erected, the piers have been rebuilt and extended, breakwaters have 
been constructed, and several appropriations have been expended in 
deepening and clearing the channel leading into the bay. The place 
has long been a port of entry. The post-office here was the first in town, 
and was established under the name of Sodus, which was eventually 
changed to Sodus Point; the present postmaster is Matthew M. Farrell. 
Occasionally early letters, it is said, came directed to ''Arms Roads." 

In July, 1872, the Sodus Bay division of the present Northern Central 
Railroad was completed and opened with its northern terminus at this 
place. It is principally due to the construction of this railway that So- 
dus Point owes prominence as a summer resort. A number of prett)^ 
cottages and several neat hotels grace the beautiful site and attract 
each summer crowds of visitors seeking rest and recreation. 

Wallington. — This hamlet is situated southeast of Sodus village, at 
the junction of the Sodus Point and Southern, and the Rome, Water- 
town and Ogdensburgh Railroads, and for many years was a sort of ren- 
dezvous for county political conventions. The site was first owned by 
Daniel Arms, at whose house several of the earlier town meetings were 
held. The next owner was John W. Messenger, the stepfather of his 
successor, Charles D. Lent. The place owes its existence to the rail- 
roads, and was named from an old stone tavern near by. Mr. Lent was 
the first station agent here of the Sodus Point Railroad, a position he 
held thirteen years. The first depot, north of the junction, has been 
occupied as a dwelling for some time ; in it Mr. Lent opened the first 
store and kept the first post-office, holding the latter position nine years. 
He also opened the first village hotel, of which he still continues as the 
landlord. When the stations of the two railroads were merged into one 
he was appointed agent. He was born in England and settled in Sodus 
in 1836. The original station here on the Sodus Point Railroad was 
known as " Calciana, " the latinized expression for lime. Wallington 
now contains two stores, two hotels, post-office (with John Marenus, 
postmaster), and about fifteen dwellings. It was formerly an impor- 
tant transfer point for coal, etc., but since the R. W. & O. was leased 
to the New York Central Railroad most of the business has gone else- 
where. 

Sodus Center. — This is a station on the Sodus Point and Southern 
Railroad, a little southeast of the center of the town. The first build- 
ing here was the saw mill and perhaps a dwelling erected by Hawk and 



214 LANDMARKS OF 

Taylor as early af 1808. About the same time Silas F. Andrews built 
a grist mill on the site of the Reynolds mill; in 1810 it was owned by 
Elijah Lemanon, and afterwards in turn by Barley & Andrews, the Van 
Wickles, and Case & Roberts. The Mather grist mill was erected later. 
At one time a carding mill and foundry were operated here. The 
place now contains a post-office, a district school, churches and the com- 
mercial industries, etc., usually found in a small, thriving rural vil- 
lage. The present postmaster is vSheldon Sours, who succeeded Alden 
W. Brower. 

South Sodus. — This is a postal hamlet in the southeast corner of the 
town. The original settlers here were Silas F. Andrews and William 
Young about 1808. Mr. Andrews erected a saw mill during the war of 
1812; he died in 1820. The place contains a store, hotel, church, dis- 
trict school, blacksmith and wagon shop, and a number of houses. The 
postmaster is Erastus Bloomer, who succeeded Maurice E. Chittenden. 

Alton is a postal village and station situated a little north of the R. 
W. & O. Railroad in the east part of the town. Its name was suggested 
by Mr. Gates in memory of his native place in Connecticut. The first 
clearing was made and the first house was built by a Mr. Barnard in 
1812; a few years afterward a saw mill was erected and placed in opera- 
tion. In March, 1889, fire burned the warehouse and lumber yard of 

E. J. Gatchell, causing a loss of $10,000. The village has maintained 
a position of local importance, and contains several churches, a good 
school, hotel, and a number of commercial and other interests. The 
present postmaster, Eugene Philo, succeeded Charles Emery in that 
position. 

Joy. — The first house in this place was erected by Gaius Granger, the 
father of Gen. Gordon Granger, before mentioned. It is situated in 
the southeast part of the town, and takes its name from Benjamin Joy, 
of London, England, who was the original owner of this township (Li), 
the land office for which was distinct from that of the Pultney estate at 
Geneva; David Hudson was an early agent of this tract. A saw mill 
was built here about 1812, and subsequently a shingle mill was oper- 
ated. Joy is a pleasant rural hamlet, surrounded by good farms, and 
contains a church, store, post-office, district school, and a small cluster 
of houses. Harry Messenger, the present postmaster, succeeded Asa 

F. Andrews in that position. 

Sprong's -Bluff is a small summer resort on Charles Sprong's farm on 
the lake shore, north of Sodus village. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 215 

Maxwell's, the location of Preston's mill, was so named by Dr. William 
N. Lummis in honor of the family name of his wife. It is situated on 
Salmon Creek, two miles west from Sodus Point, and is the western 
extremity of Captain Williamson's visionary "city." During the war 
of 1812 Dr. Lummis moved hither from Sodus Point; he built the old 
Preston grist mill, a saw mill, an iron forge, and several houses. This 
was the second grist mill in town, and for a time was run by Isaac 
Davison. The place has never attained distinction more important 
than a mill site. 

Methodist Episcopal Churches. — Probably the first Methodist preacher 
in Sodus was Elder Gerum, who settled on the Pitcher farm as early as 
1800. Elijah Warren, the oldest son of Samuel, came to South Sodus 
with the family in 1808. Being then a licentiate he held meetings in 
that neighborhood; he subsequently joined the annual conference and 
was appointed to the circuit. Rev. Mr. Goodenough came here in 1810, 
and held meetings at his house and elsewhere. In 180? or 1808 prayer 
and class meetings were held at the dwelling of John Reed, and from 
1810 to about 1822 circuit preaching was had at Rev. Mr. Goodenough's 
residence. In 1822 the meeting place was changed to the house of 
Thomas Boyd. The first class at South Sodus was formed in 1824. 
The first recorded quarterly conference for the Sodus circuit met at the 
Baptist meeting house, September 27, 1828. December 1, 1832, it was 
decided to build a church at South Sodus. The edifice, a stone struc- 
ture, was erected in 1834-35 at a cost of about $2,500, and was dedi- 
cated July 4, 1836. Mr. Gridley donated the site. A new building 
was erected in 1871, and dedicated September 27, of that year. With 
the parsonage it cost $12,000. The Sunday school has a membership 
of one hundred, with Rev. R. E. Huntley, the pastor, as superintendent. 
The church has about thirty-five members. 

With the conversion of Samuel Morse about 1827, Methodist meet- 
ings commenced on Morse Hill. Rev. Joseph Gates settled north of the 
stone school house in June, 1830, but died in the following September. 
In those few months, however, the fires of Methodism were kindled in 
the neighborhood. A class was formed, and February 25, 1840, a 
society was organized at the house of Ellathan Baker, the first trustees 
being Charles Hanby, Ellathan Baker, and Robert Howcroft. A lot 
was bought and the old Centenary church was erected that year. In 
time the old edifice was removed a little west and converted into a Good 
Templars' lodge room, and on the original site the present Centenary 



216 LANDMARKS OF 

church was built. The locality is three miles northwest of Sodus vil- 
lage and is locally known as "New England." 

Methodists living in the south and central parts of the town early 
began plans for their spiritual welfare, and a project was inaugurated 
to build at Johnson's Corners. A subscription was raised and a build- 
ing committee appointed ; but the location was happily changed to Sodus 
village. The society was formed by the union of classes at lohnson's 
Corners and Sentell's Mills. A vacant store was utilized as a place of 
worship. Septcmher 3, 1840, a stone church was begun, but a year 
later only the basement had been finished. In it, however, the first 
meeting was held on Christmas eve, of that year, and in 1 S40 it was 
finished and dedicated. The society was formally organized June S, 
L838, when Milton N. Barclay (afterwards a Methodist minister), 
Edward W. Sentell, Stephen White, John Warner, and Michael Tinkle- 
paugh were chosen trustees. In L 887 the old stone church was torn 
down, and on its site the present handsome brick edifice was built at a 
cost of $15,000. It was dedicated by Bishop Andrews of New York, 
January 25, L889. The present trustees are: W. H. Ward, Henry 
Richardson, B. W. Case, Cornelius Whitbeck, and M. P. Boyd. The 
pastor is Rev. John G. Foote, who also has charge of the Centenary 
church. The society owns a frame parsonage and has over 250 mem- 
bers and a Sunday school of 240 pupils. 

The Methodist Society of Sodus Point was organized as a branch of 
the Sodus village church, Febmary 14, 1871, with John N. Wood, E. 
\V. Sentell, John Preston, Deforest McNett, and William Buys, trustees. 
In 1871 they were constituted a separate society, and the same year a 
church costing $4,000 was built; it was dedicated July 1 ;, 1872. Rev. 
R. E. Huntley is pastor, and also of the church at South Sodus. The 
society owns a parsonage at the Point. The church has about eighty 
members, and the Sunday school an average attendance of fifty-six; 
E. H. Sentell is superintendent. 

Baptist Churches. — Among the records of this denomination is the 
following: "Sodus, March 11, I sou, a conference held; Elder Norton, 
moderator, and adjourned to April 1. Met at the house of Joshua 
Palmer according to adjournment." This led to church organization in 
the southern part of the district of Sodus. In L820 covenant meetings 
were authorized in the southern part of the present town and the north 
part of Lyons, and on March :;, L821, a society was formed, but its cer- 
tificate of incorporation was not filed until 1825. In this year Elder 



WAYNE COUNTY. 217 

vSeba Norton, with characteristic energy, began the erection of the brick 
church at " Rossiter's Corners," now Sodus Center, on land given by 
the Pnltney estate to the First Baptist Society of Sodus for "a glebe, 
a chapel, and a burial place." The edifice was finished in 1826, and the 
first covenant meeting was held in it July 15. March 10, 1834, fifty 
members were dismissed to organize the West Baptist church mentioned 
below; in June James Walling and Lawrence Vosburg were chosen 
deacons. This church led in the pioneer labors of fostering Christianity 
in the town and is now one of the oldest landmarks in the county, 
widely known as " the old brick meeting house." The society has about 
thirty-three members and a Sunday school with an average attendance 
of forty-five pupils and officers. Charles D. Lent is superintendent. 

On March 5, 1834, the West Baptist Church of Sodus was organized 
in the Episcopal church of Sodus village with fifty-two members ; the 
first clerk was Moses Parke. John M. Granger and Reuben Graham 
were the first deacons. The first communion was celebrated April 20, 
1834. On April 10, 1840, the society formally disbanded, and a re- 
organization was effected February 14, 1841, at the house of Deacon 
Granger, and the church was again reorganized by council, July 15, 
following. Their regular place of meeting was at the Granger school 
house. The last recorded covenant meeting was in March, 1858. Soon 
afterward the society ceased to exist. 

Presbyterian Churches. — The formation of this denomination in town 
is largely due to the settlement of Byram, Joseph, and Samuel Green, 
three brothers, in 1811. A society called the First Presbyterian Church 
of Sodus was organized October 23, 1812, by Rev. David Tullar and 
Oliver Ayres, with twelve members. Immediatly after the organization 
Flavel Kingsley, Mrs. Harriet Higgins, and Mrs. Elizabeth Clark 
offered themselves and were admitted to membership. The first 
deacons were Matthew Clark and Phineas Hayward, and the first clerk, 
Byram Green. August 11, 1819, the church formally voted to adopt 
the Presbyterian form of government. Prior to this it had been sub- 
stantially Congregational, notwithstanding" the fact that its legal certi- 
ficate styles the body The First Union Presbyterian Society of Sodus. 
It is presumed that the term Union was used because of the Presby- 
terians and the Congregationalists being united in the same organization. 
Meetings were held in various places until 1827, when a church was 
erected in Sodus village. Levi Gurnee and Judge Green, with their ox 
teams drew the timber from Flavel Kingsley 's farm, and the frame was 

28 



218 LANDMARKS OF 

aised June 28. In L863 it was superseded by the present structure, 
which was dedicated in June of that year. The old edifice was sold to 
Rufus A. Moses, the contractor for the new building, and finally became 
a planing mill in the eastern part of the village. The society now has 
about 'Mo members under the pastoral care of Rev. A. I). Mcintosh. 
The Sunday school has about 140 scholars, with A. J. Barber, super- 
intendent. The parsonage was built in 1874-75. 

The Presbyterian Church of Joy was organized March IS, 1845, under 
the name of The Church of Wayne, though it is better known by the 
title first given. Eleven members were from the church at Sodus, and 
five from the church at Newark. The ground for a church and cemetcrv 
was given by Samuel White, and the following were the first trustees: 
Henry I. Pulver, Martin Fredenburgh, Adam Tinklepaugh, Samuel 
White, Nelson Lapham, Henry R. Leggett. Meetings were held in the 
school house several years, but no house of worship was erected, and 
services were finally suspended. A new movement and partial reorgani- 
zation occurred October IS, L852, and the house was built in the sum- 
mer of L853, and dedicated December 23, by Rev. Charles Hawley. 
During the early organization the elders were Martin Fredenburgh, 
Henry Pulver, and Stephen G. Weaver. April 16, 1854, Enoch Granger, 
Anthony Pulver, and David Leighton were elected elders. The church 
has maintained public worship very steadily since that time. There 
are about fifty members, and a Sunday school of sixty scholars; M. D. 
White, superintendent. 

The Presbyterian Church of Sodus Center was organized March 10, 
L863; Rev. Chester Holcomb was moderator. The first trustees were: 
John F. Proseus, Lewis Crane, Harrison Cottrell, Robert Shepardson, 
and John F. Peeler. They erected a house of worship in wSodus Center 
in 1866, at a cost of $1,000. A commission of the Lyons Presbyterv, 
consisting of Revs. William L. Page and William Young, constituted 
the church October 26, 1870, with nine members. The society now lias 
t"ort} r members, and a Sunday school of fifty scholars, with C. M. Clapp, 
superintendent. The pastor of this church and also of the church at 
Joy is Rev. E. J. Bulgin. 

Episcopal Churches. — Probably the first clergyman of this denomina- 
tion to visit Wayne county was Rev. Davenport Phelps, that pioneer of 
Episcopalianism in Western New York. He was the first officiating 
minister in Geneva in L806, or before, and frequently visited Sodusand 
other towns. July 25, L826, the first parochial meeting in this town was 



WAYNE COUNTY. 2lfl 

held at the old brick school house, and in August St. John's Church, 
Sodus Ridge (now Sodus village), was organized by Rev. form A. 
Clark. Thomas Wickham and Elijah McKinney were elected wardens, 
and Elisha Mather, Oren Gaylord, Henry Jones, Bennett C. Fitzhugh, 
John O'Bryan, Joseph Williams, William Dolloway, and William N. 
Lummis were chosen vestrymen. The certificate of incorporation was 
acknowledged and recorded in the county clerk's office August 20, L826, 
The corner stone of the present edifice was laid with Masonic ceremonies 
September 26, L826. It was completed and dedicated September 8, 
1834, by Rt. Rev. Bishop Coxe, of Buffalo. It contains several memo- 
rial windows. The parish has fifty-five communicants under the rector- 
ship of Rev. F. W. Beecher, who is also superintendent of the Sunday 
school. 

Christ's Episcopal Church of Sodus Point was organized May 3, 1851, 
with B. C. Fitzhugh and William S. Malcolm, wardens, and William 
Edwards, William P. Irwin, William Preston, William Robinson, Charles 
B. Hallet, David Rogers, and Elida Petit. The certificate was acknowl- 
edged before Hon. Thomas A. Johnson, of the Supreme Court, and re- 
corded November 24, 1851. It united with the Sodus church in the 
support of a clergyman. The parish has about twenty communicants 
and a Sunday school of about twenty scholars. They have a neat frame 
church edifice. 

St. Luke's Episcopal Church of Sodus Center was established as a 
mission about 18?5 and a small chapel erected on a lot donated by Eli- 
sha Mather. The parish has about twenty communicants, and a Sunday 
school with the same number of scholars. 

The Free Congregational Church of Sodus was organized October 11, 
1843, with thirty-four members. Rev. Samuel R. Ward, then of South 
Butler, was moderator and Rev. David Slie was secretary. December 
24, 1843, Levi Gaylord was chosen leader and Josiah Rice deacon. 
Rev. Samuel Wire preached for the church regularly for two or three 
years. This church never filed any certificate of incorporation. The 
trustees were Kitchell Bell, Isaac Snow, and S. W. Hurlburt. Meetings 
were held at the school-houss in the village, and the organization was 
continued for eight or nine years. 

The Free Methodist Church of Alton was first recognized as a part 
of Rose circuit November 1, 1861 ; William Cooley was the first preacher 
in charge; William Burns, class-leader for Alton, and also elected stew- 
ard; other early members were C. T. Cuer, James Stevenson, and West- 



'220 LANDMARKS OF 

brook Case. A meeting' to effect a separate organization was held April 
IS, L867, Rev. M. I). McDougall, chairman, E. D. Bradshaw, secre- 
tary. The trustees were Aaron Winget, Walter Emery, and James 
Stevenson. In 1868 the society erected a neat chapel at a cost of $1000, 
and dedicated in that fall. The society has fifty-five members and a 
Sunday school of eighty members; G. E. Burn is superintendent. 

An organization representing the faith of the Adventists was effected 
in Alton in ISO!) or 1880, by Elder Miles. Mr. Bowers and George 
Shaver were deacons; William H. Steele, elder, and Taylor Steele, 
clerk and treasurer. The society held services in the stone meeting- 
house and the Bell school house. 

A Protestant Methodist society was organized August 15, 1847, with 
Lawrence Teall, Ira Drake, Isaac N. Clark, and James Lyle, trustees; 
the certificate of incorporation was filed April 7, 1848. This society had 
been preceded by another organization at Sodus Point in October, 1837, 
of which the first trustees were John Segar, Henry Doviel, Chauncey 
Phelps, Rufus Field, E. W. Bliton, and Seth Blanchard. This was 
never incorporated. The first named organization was renewed in Al- 
ton in 1809 with Philp Rankard as leader. Services were held there in 
the stone meeting house. 

The Christian Church of Alton was formed in the winter of 1842-43, 
by Rev. Amasa Stanton and Rev. Mr. Mosher. George Gould was the 
first clerk and John G. Kelly and John Baker were the first deacons. 
Re^. Mr. Mosher preached for four years. The stone meeting house 
belonging to this society was built about 1851. The society made a 
legal organization June 23, 1851; the trustees were George Leighton, 
William Walker, John G. Kelly, Frederick Utter, and William R. K. 
Hone. The certificate was acknowledged before Nathaniel Kellogg, 
and recorded September 24. Owing to some informality the organiza- 
tion was renewed, and the certificate again recorded January 22, 1853, 
and the Christian church near Joy having been organized in the mean 
time the name of the Alton society was changed to the "Second Christ- 
ian Church of Sodus." 

A United Society of Believers in Christ's second appearing, popularly 
known as Shakers, flourished several years at Nichols' Point, coming to 
Sodus from New Lebanon about 1823. They purchased of Judge 
Nichols 1,450 acres of land on which they erected large buildings. 
About fifteen years later they removed, selling their property to Adams, 
Duncan & Co., promotors of the Sodus canal, for $100 an acre. This 



WAYNE COUNTY. 22! 

firm sold it to a Fourierite association, but after a brief existence they 
disbanded and it fell back into the possession of the canal men. The 
society removed to the Genesee flats in Livingston county and estab- 
lished themselves on land which they purchased at $00 an acre. Their 
old meeting house is now occupied as a dwelling. 

The First Christian Church of Sodus was organized in the Wallace 
district, southwest of Joy, October 1, 1852. The first trustees were 
Joseph Green, John W. Allen, Orville Carpenter and Adam Tinklepaugh. 
The certificate was recorded February 5, 1853. 

The society had religious services at the Wallace school-house for 
several years, but the formal church organization has not been main- 
tained. 

The Free-Will Baptist society was organized April 0, 1843, with Sam- 
uel Wire, Benjamin Chapman, John D. Robinson, David Phillips, and 
Willard Parker, trustees. The certificate was recorded May 6. The 
society built the meeting-house in the south part of the town, and under 
the ministry of Rev. Samuel Wire had services regularly for several 
years. However, finally the organization ceased to exist, and the edi- 
fice was sold to the German Evangelical Association. 

The German Evangelical Association, popularly known as "Al- 
bright's," belongs to the Newark circuit, and the minister resides at 
Newark. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

HISTORY OF THE TOWN AND VILLAGE OF LYONS. 

In the primitive division of Ontario county the town of Lyons, in- 
cluding Arcadia, embraced the southeast corner of the old district of 
Sodus. March 1, 1811, it was set off to form a separate township, and 
on the 15th of February, 1825, Arcadia was created from its territory, 
leaving Lyons with its present assessed area of 21,001 acres. It is 
bounded on the east by Rose and Galen, on the south by Ontario county, 
on the west by Arcadia, and on the north by Sodus. It comprises the 
portion of the Gore lying between the old and new pre-emption lines 
and the southwest corner of town 13, the east part of town 12, and the 
northeast corner of town 11 of the Pultney estate. 



222 LANDMARKS OP 

The town was originally covered with dense forests, consisting of 
beech, maple, hemlock, oak, ash, hickory, basswood, elm, etc., which 
long gave employment to numerous saw mills. Ganargwa Creek flows 
southeasterly from Arcadia to Lyons village, where it joins the Canan- 
daigua outlet, the two forming the Clyde River, which runs thence 
southeast into Galen. This junction was known in early days as the 
"Forks," and beyond it boats could run only when freshets prevailed. 
The river guided the first settlers not only to this town, but to Wayne 
county, and this became the site of the pioneer habitations. These 
streams afford excellent drainage and several good mill privileges. 

The surface is undulating and broken into sand ridges. The soil is 
a rich, sandy, and gravelly loam on the highlands and marl on the 
creek bottoms. It is exceedingly fertile, and yields abundant crops of 
grain, fruit, hay, peppermint, potatoes, vegetables, etc. It is a note- 
worthy fact that in Lyons the great peppermint industry of Wayne 
county had its origin, and with it the name of Hotchkiss is inseparably 
connected. Its cultivation forms an important agricultural interest of 
the town and a large area of adjacent territory, and affords to those 
engaged in the business an immense revenue annually. There are a 
number of mint stills that extract the oil from the fragrant herb, and 
local dealers buy and ship it to distant markets. Besides these industries 
the rearing of live stock is carried on to a considerable extent. 

The first town meeting for the old district of Sodus was held at the 
house of Evert Van Wickle, within the present limits of Lyons, on the 
present Rogers farm, on April 2, 1799, and the officers elected on that 
date are given in the Sodus chapter. The first meeting after the present 
town was organized was held at the house or Thomas D. Gale on the 
first Tuesday in April, 1811, and the following officers were chosen: 
Gilbert Howell, supervisor; Gabriel Rogers, town clerk; Joseph Burnett, 
Jacob Leach, Jesse Brown, assessors; John Tibbitts, collector; Samuel 
Soverhill, William Patten, Jesse Brown, highway commissioners; Joseph 
Burnett and Gabriel Rogers, overseers of the poor; John Tibbitts and 
Thomas Sutton, constables; and thirty-one overseers of highways. 
The town records are very incomplete and the names of the supervisors 
from 1839 to 1855 inclusive can not be ascertained. Excepting that 
period the following have held the principal town office: 

Gilbert Howell, 1811, EzeJuel Price, 1815, 

John Brown, 1812-13, Ezra Jewell, 1816, 

Henry Hyde, 1814, Oren Aldrich, 1817-19, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 223 

Robert W. Ashley, L820, Bartlett R. Rogers, 1859-61, 

Oreo Aldrich, 1821-22, Miles S. Leach, 1862-68, 

Robert W. Ashley, L823. Nelson R. Miriek, 1869-74, 

James P. Bartle, 1824, William Van Marter, is;;, ;; 

Oliver Allen, 1825-26, George W. Cramer, 1878 79, 

Robert W. Ashley, 1827-30, Bartlett R. Rogers, 1880; 

Abel Lyon, 1831, Leman Hotchkiss, 1881-82. 

Eli Johnson, 1832-33, M. H. Dillenbeck, 1883-85, 

John W. Holley, 1834-37, R. A. Hubbard, 1886-88, 

Nelson Peck, 1838, A. E. Burnett, 1889, 

1839 to 1855, unknown, William P. Miriek, 1890, 

Miles S. Leach, 1856, A. E. Burnett, 1891-93, 

John Adams, 1857, G. W. Koester, 1894. 
C. Rice, 1858, 

The town officers for 1894 are: G. W. Koester, supervisor; John 
Mills, town clerk; J. B. Haynes, collector; Louis Deuchler, L. L. 
Dickerson, W. E. McCollum, C. D. Leach, justices of the peace; Ernst 
Berns, Daniel Barton, George F. Fellows, assessors; Samuel Cronise 
and Edward Claassen, overseers of the poor; F. H. Miller, highway 
commissioner; William Bailey, John H. Young, Louis P. Engel, excise 
commissioners. 

The first settlers in Wayne county as well as the first in this town 
came in by boats or bateaux on the Clyde River to the junction of 
Ganargwa Creek and Canandaigua outlet, and there is now standing in 
Lyons village a celebrated landmark in the form of an elm tree, to 
which the pioneers fastened their craft. This venerable relic is appro- 
priately preserved, and around it cluster many interesting events. The 
earliest records of roads in Lyons were made in 1800, but the first 
thoroughfare laid out was the "Geneva road " from the village to Sodus 
Point in 1794, by Captain Charles Williamson, the cutting of which cost 
him over $250. Within two years this was extended to Geneva at an 
expense to Williamson of about $180, and subsequently for some-time 
was maintained as a plank road, as was also the highway along the 
valley. Other roads were opened as settlers came in, and improved 
from time to time as necessity required. In 1811 the town was divided 
into thirty-one road districts; in 1817 there were fifty-one, in 18:22 the 
number was fifty-one, and in 1824 there were eighty; at present there 
are forty-seven. 

April 10, 1824, Eli Frisbie, Simeon Griswold, and James Dickson 
were appointed a committee to built a bridge across Canandaigua out- 
let (or Clyde River) at Lyons village "where the old bridge now stands, 



224 LANDMARKS OF 

or as near as possible," and the supervisor was authorized to raise by 
tax $1,00(> for the purpose. March 26, L829, the supervisor was em- 
powered to raise $2,000 to erect two bridges, one over the Clyde River 
on the road leading from the village to Hecox's mills, and another 
across Ganargwa Creek and Erie Canal. March 30, 1832, $700 were 
appropriated for the construction of a bridge over the Canandaigua out- 
let at Alloway. March 26, 1838, the supervisor was authorized to raise 
$2,000, of which $1,000 was for the rebuilding of abridge across the 
Ganargwa near its junction with the outlet, and the balance for the re- 
construction of the bridge over Clyde River near Kingman & Durfee's 
mill. These are the principal early bridges; subsequently all of them, 
and others, were superseded by substantial iron structures. 

In 1825 the Erie Canal was completed and opened through the town 
and village, and the event was celebrated with appropriate ceremonies. 
It imparted a new impetus to the pioneer settlement, and ever afterward 
exerted a marked influence upon the development and commercial ad- 
vancement of the community. Clyde River immediately lost its pres- 
tige as a water route, and gave up its commerce to the "great ditch." 

In 1841 the canal aqueduct was built over Ganargwa Creek under the 
supervision of Zebulon Moore, who was afterward appointed superin- 
tendent of the Wayne county section. 

In 1853 the New York Central Railroad was opened with a station at 
Lyons village, and again an important impetus was inaugurated. The 
first passenger train passed over the route on May 30th of that year. 
The present brick depot was built in 1890. May 17, 1872, the town is- 
sued bonds to the amount of $135,000, and on Feburary 18, 1874, another 
lot amounting to $15,000, in aid of the Sodus Bay and Corning Railroad, 
and up to January 1, 1804, all had been paid and canceled except $17,- 
ooo. This is now the Fall Brook Railway, and was built only as far as 
Lyons. The railroad commissioner is D. S. Chamberlain. The West 
Shore (originally the New York, West Shore and Buffalo) Railroad was 
constructed and formally opened through the town January 1, 1885. 

The first settlers in Lyons and the first in Wayne county were Nich- 
olas and William Stansell, brothers, and John Featherly, their brother- 
in-law, with their families, numbering in all twelve persons. In the 
spring of L789 they built and launched a boat on the Mohawk River, and 
with an Indian trader named Wemple as a pilot the party came the en- 
tire distance by water, arriving at the junction of Ganargwa Creek and 
Canandaigua outlet, the head of navigation and the site of Lyons vil- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 225 

lage, in May, 1780. They settled on what is now the Dunn farm, and 
their first log house stood on the site of the present residence. They 
brought with them a number of swine, which were allowed to roam the 
forests and, becoming wild, were hunted as other game. Mr. Stansell, 
ptre, evidently comprised one of the party, for he died soon after their 
arrival and "was buried without funeral rites," which was doubtless 
the first white death in town. Nicholas Stansell is said to have been 
their leader. He was born in Springfield, Mass., September 11, 1755, 
and while a youth moved with his parents to the Mohawk valley. He 
was a noted hunter and atypical pioneer, being endowed by nature with 
a wonderful physique. Uniting their forces with three or four men 
who had settled in Phelps, Ontario county, a few months previously, 
they cut a road through the forests to the grist-mill at Waterloo. Nich- 
olas Stansell was very prominent in the early settlement, and was one 
of the first trustees of the M. E. Church. He had ten children, and 
died December 11, 1819; his remains were interred in the Newark cem- 
etery. John Featherly sold his farm to Daniel B. Westfall and moved 
to Rose, where he died in 1843, aged eighty years. Daniel Cole died 
August 25, 1855. 

From 1789 to 1794 there is no account of other settlers coming into 
this town, but in the latter year Capt. Charles Williamson, through his 
local agents, Charles Cameron and Henry Towar, began improvements 
at Lyons village and Alloway respectively, and it is said that he ex- 
pended a total of about $12,000 in the two places. Daniel Scholl was 
his millwright at Alloway, where a good grist-mill was built. 

In 1796 James Otto came to Lyons from Pennsylvania and assisted 
in building the mill and a warehouse at Alloway; the latter was finally 
moved to Lyons and became a Presbyterian church and afterward a 
cabinet shop. In 1798 Mr. Otto married a daughter of Capt. Samuel 
Dunn, which was the first marriage in town. They had sixteen chil- 
dren, of whom Samuel was murdered in Rose. He settled on a farm 
three miles southeast of Lyons village, .which he sold after attaining the 
age of eighty, and removed to Michigan. 

In 1797 Rev. John Cole, a native of England and a local Methodist 
preacher, came to Lyons, and was joined in 1799 by his sons Thomas 
and Joseph, a daughter Mary, and a son-in-law, Samuel Bennett. Mr. • 
Cole was the first preacher in the town. He bought 2G3 acres at $5 per 
acre, which was the first individual purchase in Wayne county east of 
Lyons village. He had a large library, was a great student, and died 

29 



226 LANDMARKS OF 

herein L808. His daughter married Rev. William Ninde, an Episcopal 
clergyman, and after his death took up her residence nere with four 
sons and two daughters, one of whom was Thomas, who married a 
daughter of Evert Van Wickle. Joseph Cole moved to Galen in 1837 
and his son Samuel J. inherited the homestead. The latter died in 
April, 1883. 

George Carr settled on a farm of twenty-five acres now within the 
village limits in 1798. He came from Maryland, was a stone mason, 
and died January 30, 1841. Adam Learn moved here from Pennsyl- 
vania as early as 1800. He was a brother-in-law to James Otto. His 
eldest son John located in Galen on lot 42 and died in 1864. 

Amos Gilbert was born in 1757, served in the Revolutionary war, 
came to Lyons with his family in October, 1800, and died in Sodus in 
1832. He was a carpenter, and had four daughters and six sons, of 
whom John, David, and Solomon served in the war of 1812. Solomon 
died in the service. Deacon John Gilbert, the eldest son, was born in 
Salem, Mass., December 30, 1789. He settled in the village in 1810 
and died there July 22, 1882. He was a sergeant in Captain Hull's 
company on the Niagara f router, became captain of militia, was an elder 
in the Presbyterian Church from 1817 until his death, and served as < 
constable and collector from 1819 to 1829. 

Gabriel Rogers started a tannery at an early date in Palmyra, where 
he married in 1804 a daughter of Samuel Clark, and whence he moved 
in 1809 to Lyons. He purchased the tannery of William Bond, which 
he sold in 1817, and in 1818 removed to South Sodus, where he was ap- 
pointed the first postmaster. He served in the cavalry in the war of 
1812, and died in 1847. Hon. Bartlett R. Rogers was long a very 
prominent citizen of Lyons. He was a captain in the 106th Regiment 
in the Civil War, supervisor several years, county treasurer, sheriff, and 
member of Assembly. He died in June, 1880. 

Major Ezekiel Price was born in New Jersey and obtained his title in 
the vState militia. He came to Lyons in 1802, was appointed the first 
postmaster and held the office nearly thirty years, and died in 1845, 
aged eighty years. He was one of the earliest landlords, and built and 
kept a frame tavern where Congress Hall now stands, prior to which he 
had an inn on the east side of Broad street. His son, Ephraim Barton 
Price, was a prominent citizen, had twelve children, and died in 
January, 1885. His second son, William H. Price, became a civil 
engineer, and died in 1870. 



WAYNE COUNTY. -j; 

Jacob Leach came to Lyons from Litchfield, Conn., in L809, and 
operated a distillery on the north side of Ganargwa Creek until the site 
was wanted for the Erie Canal in 1824. He then became a merchant 
with Joseph M. Demmon on Water street. He was a canal contractor, 
and erected a mill on the Ganargwa that was burned and rebuilt in 
1 837. He was a justice of the peace several years, member of Assembly 
in 1823, and at one time president of the old Lyons Bank with Thaddeus 
W. Patchen as cashier. He had ten children, and died in 1853, aged 
seventy-five years. 

Judge Daniel Dorsey commanded a company of volunteers in the 
Revolutionary war, and was a planter in Frederick county, Md. In 
1797 he visited this section, and purchased of Captain Williamson 1,048 
acres of land adjoining the village on the south. The next year he 
moved hither his large family and about forty slaves, and with some 
goods which they had bought he began trading with the Indians, who 
camped in large numbers in the vicinity. His mansion stood upon an 
eminence at the end of a lane leading west from the Geneva road, and 
on both sides of this lane were the slaves' houses, a store, and an office. 
Mr. Dorsey was a magistrate, a physician, a member of Assembly, 
judge of the Ontario County Court, and a Methodist, and in his barn 
was held the first meeting of the Genesee Conference in this place, the 
presiding officer being Rev. Francis Asbury, the first Methodist bishop 
in America. Judge Dorsey died in 1823, aged sixty-five years, and his 
widow moved to the village, built a house on Broad street, and died 
there. They had five sons — Upton, Thomas E., Nelson, Andrew, and 
Caleb — and seven daughters. Thomas E. Dorsey died December 27, 
1870, aged seventy-eight years. 

The tax or assessment roll dated October 9, 1802, for the "Town of 
Sodus," contains eighty-four names of freeholders, enumerates sixty- 
nine dwelling houses, places the total valuation at $174,312, and calls 
for a tax levy of $327.29. The items falling within the present town 
are as follows: William Beaty, 141 acres, assessed (37 cents. George 
Carr, 25 acres (first farm north of the village), 35 cents. Richard Ely, 
223 acres, $1.04 (Mr. Ely sold out and moved to Sodus about 1812). 
William Bryant, 109 acres, 46 cents. Samuel Brown, 80 acres, 31 cents. 
Judge Daniel Dorsey, 1,048 acres (between Clyde River and Alloway), 
$9.53. David Gilson (a river boatman), one house and seven village 
lots, 28 cents. William Gibbs, one house (the tavern stand, afterward 
the "Old Museum ") and seven village lots, 36 cents. Richard Jones, 



228 LANDMARKS OF 

188 acres, 87 cents. Samuel Mummy, one house and four acres, 82 
cents. John Perrine, 553 acres, $4.44. James Walters, 60 acres, 40 
cents. William Paton, 101 acres, 54 cents. John'Riggs, two houses 
and 299 acres, $1.77. John Van Wickle, 224 acres, $1.03. Evert Van 
Wickle, house and lot, 39 cents. Thomas Cole (son of Rev. Cole), 50 
acres, 31 cents. 

Among those living in Lyons village and vicinity in 1808 were: 
Captain David Gilson, Major Ezekiel Price, Dr. William Ambler (the 
first physician), John Riggs. Richard Jones (saddler and harness maker), 
William Bond, (shoemaker and tanner), Joseph Hathaway (proprietor 
of "The Lick" tavern), Samuel Mummy, George Carr, Henry Beard, 
Captain John Perrine, Thomas Story, William Duncan, the Stanton 
brothers, Rev. John Cole and sons, Samuel Bennett, Peter AValker, 
James Coats, a Mr. Wales, Judge Daniel Dorsey, Benjamin Brink, 
James Walters, Henry Stansell, John Featherly, Richard Ely, Major 
Amos Stout, Benjamin Hartman, John Van Wickle, Elisha Sylvester, 
Captain William Paton, and Simon Van Wickle. 

Samuel King settled on 300 acres northeast of the village in 1805. 
He was the father of Samuel, jr., Esau, Thomas, Jesse, Joseph, and 
Leander King. Benjamin Brink bought sixty acres of William Gibbs, 
which he sold to Levi Geer in 1825, and moved to Galen, where he died. 
Daniel B. Westfall came to Lyons about 1810, and purchased 117 acres 
of John Featherly, and forty-seven of Matthias Clark, near Alloway, 
where he lived until his death. He had four sons and two daughters, 
the former being Benjamin, Abraham, James, and Cornelius; the latter 
inherited the homestead. Simon Westfall settled three miles south of 
Lyons, and died there. He had eleven children, of whom the sons were 
Jacob, Lewis, William, and John. 

William and Benjamin Ennis, brothers, migrated hither from New 
Jersey in 1806. The former died about 1822 ; his son Robert was a canal 
contractor, and in 1 847 purchased the homestead and saw-mill of Capt. 
Henry Towar at Alloway, and died in 1860. Benjamin Ennis went to 
Ohio in L832 and died there. George Ennis was a prominent farmer 
neai- Alloway and a president of the Wayne Count)- Agricultural Society. 
He died in December, 1883. 

Thomas D. Gale, brother-in-law of Judge Sisson, came to Lyons in 
ISO 1 .) and bought of Joseph Hathaway the tavern on the west side of 
Broad street that was subsequently known as the "Old Museum." Be- 
sides this he had a store and asheiw and butchered cattle for the Cana- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 029 

clian market. At his house the first town meeting was held in April, 1811. 

There was a militia company in Lyons, attached to the list Regi- 
ment, as early as 1808, the officers of which were William Paton, cap- 
tain ; Peter Perrine, lieutenant; and James Bound, ensign. Elias Hull 
was colonel, and his hotel was a favorite rendezvous. 

John Barrick came from Maryland about 1805 and died in 185 1 . John 
Close settled herein 1810, but removed to Lock Berlin about 1830 and 
died the next year. Samuel Minkler, a tanner, located in Lyons in 
1808. Peter Eisenlord was a resident of the town as early as 1806; he 
finally sold his farm and moved to Michigan. Jeremiah Brown came to 
Lyons prior to 1808. He was a cooper, had a distillery, and also went 
to Michigan. Jonathan Clark, sr. , removed hither from New Jersey 
about 1810. He had four sons, two of whom were David and Abraham. 
William Paton was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, came to America in 
L794, when twenty-four years of age, and settled in 1800, where he died 
in 1843. He was an ardent admirer of Robert Burns. Henry Beard, 
a pioneer from Pennsylvania, was both a pettifogger and jockey. 

John Perrine came here from New Jersey. He built the first dam 
across the Canandaigua outlet, erected the first saw mill in town a mile 
south of the village, and was one of the founders of the Presbyterian 
Church, whose services he often conducted in the absence of a minister. 
With John Van Wickle, William Paton and others, he obtained from 
the land office in 1806 a grant of land long known as the Parsonage 
farm, which was designed as a permanent endowment of the church. 
He organized a Sunday school in 1818, and owned with Paton and Van 
Wickle a number of village lots on Queen street between William and 
Broad. He was a justice of the peace and supervisor, and prominent 
in all local affairs. He finally moved to Michigan and died in 1836. 
His sons were Henry, William, Ira, and David W. The latter was a 
lieutenant in the war of 1812 and succeeded to the paternal homestead. 

Dr. Robert W. Ashley, a native of Massachusetts, came to Lyons in 
1804 and afterward began housekeeping in Samuel Mummy's old house 
on the east side of Broad street. He was long a practicing physician, 
supervisor in 1827-30, candidate for the Assembly in 1830, and died in 
1853. He was the father of Samuel J., Robert, and William F. Ashley 
and Mrs. H. G. Hotchkiss. 

Milton Barney was born in Massachusetts in 1796. In 1818 he trans- 
ported a wool-carding and cloth-dressing machine to "Arms Cross 
Roads" (now Wallington in Sodus), which he sold to Elisha Bushnell 



230 LANDMARKS OF 

and in 1810 came to Lyons. He carried on Iris trade here, bought a 
saw mill of Judge Dorsey, erected a new dam across the outlet and built 
a wool-carding- and cloth-dressing mill, and in 1825 with Samuel Wilcox 
and William E. Perrine put up a flouring- mill on the present site of the 
Shuler mill in the village. Afterward he purchased the grist mill of 
Jacob Leach and added a clothier's shop, but finally resold the establish- 
ment to Leach and went West. 

Stephen H. and John Hartman settled two miles southwest of Lyons 
village in 1816. The former died in 1872. Dr. Joseph Varnum came 
here in 1817, and died in 1822, being buried with Masonic honors. Levi 
Geer removed to Lyons the same year and first purchased of Abraham 
Clark the original Stansell farm for $7,000. He had eight children and 
died December 15, 185:], aged seventy-eight years. Cyrus Avery, a 
Montezuma turnpike contractor, settled in this town with $1,500 in cash. 
He was a typical Connecticut Yankee, and died in January, 1868, aged 
eighty-four vears. He secured his deed from the Pultney estate, and 
was succeeded on the homestead by his son, A G. Avery. 

Joseph M. Demmon was born in Rensselaer county, N. Y., October 
30, 1790, came to Phelps with his parents in 1801, and removed thence 
to Lyons in 1813, where he died in March, 1886. He brought the first 
stock of goods to this village, and besides being a merchant was also a 
tavern keeper, a liveryman, and a contractor. He was the first town 
clerk, and except four years held either the office of overseer of the 
poor, town clerk, or village treasurer until his death. He was a highly 
respected citizen. 

Michael Vanderbilt, from New Jersey, settled in Lyons in 1812, and 
died March 16, 1874*aged eighty-eight years. Josiah Wright, a brother- 
in-law of Joseph Farwell, removed to the village about 1811 and built 
a tavern in Joppa. About 1828 he exchanged this for the Lyons Hotel 
(later the Graham House), and finally died in Buffalo. William Patrick 
purchased of David W. Perrine a farm north of Lyons village about 
L816. A carpenter by trade he was master workman during the con- 
struction of the long bridge across Seneca River on the Montezuma 
turnpike. He was the father of Frank, William, and Pierce Patrick. 
Robert Holmes, sr., settled in Lyons in 1818, made brick and potash, 
and died in 1848. His sons were: John, Gilman, Abram, William F., 
and Robert, jr. The latter was born in L803, and died in February, 
1881. 

Ziba Lane, born in Bedford, Mass., in 1756, removed with his wife to 



WAYNE COUNTY. 231 

Maine, and came thence to Lyons in 1814. He located on lot so, built 
a log- cabin and afterwards a commodious residence, accumulated a hand- 
some property, and died at a good old age. His son Levi was born in 
Amherst, Mass., in 1806. 

Newell Taf't and Farnum White removed to Lyons in 1816 and en- 
gaged in manufacturing chairs; afterward the partnership was dissolved 
and White continued the business alone. Mr. Taft became a contractor 
and builder, and with Henry Seymour began casting plows, making the 
first of the kind in town. Taft later built a foundry which he sold in 
1866 to Wickson & Van Wickle. The establishment was burned in 
1869, and rebuilt. Mr. Taft had twelve children. He was a prominent 
member of the Presbyterian church from 1822 until his death, Decem- 
ber 8, 1874, aged nearly eighty-one years. 

Philip Dorscheimer was the first miller in Lyons village. He after- 
ward kept the old Wayne County Hotel and then the Lyons Hotel, and 
finally moved to Buffalo. He was a respected citizen, and through his 
influence a large number of sturdy Germans were induced to settle in 
the town. Elijah P. Taylor, born in Massachusetts in 1805, came to 
Lyons in 1822, and after completing his trade carried on the tanning 
business till 1838, when he removed to Sodus and engaged in dealing 
in boots and shoes. Returning to Lyons in 1850 he again became a 
tanner. Columbus Croul became a blacksmith in the village in 1821. 
He was an elder in the Presbyterian church from 1841 until his death 
in April, 1881. Jonas Parker, a cooper, came to Lyons about 1820. He 
was at one time keeper of the county poorhouse, and eventually re- 
moved to Indiana. Oliver Penoyer, born in Columbia county, N. Y. , 
in 1806, settled in this town in 1837, and died in March, 1881. Thompson 
Harrington, a settler of 1826, was a partner or proprietor of the Lyons 
pottery until his death in October, 1874. James Pollock came here 
early and died November 18, 1872, aged eight} T -two years. James 
McElwain, a wagonmaker and captain in the State militia, was a resident 
of Lyons from 1827 until his death in December, 1868. Ephraim Jeff er- 
son Whitney came here on foot from Ontario county in 1822 to learn the 
printer's trade in the office of the Lyons Advertiser. He also had a 
book store, and died in 1856. Robert and John Stanton. Englishmen, 
early settled on the hill that took their name; they subsequently moved 
to Geneva. 

Hon. Van Rensselaer Richmond, born in Preston, N. Y., in 1812, 
became resident canal engineer at Lyons in 1837. In 1842 he had charge 



232 LANDMARKS OF 

of the middle division, a position he resigned in 1848. He was a mem- 
ber of the canal board, and in 1850 was made division engineer of the 
Syracuse and Rochester direct railroad. In lSo'i he became engineer 
of the middle division of the Erie Canal, and in 1857, 1859, L867, and 
1869 was elected State engineer and surveyor. He settled permanently 
in Lyons in 1852 and died in November, 1883. 

Calvin U. Palmeter, a native of Berkshire, Mass , came to Sodus in 
1816, whence he removed to Lyons about 1821. He was a tanner and 
currier, and was engaged in that business with Cyrus Hecox. He was 
constable, deputy sheriff , and in 1831 sheriff of Wayne county. He was 
also a keeper of the county poorhouse, and a Democrat and Presby- 
terian. His sons were Edwin, Ira F., Frank S., and Calvin S. David 
Gilson was an early cooper in Lyons village, and ran a Durham boat on 
the Clyde river, being engaged in the salt trade. Jonathan Colborn 
settled very early on a farm one-half mile northeast of Alloway, and 
moved thence to Rose. Edward S., Matthew A., Augustus, and John 
Stewart came to Wayne county as pioneers; Edward S. was a lawyer 
in Lyons village, and the others located in Galen. William McGown 
was for twenty-four years a magistrate, and died at Alloway in January, 
1885. Coll Roy, a Scotchman and the father of James Roy, settled 
south of Lyons and kept a hotel several years. 

Thomas Bradley became a distiller with Capt. Henry Towar at Allo- 
way. About 1820 he removed to a farm and died in 1835. In 1812 
Beri Foote came to Lyons from Massachusetts, but soon located in the 
northeast corner of Galen. 

Samuel Hecox came here in 1817, and was a merchant and county 
treasurer. Eli Hecox, his brother, was a carpenter and soldier in the 
war of 1812, and located in Lyons in 1831. Another brother, Cyrus, 
was a prominent merchant and tanner in the village. Cullen Foster 
was a political! in his younger days, held several town offices, and was 
both county sheriff and clerk. He died March 29, 1870. Smith A. 
Dewey, born in Whitestown, N. Y., December 7, 1814, came to Lyons 
in is:; 1 .), engaged in business as a merchant, and upon the death of John 
Adams in 1862 was appointed county treasurer, to which office he was 
elected in 1865 and again in 1868. He was highly esteemed, and died 
in November, 1S75. 

William Wallace Sandford, who came to Lyons in lsiiii, was first a 
merchant and later proprietor of the Wayne Count} - Hotel. He was 
supervisor in is.'):;, and died in April, L883. John Sparks, a farmer, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 233 

settled in this town in 1836 and died in June, L883. Stephen Marshall, 
born in Connecticut in L807, removed to Lyons in L832. % He was a shoe- 
maker and a lumberman, and was appointed one of three commissioners 
to build the present court house. He died in April, L883. Nelson R. 
Mirick was born in Rose in L831 and died here in March, 1886. He was 
a miller and maltster, and served as supervisor several years. Dr. Hugh 
Jameson, long- a practicing dentist in the village, was born here in L835 
and died January 4, 1890. 

Prominent among other early settlers of the village and town may be 
mentioned E. G. Thurston, long a successful merchant, who died No- 
vember 8, 1857; John Evenden, a native of Kent, Eng. , who died in 
February, 1863; John Knowles, sr. , whose death occurred here No- 
vember 10, 1864; Daniel Ford, who died May 2, 1861, and was buried 
with Masonic honors; David June, who died April 6, 1861; George Al- 
exander who died about 1820; John Layton, the father of Daniel W., 
who died in Feburary, 1885; George W. Cramer, merchant, who died 
in May, 1882 ; Thomas Cotter, a tailor noted for his miserly habits ; who 
died in March, 1886: John Riley (son of Rev. Lawrence Riley), wdio 
died March 1, 1887; George M. Hatter, a prominent merchant here af- 
ter 1851, who died in Januar}^, 1888; and Andrew Failing, Hugh Brown 
and John Paton. 

James Dunn purchased 418 acres of the Dorsey farm in 1834, and died 
here in May, 1850. Alfred Hale settled at Alloway in 1823, and began 
growing peppermint in 1832. In 1854 he built a small mint still, after 
which he erected five or six others. In 1862 he formed a partnership 
with a Mr. Parshall for the manufacture of essential oils in Lyons vil- 
lage, and the firm built up an enormous business. In 1827 Mr. Hale 
married a daughter of Levi Geer and has had three daughters and a son 
(Alfred S. ) 

Hiram G. Hotchkiss, the founder of the great peppermint industry of 
Wayne county, was born in Oneida county, N. Y. , June 10, 1810, and 
moved to Phelps with his parents about 1817. His father, Leman, was 
a merchant, and the son began life in the same business. He became 
a miller, and in 1837 began buying peppermint from the farmers. In 
1841 he removed to Lyons and devoted his entire attention to the 
business. He married a daughter of Dr. Ashley and had twelve chil- 
dren, of whom Lemon, Calvin, and Hiram G., jr., succeeded to the 
business founded in Lyons by their father. 

Dr. E. Ware Sylvester, born in Cazenovia, N. Y., in 1814, graduated 

30 



234 LANDMARKS OF 

at Union College in 1836, and at Auburn Theological Seminar}- in 1840, 
and after studying- dentistry practiced in Lyons and elsewhere for 
twenty years. He finally abandoned his profession and established the 
Lyons nurseries. 

The first grist mill in the town was built at Alloway about 1794 by 
Henry Towar, agent for Captain Charles Williamson. John Featherly 
was the miller here, and when the structure was burned in 1804 'Sir. 
Towar rebuilt it on the same site. Subsecpient owners were George 
Ennis, Lawrence Riley, and Isaac Roy. The next grist mill was the 
one erected by Jacob Leach, one mile south of Lyons. In 1825 Samuel 
Hecox, Milton Barney, and William E. Perrine built a large mill in 
Lyons village on the site of the Shuler flouring mill and cut a raceway 
to it from Canandaigua outlet. It had four runs of stone, and the first 
miller was Philip Dorscheimer. The mill was burned about 1870 and 
the present one erected. In L823 Henry Towar built a flouring mill 
four miles west of the village. It passed to William Young, and lacking 
a sufficient water supply was taken down and the frame brought to 
Lyons. The Leach mill on the outlet was finally burned and rebuilt by 
Mr. Towar, and passed into the hands of Shuler Brothers. 

The first saw mill was built by John Perrine in 1880. It stood one 
mile south of the village, on the west side of Canandaigua outlet, and 
after running several ) T ears was dismantled. Simeon Van Wickle had 
another early mill three miles northwest of Lyons village, but both mill 
and stream have long since passed away. Judge Dorsey built a saw 
mill near the Shuler flouring mill, which in 1825 was removed to a better 
water power. Henry Towar erected several saw mills in various parts 
of the town. 

About 1810 Gabriel Rogers erected in Lyons village a tannery, which 
he operated for twenty years. Samuel Minkler built a second one on 
Water street, and Cyrus Hecox a third. The latter was purchased by 
the Rogers brothers. Among other tanners here were Colonel Bartlett 
R. Rogers, Henry Teachout, and E. P. Taylor. 

Numerous distilleries existed in the town at an early day, notably 
that of Jacob Leach, which was built in 1810 at the junction of the out- 
let with Ganargwa Creek. Joseph Farwell had another on the site of 
the old warehouse in Lyons village. 

Henry Towar and Thomas Beals erected a clothicry at Alloway on 
the west side of the outlet at an early day, and Milton Barney and Judge 
Dorsey had another in Lyons village. Mr. Barney did an extensive 



WAYNE COUNTY. 335 

business in this line for man} 7 years. He married a daughter of Judge 
Dorsey. The first ashery started in Lyons was operated by a Mr. 
Hessinger west of the Lutheran church. Others were conducted by 
Joseph Farwell and Robert Holmes. 

In 1822 William Clark & Company built a pottery in Lyons village 
that was managed by T. Harrington. It passed to Thompson & Har- 
rington and later to J. Fisher & Company. 

In 1858 the town had 15,917 acres improved land, real estate valued 
at $1,355,531, personal property at $313,050; there were 2,(304 male and 
2,601 female inhabitants, 874 dwellings, (376 freeholders, 978 families, 
13 school districts, 1,849 school children, 1,320 horses, 1,610 cows, 7,722 
sheep, and 2,406 swine. There were produced 27,357 bushels winter 
and 134,753 bushels spring wheat, 3,430 tons hay, 17,473 bushels pota- 
toes, 51,526 bushels apples, 89,472 pounds butter, 4,128 pounds cheese, 
and 660 yards domestic cloths. 

In 1890 the town had a population of 6,228, or 466 less than in 1880. 
Statistics of 1893: Assessed value of land, $882,107 (equalized $1,054,- 
381); village and mill property, $1,221,600 (equalized $1,204,192); rail- 
roads and telegraphs, equalized, $430,209; personal property, $301,750. 
Schedule of taxes, 1893: Contingent fund, $6,152.53; town poor fund, 
$2,200; roads and bridges, $250; special town tax, $3,107; school tax, 
$2,741.61; county tax, $6,559.61; State tax, $3,614.70; State insane tax, 
$932,52; dog tax, $111.50. Total tax levy, $27,071.06; rate per cent., 
.00982474. The town has five election districts and in 1893 polled 1,175 
votes. 

During the war of the Rebellion the town of Lyons contributed large 
numbers of her brave citizens for the Union Army and gave liberally 
of both money and supplies to aid the soldiers and ameliorate their 
condition at the front. Being the shire town of Wayne county many of 
the more important events that transpired during that long struggle 
occurred within these borders, and all are properly detailed in a preced- 
ing chapter. 

The first school house in Lyons village and probably the first in town 
was a primitive structure that stood on the hill on the west side of 
Butternut street, at the head of Queen. It was there as early as 1804 
or 1805, but was burned soon afterward. In June, 1813, the town was 
divided into twelve school districts; J. W. Gillispie and John Brown 
were school commissioners. Another school house was built of logs on 
the northeast corner of the Presbyterian church lot, and a third school 



236 LANDMARKS OF 

was kept in the old Glover house in L808-9, while a fourth was held in 
an old building where the German church now stands. Still another 
was situated on Church street, and was purchased by the Catholics for 
a house of worship. Among the earlier teachers in the various schools 
wore: Thomas Rogers, Capt. James Hill, Mr. Fuller, Andrew Hull, 
Mr. Trowbridge, Mr. Starr, and Rev. Jeremiah Flint. At Alloway 
schools were opened at an early day, and two of the first teachers were 
Rev. Mr. Flint and Abner Brown. In L852 a large brick school house 
was erected and the first teachers therein were Professor Ballon and 
Miss Julia Dorsey. In L833 Miss Clarissa Thurston opened a "School 
for Young Ladies" on Geneva street, nearly opposite the old Joppa 
House. She finally discontinued it and went to Geneva. 

March -.".), L837, the Lyons Academy was incorporated, and was 
merged into the present school on September 23, L843,by the organiza- 
tion of Union school district No. G. At the meeting held on that day 
Jacob Leach was chosen moderator; John M. Holley, Eli Johnson, and 
Jabez Green, trustees; and Daniel Chapman, clerk. In 1S44 the Ver- 
non lot was purchased and a brick building, containing seven rooms, 
was' erected at a total cost of over $10,000. There were four grades of 
study, and the first term, which opened the new structure on May 4, 
LS45, was attended by 519 pupils. The first teachers were Nathan Brit- 
tan, A. M., principal; E. B. Elliott, A. B., Mr. DeliaRogers, M. C. G. 
Nichols, Miss Hermans, Mrs. L. G. Blount, Miss E. H. Allen, Mrs. 
E. W. Redgrave, Miss Cornelia Ilaight, Levi S. Fulton, William C. 
Wright, and M. M. Rodgers, M. D. July 6, 1847, it was decided to 
purchase the Newell Taft lot adjoining and erect an addition, and $5,000 
were voted for the purpose. The new building contained, besidesother 
rooms, a laboratory, a geological cabinet, and a chapel, and the whole, 
including furnishings, etc., cost about about $14,000. In 1855 the school 
house was repaired at an expense of $2,000, and the school was placed 
1>y legislation under the regulations governing incorporated academies. 
December 7, L855, a project was considered to make the school free, 
but resulted adversely, and on December 19th a committee was ap- 
pointed to procure a law changing the hoard of trustees to a board of 
education and authorize graduate tuition. The law was passed and took 
effect in May, L856. The new board consisted of Saxon B. Gavitt, J. T. 
Mackenzie, Morton Brownson, Lyman Sherwood, Zebulon Moore, C. 
Rice, George W. Cramer, A. I). Polhamus, and William 11. Sisson. In 
1 sc,o the number was reduced to three, and another grade was established. 



WAYNE COUNTY. •_>:•,; 

In December, 1862, a free school system was adopted and legislation 
secured for the purpose. In L865 a German department was added with 
Jacob T. Eitelman as teacher. 

July 25, 1889, the citizens voted in favor of building a new school 
house, and on October 10th ground was formally broken and the corner 
stone laid by William Kreutzer, president of the board, for the present 
handsome and commodious brick and stone structure. Joseph Blab}- 
was the architect and the contract was let to William C. Long for $ II, 
500, the heating and ventilating to cost $5,500 more. The new building 
was opened November 21, 1890. The principals of the old school, with 
the dates of their service, were as follows. 

Nathan Brittan, May, 1845, to February, 1840; John T. Clark, Feb- 
urary, 1849, to July, 1851 ; Rev. Win. A. Benedict, August, 1851, to July, 
1854; Francis B. Snow, August, 1854, to July, 1858; Howard M. vSmith, 
August, 1858, to July, 1800; William Kreutzer, August, I860, to No- 
vember, 1801; James C. Benschotten, November, 1861, to July, 1862; 
Cicero M. Hutchins, September, 1802, to July, I860; Alexander D. Adams, 
September, 1866, to April, 1871; Edward A. Kingsley, April, 1871, to 
July, 1873; Timothy A. Roberts, September, 1873, to April, 1870; Rev. 
Wndiam H. Lord, July, 1870, to July, 1877; J. B. Fraser, September, 
1877, to April, 1878; J. H. Clark, July, 1878, to July, 1887; William 
G. White, July, 1887, to August, 1888; W. H. Kinney, August, 1888. 
The Lyons Union school was one of the first of the kind established in 
this State. It has always maintained a foremost position among simi- 
lar institutions. 

In December, 1853, the Lyons Musical Academy was started by Rev. 
L. H. vSherwood and for many years was a prominent feature of the 
village. It gained a wide and respectable reputation and offered rare 
advantages to those desiring a musical education. Rev. Mr. Sherwood's 
successor was O. H. Adams. Both were eminent teachers and thorough 
scholars. Its popularity waned, however, and the institution was dis- 
continued a few years ago. Its last home on Queen street was built 
during the winter of 1881-2, and first occupied in April, 1882. 

The town now has thirteen school districts with a building in each. 
In 1892-3 these were attended by 1,348 scholars and taught by thirty- 
two teachers. The value of school houses and sites is $72,575 ; assessed 
valuation of the districts, $2,751,300; public money received from the 
State in 1802-3, $4,986.49; raised by local tax, $14,253.63. 



238 LANDMARKS OP 

Lyons Village. — The capital of any county naturally takes precedence 
over all other villages, and Lyons is no exception to the rule. In this 
case we have not only the county seat to notice, but a place rich in his- 
tory, interesting in growth and development, replete in commercial, 
social, and manufacturing' importance, attractive in location, and the 
very oldest in settlement. The improvements inaugurated by Capt. 
Charles Williamson, through his agent, Charles Cameron, and many of 
the earlier industries have already been noted in this chapter. William- 
son bestowed upon the place the name of Lyons, and caused a village to 
be surveyed in acre lots and a warehouse, distiller} - , dwelling, and barn 
to be built — all in 1704 or 1795. This dwelling was the first frame 
building erected in the town. It was also used as a storehouse and was 
finally purchased by the Presbyterians, removed to lot No. 1, and oc- 
cupied for both religious and school purposes. In it, on October 23, 
L809, the Presbyterian Society was organized; in May, 1823, the first 
court in Wayne county convened ; and the first meeting of the Wayne 
County Medical Society was held here after its formation. In 18\'."> it 
was sold to Francis Glover, who removed it to the north side of Jackson 
street, west of the furnace, and occupied it for a dwelling. From him 
it derived the name of Glover house. 

The first tavern was that of John Riggs in 1800. William Gibbs had 
another soon afterward. The latter was a log structure, and to it James 
Otto subsequently put up a frame addition. Gibbs was succeeded as 
landlord by Joseph Hathaway, and then came T. D. Gale, Colonel Elias 
Hull, and Judge Camp, who discontinued it as a hotel. Hull w r as a 
colonel in the State militia, commanding the 71st Regiment, and the 
tavern became a favorite rendezvous. It was long known as the "Old 
Museum." The second tavern was the dwelling of William Nelson on 
the corner of Broad and Water streets. Major Ezekiel Price added a 
frame to it in 180G, and built a barn a few rods east. In 1810 he erected 
a frame hostelry on the site of Congress Hall, and the old stand again 
became a dwelling. In 1819 Price's tavern was conducted by his son, 
David C, who died in 1824, when it was leased to Evan, Griffiths & 
Needham. E. B. Price later became landlord and changed the name to 
the Wayne County Hotel. He was succeeded by Mr. Sprague, and the 
latter by Philip Dorscheimer. About 1 SOS the old building was torn 
down and the present Congress Hall erected on the site. 

In 1821 the Joppa Land Company, consisting of Myron Holley, Gen. 
William H. 'Adams, and Augustine H. Lawrence, purchased the John 



WAYNE COUNTY. 239 

Riggs farm of about 300 acres in the eastern part of the village, and had 

the tract surveyed into building lots by David H. Vance. They creeled 
a two story frame tavern on the corner of William and Montezuma 
streets, and the first landlord was Major Woolsey, whose successors were 
Messrs. vSatterlee, Joseph Judson, Josiah Wright, Philip Dorscheimer, 
and Jarvis Landon. The latter added a third story. In 1854 Henry 
Graham became proprietor and gave it the name of Graham House. 

In 1817 Samuel Minkler built on the site of the Hotel Baltzel a dwelling 
house which he sold about 1825 to George Benton, who converted it 
into a tavern and continued as landlord until 1854:, when is was pur- 
chased by Cogswell & Boice. In 1858 Louis Studer became poprietorr 
and leased it to a Mr. Payne, and in 1868 sold the property to Archibald 
Walrath. With the Lutheran church it was burned April 20, 1885. For 
many years it was known as the Exchange Hotel, and on its site the pres- 
ent brick Hotel Baltzel was erected in 1888 and opened in April, 1889. 

Lyons, in 1808. contained two taverns, a store, a school house, a 
tailor, saddler, shoemaker, and blacksmith, and religion had made a be- 
ginning in the hands of two societies. Prior to 1811 the survey of 
Lyons was into acre lots, and its bounds were comprised as follows: 
south lay the Clyde River, east was William street, west was Butternut 
street, and northward the streets met at an angle. Broad street, run- 
ning north and south, was the principal street. Cross streets were laid 
out and bore the names of Water, Pearl, Church, and Queen. In 1811 
Evert Van Wickle allotted the village into building lots. 

The first merchants in Lyons village were Judge Daniel Dorsey and 
Major Ezekiel Price. Jacob Leach built and opened a store on Water 
street in 1812, and had for a clerk and then a partner Joseph M. 
Demmon. Stephen M. Palmer started a store on the corner of Church 
and Broad streets in 1816, and the next year was succeeded by Cyrus 
Hecox, who located on the corner of Broad and Water streets in 1818. 
On one of the corners the first brick building in the village was erected 
in 1815 and occupied as a grocery by C. B. Ryan. The brick were made 
on the John Perrine farm. In the second story the second newspaper 
(the Republican) in Lyons was printed in 1821 by George Lewis. The 
building was burned February 3, 1881. On the southwest of these 
corners Giles Jackson built a small brick store and kept it until 1820, 
when he sold out and moved away. Samuel Hecox opened a store on 
the east side of Broad street, but soon removed to Buffalo. About 1822 
Eli Blair became a merchant here; he and his wife died the same day 



240 LANDMARKS OF 

(in L831) in the same house, and were buried in the same grave. In 
L822 the Joppa Company built a store on the north side of the canal, 
and also a 1 trick building on the south side. Other earl)' merchants 
were: Smith & Northrop, Seth Smith, John Berkaw, Capt. John S. hie, 
John Adams, Jonas Towar, William Hash ford (the first lock grocery- 
man), and Clark Bartlett, sr. Among- the earlier jewelers were La Salle 
(in L821 ), W. D. Perrine (father of D. K.), and David Adams. 

The first blacksmith was Samuel Mummy, on Broad street, whose suc- 
cessor was Alexander Beard (prior to L808). Then came Peter Hanker- 
son, fohn Croul, Samuel Androus, Henry Seymour, and others. 

In I sns Samuel Minkler came to Lyons and built a log tannery. Fi- 
nally he tore it down, filled up his vats, and erected a frame house. At 
one time he owned about all the land north of Water street and west of 
Broad. John C. Kingsbury was an early shoemaker. In 1810 Deacon 
John Gilbert started the first cabinet shop, and about L840 engaged in 
manufacturing fanning mills, which at one time attained extensive pro- 
portions. Subsequent manufacturers of fanning mills were H. W. Put- 
ney. Adam Schattner, and Stephen Van Wickle. Zalmon Rice also 
prosecuted the business and built the "Center building," in which he 
had a store. In 18 Hi Newell Taft and Farnum White began making- 
chairs. Later Taft and Henry Seymour engaged in manufacturing 
plows, probably the first in Wayne county. Air. Taft also brought and 
set up the first steam engine in the town. In 1866 the property passed 
to Wicksoq & Van Winkle, and in 1869 the buildings were burned. A 
large brick structure was at once erected, and the establishment took 
the name of the Lyons Agricultural Works. 

The second issue of the Lyons Republican, dated August 10, L821, 
published by George Lewis "in the new brick block on the bank of the 
canal," contains the following local advertisements: George H. McClary, 
cash paid for flax seed; notice of annual meeting of the stockholders of 
the Montezuma Turnpike and Bridge Company, Peter Clarke, secretary; 
G. Butler, notice to delinquent debtors to settle; Webster & Stiles, hats, 
etc.; Frisbee & Pierpont, notice to settle; E. Price, postmaster, adver- 
tised letters; and T. Martin, tailor and habit maker. 

William Vorhees became a cabinet maker here about L810. The first 
livery stable was opened by Nehemiah Sprague and J. M. Demmon in 
L834. Deacon Eli Johnson engaged in the tailoring business prior to 
L820and died in L850. The first hay scales were placed in the alley be- 
tween Congress Hall and the liver}- stable by Samuel Hecox, About 




(£-J - sZ xvC^^cx£3He_^ // 



WAYNE COUNTY. 241 

L830 Leach & Demmon erected a brewery on Water street near the 
canal bridge. The establishment was finally destroyed by fire. An- 
other brewery was started by George Brock & Co. Among the malt 
houses that have formed an important feature of the village are those 
operated by the Mirick Brothers. The first omnibus in the village was 
brought by H. Warren in August, 1853. In 182G Gilbert & Avery built 
a Masonic hall on the corner of Broad and Church streets. It finally 
passed to John Clapp, and in 1862 was purchased by H. G. Hotchkiss, 
by whom it was torn down. The first 4th of July celebration in Lyons 
occurred in 1820. Judge Jewell was president of the clay and Graham 
H. Chapin the orator. A band was formed in 1830. From 1840 to 1855 
Holloway's band flourished, and in the latter year a brass band was or- 
ganized. As early as 1810 a circulating library was instituted, of which 
Judge Dorsey was president, Major Ezekiel Price librarian, and John 
Perrine solicitor. The latter collected about 200 volumes and pam- 
phlets on religion, and 200 more on history and biography. About a 
dozen years afterward the collection disappeared. 

Among the institutions in the village in 1833 were the Yellow tavern. 
John W. Denton, proprietor, who succeeded Joseph W. Demmon; Leach 
mill, adjoining the wool-carding and cloth-dressing establishment, all 
of which were burned in 1836; Bashford's cooper shops; Jacob Leach, 
Edwin B. Leach, Charles Allen, Samuel Androus, Zalmon Rice, Albert 
J. Hovey, Jonas S. Towar, John W. Berkaw, John Adams, and W. F. 
& Robert Holmes, jr., dry goods; Eli & Benjamin Johnson, tailors; 
Miles S. Leach, Foster & Wright, and Flavel Crosby (successor to Al- 
len & Yarrington), drugs ; Henry Baltzel, boots and shoes ; Lewis Groat, 
Stephen Marshall, George Croul, Deacon Abner Brown and John C. 
Kingsbmy, shoe shops; Exchange Hotel, George Benton, proprietor; 
Wayne County Hotel, Reuben H. Foster, proprietor; Lyons Hotel, 
Philip Dorscheimer, proprietor; Joppa House, Chauncey Burnett, pro- 
prietor; Daniel Watrous, wagon shop; B. T. & James Rogers, tannery; 
" Old Museum," formerly a tavern; Newell Taft, furnace; fanning mill 
manufacturers; Waite & Lyman and John Smock, cabinet shops; Nehe- 
miah Sprague, livery; Bryant R. Houghton and John O. Vorse, jewel- 
ers; William Sisson, Graham H. Chapin, John M. Holley, and Adams 
& Jameson, lawyers; Dr. Carlisle aud Jeremiah B. Pierce, physicians; 
Abel Lyman and William Voorhies, justices of the peace; H. G. Dicker- 
son, hat shop; William Bashford, Clark Bartlett, and David Adams, 
canal groceries; John Croul, Robert Hull, Thomas Wafer, and James 
31 



342 



LANDMARKS OF 



McElwain, blacksmiths; Robert Holmes, ashery; Uriah Roraback, lot- 
tery office; George \V. Liscomb, grocery and dram shop; Beaumont & 
Stafford, hardware; Jonas \V. Goodrich, grocery; Miss Caswell and 
Amanda Smith, milliners; Chester Vale, tin shop. 

The first physician was Dr. Prescott, and among his successors were 
Drs. Willis, William Ambler, Ashley, Pierce, Varnum, Peck, Jackson, 
Teachout, Bottom, Vosburgh, David, Gillette, S. D. Sherman, T. H. 
Avery, Miss Burroughs, and others. 

William Sisson was the first resident lawyer. ( )ther early attorneys 
have been William Hough, J. S. Stewart, Ezra Jewell, Gen. William H. 
Adams, John S. Talmadge, Graham H. Chapin, John M. Holley, and 
William Van Marter, Lyman Sherwood, and Wm. Clark. 

The Lyons advertisers in the Wayne County Whig of 1841 were: S. 
D. Crane, cabinet ware; William X. Cole, building lots for sale; Dwight 
Foster, saddles and harness; Sanford & Sisson, Dr. Mason, William 
Hewlett, and F.White, drugs; J. W. F.Rice, dentist; Edward Cooper, 




Eastern Entrance into Lyons. — From an old print, 1840. 



A 11., classical and commercial boarding scl I; Bank of Lyons, Thad- 

deus W. Patchin, cashier. 

In 1852, besides the above, there were D. Wilder, restaurant; Mrs. 
C. H. Decker and Mrs. E. C. Cosart, milliner)'; A. Hays, ready-made 
clothing; Rice & Whitman and Dickerson & Mundy, hats and furs; P. 
A. Gebhard, lumberyard; C. R. Rudd & Sons, books; E. B. Price & 
Sons, wooden and willow ware, etc.; E. Ware Sylvester, dentist ; S. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 243 

Weed, daguerreotypes; J. & P. Walters, undertakers; Edward Ray, 
boots and shoes; W. W. Wormwood, watches and jewelry; William 
Van Marter, lawyer, and village lots tor sale; S. H. Klinek, dry goods; 
Bradish iV- Bourne, hardware; H. G. Hotehkiss, wanted, 40,000 bushels 
of corn. 

The Lyons post-office was established in 1807 and the first postmaster 
was Maj. Ezekiel Price, who held the position about thirty years. He 
took the contract to carry the mails to Geneva, a task his son, E. Bar- 
ton Price, performed from 1811 to 1820. Subsequent postmasters were 
Messrs. Reuben H. Foster, Poucher, Watrous, Dr. Ashley, Street}-, 
Hano, Ellis, Van Etten, and Hough. The present incumbent is Dan- 
iel B. Teller, who succeeded F. C. Zimmerlin. 

Lyons village was incorporated April 18, 1854, and its limits were 
legally designated as follows : 

Commencing at a point 320 rods directly south of the center of the 
hall of the court-house now being erected in said town; then west 320 
rods ; thence due north 640 rods ; thence due east 640 rods ; thence south 
a like distance; and thence west 320 rods to the place of beginning, 
shall hereafter continue to be known by the name of the village of Lyons. 

The charter was amended May 8, 1884. The first charter election 
was held May 8, 1854, and the following officers were chosen: De Witt 
W. Parshall, president; Aaron Remsen, Miles S. Leach, Stephen S. 
Herrick, John T. Denniston, William H. Sisson, trustees; Philip Althen, 
treasurer; John H. Spencer, clerk; Sylvester Wilder, constable; Mar- 
cellus J. Goddard, collector; John Lawton, John M. Pickett, Hernando 
C. Mead, assessors; John Knowles, jr. , chief engineer. The presidents 
of the village have been : D. W. Parshall, 1854-55; Saxon B. Gavitt, 
1856; D. W. Parshall, 1857-58; Amos Harrington, 1859-60; Henry 
Graham, 1861; E. P. Taft, 1862; N. R. Mirick, 1863-64; H. J. Leach, 
1865-66; George W. Cramer, 1867-68; S. A. Jones, 1869-70; S. C. 
Searle, 1870; James Rogers, 1871; George W. Cramer, 1872; George 
W. Knowles, 1873; R. J. Patterson, 1874; Hon. Van R. Richmond, 
1875; George H. Shuler, 1876; M. C.Tucker, 1877; M. H. Dillenbeck, 
1878; C. Hotehkiss, 1879; E. G. Leonard, 1880; De Witt P. Foster, 
1881; William G. Rogers, 1882; H. W. Evans, 1883; Milton E. Mirick, 
1884; R. A. Hubbard, 1885; Robert Smith, L886; J. W. Putnam, iss; : 
Seymour Scott, 1888; J. W. Putnam, L889-92; G. AY. Koester, L893; 
L. M. Blakely, 1894. 

The village officers for 1894 are as follows : 



244 LANDMARKS OF 

L. M. Blakely, president; J. S. Jordan, vice-president; E. D. Bourne, 
clerk ; Charles Boeheim, R. F. Forgham, J. S. Jordan, James McNamara, 
H. F. Myers, Theodore Schlee, trustees; Joseph McCall, treasurer; A. 
C. Brooks, street commissioner; Azor Culver, collector-; R. J. Patter- 
son, police justice; John Knoblock, D. L. Stanley, P. J. Stephens, as- 
sessors. 

In 1827 or 8 a fire engine, "Dart," was purchased forabout $300 and 
a company was organized with John Adams as foreman. Another crank 
engine was procured soon afterward; a third was the " Ganargwa " and 
a fourth was the "Eagle." A frame engine house was erected on the 
site of the present No. 1, and being sold finally to John Pulse was re- 
moved and converted into a dwelling. In 1871 a Silsby steamer was 
purchased and in 1872 the present brick engine house and village hall 
was built at a cost of $5,000. The fire department now consists of Ly- 
ons Hook and Ladder Co. No. 1, E. D. Bourne, foreman; Independent 
I lose Co. No. 1, Karl Martin, foreman; Steamer Hose Co. No. 2; Act- 
ive Llose Co. No. 3, Harry Zimmerman, foreman; M. C. Tucker Hose 
Co. No. 4; and J. S. Jordan Hose Co. No. 5. The officers are B. W. 
Mirick, chief; D. E. Engel, first assistant ; Morgan Taylor, second as- 
sistant. 

The Lyons Gas Light Company was incorporated January 25, 1859, 
and gas was supplied for lighting purposes soon afterward. The works 
are located south of the canal on Water street. 

In August, 1884, a franchise was granted Barton, Morgan & Reynolds 
to lay water mains through the streets and establish a water system, but 
they failed to comply with the regulations. In June, 1886, a similar 
franchise was granted the Lyons Water Works Company, of which Cor- 
nelius J. Ryan was president; John H. Camp, vice-president; De Witt 
P. Foster, secretary; Alexander H. Towar, treasurer; andW. S. Parker, ' 
chief engineer. Active work commenced August 18, 1886. A well 
eighteen feet in diameter and twenty feet deep was sunk on theWalrath 
property on Layton street, a steel stand pipe was erected on the summit 
of Sturges hill, and the system placed in operation in January, 1887. 

The Lyons Electric Light and Power Company was organized June 
15, L889, with Samuel Scott, president; J. W. Dunwell, vice-president; 
J. W. Van Etten, secretary; William N. Deady, treasurer; and with a 
eapital of $45,000. An excellent system of lighting was inaugurated, 
and the facilities have been increased from time to time as occasion 
required. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 245 

The Lyons Board of Trade was organized February 25, 1889, with 
these officers: E. G. Leonard, 'president ; C. K. Robinson, vice-presi- 
dent; W. G. David, secretary; W. S. Gavitt, treasurer. Through this 
efficient organization several manufacturing industries have been in- 
duced to locate in Lyons, notably that of the Manhattan Silver Plate 
Company in 1889. 

Several attempts have been made to organize and establish street 
railroads in Lyons, but the clashing of individual interests have hitherto 
prevented a consummation of the enterprise. 

The Bank of Lyons was chartered May 14, 1836, with a capital of 
$200,000, the commissioners being John Adams, James P. Bartle, Jacob 
Leach, Byram Green, Elias Y. Munson, Lyman Sherwood, and Hiram 
Jenkins. The first officers were: Reuben H. Foster, president, and a 
Mr. Bigelow, cashier; the latter was succeeded by William H. Lacey. 
The bank was opened about July 15, in the Center building, and in 1838 
George G. Kingman obtained control. He moved to Black Rock in 
1839, leaving the concern in a crippled condition, and in 1842 it failed, 
at which time Thaddeus W. Patchen was cashier. The building was 
converted into the Bank Hotel in 1881. 

The Lyons National Bank was incorporated as the Palmyra Bank of 
Wayne County in December, 1843; the name was changed to theL)^ons 
Bank, March 31, 1857. The originators were : DeWittW. Parshall and 
Peter R. Westfall. In 1865 it became a national bank and adopted its 
present title with a capital of $150,000. The first officers were: D. W. 
Parshall, president; M. T. Tucker, cashier; and J. V. D. Westfall, 
teller. 

William Sisson and Daniel Chapman established a private banking 
business at an early day. Mr. Sisson finally withdrew and Mr. Chap- 
man continued alone until about 1860. 

In 1859 Westfall's Bank was incorporated with Peter R. Westfall as 
president, and B. Van Alstine as cashier, who were succeeded by Caleb 
O. Rice and Jacob Westfall respectively. The bank failed in March, 
1868, owing $100,000 to depositors. 

Gavitt & Murdock opened a bank and continued a partnership for a 
time. Murdock withdrew, aud S. B. Gavitt removed to his present 
location on William street. 

Hiram and Nelson Mirick and Samuel L. Cole opened a bank in 
Gavitt & Murdock's old quarters, and were succeeded by John L. Cole, 
who still conducts the business under the Union Bank of Lyons. 



246 LANDMARKS OF 

J. A'. D. Westfall established a private bank a few years since and 
still conducts a large business. 

The Parshall Opera House, erected to the memory of Hon. De Witt 
Parshall, who died May 12, 18&0, was formally opened April 20, 1883. 

In 1873 there were shipped from this point 301,507 bushels of apples, 
besides large quantities of other produce. In 1888 the village contained 
1,657 stores and residences exclusive of shops and unoccupied buildings. 
The population in L890 was 4,175, an increase of 055 since 1880. 

Alloway is a small hamlet in the south part of the town, east of the 
Canandaigua outlet. It was formerly a place of considerable im- 
portance and maintained an enviable prestige up to the construction of 
the Erie Canal. Since then its business has declined and sought a more 
populous center. In about K!>4 Captain Henry To war as agent for 
Captain Williamson erected a saw mill, a grist mill, and two stores. 
The mills were burned in 1804. Captain Towar was a native of Alloa, 
Scotland, and gave to this place the name it has ever borne. He died 
in 1846. Among the old-time merchants were: Roys & Shattuck, 
Alexander Hays, Dr. L. C. Grover (who was also a postmaster), 
Simeon Haynes (who with Dr. Grover had an ashery), and Thomas 
Payne. Captain John Albangh built and kept the first tavern. He was 
also a blacksmith, and was succeeded as landlord by Stephen Young, 
Nicholas Hooper, Thomas Payne, and the latter's sons William and 
Thomas, jr. Dr. Grover was the first physician. The post-office was 
discontinued several years ago. 

Churches. — For a number of years a Methodist Episcopal Church 
flourished at Alloway, but the society finally became weak in numbers, 
disbanded, and their edifice was sold to Alfred Hale, by whom it was 
dismantled. 

The first religious services in the town were held by Rev. John Cole, 
a Methodist preacher, in 1707, and the founders of the present church 
of this denomination in the village were Rev. John Cole, Daniel Dor- 
scv, Richard Jones, James Walters, Nicholas and William Stansell, 
James ( )tto, and George Carr. Added to these as early members were 
Mrs. Samuel Bennett, Mrs. George Carr, Mrs. Eleanor Dorsey and sons 
Andrew, Thomas E., and Nelson, and daughters Deborah, Delia, Eliza- 
beth, and Lydia, Mrs. Ann Cole, Ann Cole (sister of John Cole), Mary 
and Joseph Cole, Mrs. Sarah Jones, William Jones, Mrs. Elizabeth 
Coats, William Wiles, Peter Walker, William Sampson and sons Thomas 
and Henry, George Alexander and wife Margaret, and William Jones. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 247 

About L803 a lot, on which stood a log house, was purchased, and the 
building, fitted up, became the first stated place of worship in the town. 
It was built by George Carr for a dwelling, and in size was twenty by 
thirty feet. It stood on Broad street north of Church, and was two 
stories high. The first minister was Rev. Mr. Cole, who died in 1808. 

The Methodist Episcopal Union Church of Lyons was incorporated 
May 15, 1809, with Lawrence Riley, Daniel Dorsey, Richard Jones, 
Nicholas Stansell, and William Wiles, trustees ; Richard Jones, clerk. 
This was the parent church of all those within the present conference. 
August 10, 1810, it was decided to sell the old meeting house and apart 
of the lot, and build a new edifice. Subscriptions amounting to $744 
were secured, and in 1813 another church was opened, but remained un- 
finished till about 1818. It fronted Broad street, and was used for 
twenty-one years, the last sermon in it being preached by Rev. Thomas 
Carlton. In 1834 a new building was completed and dedicated at a cost 
of $6,000, and in it Rev. Samuel Luckey delivered the first sermon. It 
stood on the site of the present edifice, and the building committee con- 
sisted of Eli Johnson, Joseph Cole, and Daniel Watrous. Mr. Johnson 
was superintendent of the Sunday school for twenty-four years. Thomas 
Rooke and wife were active members of the church, and at their deaths 
left endowments of $2,000 and $4,000, respectively. In 1850 the old 
building was torn down and the present brick structure erected on the 
site, the building committee being Stephen Marshall, Samuel J. Cole, 
andGilbert Van Marter. It was repaired in 1875 at an expense of about 
$6,000, and reopened January 6, 1876. The society has about 300 mem- 
bers under the pastoral charge of Rev. M. S. Wells. 

The First Presbyterian Church of Lyons was originally formed at the 
house of John Riggs on the 2d of January, 1800, at which time John 
Taylor, John Perrine, and John Van Wickle, sr. , were chosen to act as 
trustees. The legal organization did not take place, however, until Oc- 
tober 23, 1809, when the following became constituent members of the 
First Presbyterian Society: John and Mary Perrine, John and Anna 
Gault, William and Abigail Alfred, Henry Pitcher, Lydia, wife of Law- 
rence Hessinger, Matthew Clark, John, John R. , and Simon Van Wickle, 
Peter and Anna Perrine, John Riggs, Thomas and Margaret Peacock, 
William and Nelly Paton, Anna, wife of Ezekiel Price, and Abraham 
and Mary Romyen. The organizer was Rev. John Lindsley. Octo- 
ber 27 John Perrine and Abraham Romyen were elected elders, and Rev. 
John Stuart supplied the church until 1811, when Rev. Francis Pom- 



248 LANDMARKS OF 

eroy began his ministerial labors. He was regularly installed the first 
pastor July 29, 1814, and remained until February 1, 1825. Their first 
stated place of worship was an old storehouse on Broad street, which 
was purchased and moved to the "lot set apart for gospel purposes." 
February IT, 1824, the trustees were instructed "to build a new meet- 
ing house that will cost not less than $3,000 nor more than $5,000." 
The old church was sold, and the new one completed about 1825, in 
which year Rev. Lucas Hubbell became pastor and remained until 1839. 
Then came Rev. Ira Ingraham till 1848, when Rev. Charles Hawley 
took charge. The present edifice was begun in March, 1849, and com- 
pleted within the year. The old church was sold to the German Luth- 
erans and destroyed by fire April 20, 1885. The present pastor is Rev. 
L. A. Ostrander, D.D. The society has about 425 members. 

Grace Episcopal Church of Lyons was organized by Rev. John A. 
Clark on August 14, and legally incorporated on August 25, 1826, as 
St. Paul's Church. The first officers were: Thomas Forbes and James 
Agett, wardens; and Gen. William H. Adams, John Adams, J, B. 
Pierce, Henry Ferrington, Joseph Hall, Benjamin Raney, Alexander 
Hays, and Graham H. Chapin, vestrymen. Rev. Mr. Clark was the 
first rector and continued his services until 1828, after which no record 
exists relative to this parish. August 13, 1838, at a meeting held in the 
court house, the society was reorganized and given its present name, 
the first officers being Richard Bushnell and James Agett, wardens; 
and William H. Adams, Reuben H. Foster, G. C. Kingman, W. H. 
Lacey. J. H. Towar, D. McDonald, and H. Jameson, vestrymen. Rev. 
Samuel Cooke was elected rector and remained until September, 1843, 
when he was succeeded by Rev. Montgomery Schuyler. In 1839 the 
present lot was purchased and a church edifice built. It is of stone, and 
was consecrated in 1840 by Rt. Rev. Bishop W. H. De Lancy, D.D. It 
has since been enlarged to accommodate the membership, prominent 
among whom were: Hiram Mann, M.D., A. D. Polhamus, W. N. Cole, 
J. L. Jones, R. N. Armes, A. J. Hovey, L. B. Pierce, George K. 
Perrine, D. Watrous, and Hon. Ambrose Spencer. In 1850 the rectory 
was purchased and subsequently enlarged, towards which Abram E. M. 
Cook contributed $400. Rev. Mr. Schuyler was followed as rector by 
Rev. W. H. A. Bisscll (afterward bishop of Vermont) in 1845, Rev. 
Mr. Wardwell in 1848, Rev. George M. Hills in 1851, Rev. W. A. Fiske 
in 1853, Rev. Sidney Wilbur in L859, Rev. W. W. Montgomery in 1861, 
Rev. William H. Williams in L867, and others. The present rector is 



WAYNE COUNTY. 249 

Rev. J. R. Harding". Among the memorials placed in the church arc- 
windows to Dr. Hiram Mann and family, and Mr. and Mrs. Nathan 
Parshall (parents of Hon. Ue Witt Parshall), and tablets to Hon 
Ambrose Spencer and John Adams. The parish has about 260 com- 
municants. 

The First Baptist Church of Lyons was organized at a very early day 
and reorganized October 30, 1833, with fifty-eight members by Revs. 
Norton and Barrett. Early meetings were held at a school house, at 
Masonic hall, and at the court house until the erection of a church 
edifice on William street. In 1834 Rev. Mr. Hosford became pastor, 
and the Ripley house was secured as a parsonage. December 5, 1835, 
the society was legally organized by the election of Nathaniel Mead, 
John Mitchell, Moses Austin, Cullen Foster, and Hugh Jameson as 
trustees. In 1840 a brick church edifice was begun and used until in 
need of repairs, when it was leased to the Disciples. The society then 
practically suspended, though meetings were held regularly, but was 
subsequently revived and now has about ninety members under the 
pastoral care of Rev. R. Osgood Morse. 

The German Evangelical Lutheran Church of Lyons was organized 
at the Kregar school house July 18, 1830, with nineteen members. 
Meetings were held there and in the court house until 1832, when a 
frame church was erected on Broad street on the subsequent site of 
Deacon Gilbert's shop, the building committee being Louis Studer and 
Philip and Dietrich Ehrhardt. In 1850 the society purchased the old 
brick Presbyterian church, which was repaired, a basement built under 
it, and an organ added at a cost of $1,800, and which was occupied until 
April 20, 1885, when it burned. It was then valued at $6,000. The 
present elegant brick edifice was then built on the site. The corner 
stone was laid September 15, 1885, and the church was dedicated Sep- 
tember 26, 1886, by Rev. J. H. Asbeck. The Sunday school was 
organized in 1848. The first pastor was Rev. D. Willers, and among 
his successors have been Revs. J. J. Bailharz, P. H. Dennler, C. A. 
Ebert, Thomas Huschman,C. Berger,C. H. Thompson, F. L. Schoeppe, 
J. Schmalzl, Charles G. Manz, and others. The society now has Ion 
communicants under Rev. P. Spaeth as pastor. 

The German church of the Evangelical Association of North America 
of Lyons was formed as a class at the house of George Stoetzel in 1835, 
by Rev. M. F. Mees, with the following members: George H. and Sa- 
loma Ramige, Michael and Rosina Faulstich, George and Dorothea 

32 



250 LANDMARKS OF 

Stoetzel, George and Catharine Humbert, George and Barbara Ramige, 
and Philip Lang. The church met strong opposition for a period from 
German people, to whom its tenets savored much of revolution. From 
1835 to 1845 there was preaching by the Revs. M. F. Mees, J. Kehr, J. 
Riegel, P. Henneberger, Christian Hummel, M. Lehn, D. Fisher, M. 
Sindlinger, Christian Holl, and Fr. Kroecker. In 1840 the first German 
camp meeting was held east of Lyons on the farm of Joseph Cole. The 
Rev. John M. Sindlinger, presiding elder, had charge. The society 
was regularly organized at the Pearl street school house in January, 
1844, and soon afterward the present Catholic church was purchased and 
fitted up for religious services. February 4, 1844, the society was in- 
corporated, and Louis Schneider, Henry Miller, Fred. Hamm, Michael 
Faulstich, and Philip Althen were chosen trustees. The next year a 
Sabbath school was started with twenty scholars. In 1850 the old church 
was sold to the Catholics, and the present edifice erected and dedicated 
in December by Bishop Joseph Long. It is of stone and brick, two 
stories high, and cost $6, 000. The lot on which it stands, on the corner 
of Spencer and Hawley streets, was purchased of James and Rhoda 
Agett for $500. In 1872 a parsonage was built on Hawley street. In 
1875 the church was thoroughly repaired. Among the pastors have 
been Levi Jacoby, William Mentz, Peter Alles, Theobald Schneider, 
Werner Oetzel, David Fisher, August Klein, George Rott, Solomon 
Weber, JohnSchaaf, A. Stoebe, Adolph Miller, John Grenzebach, Philip 
J. Miller, Jacob Siegrist, Levi Jacoby, Michael Lehn, Andrew Holz- 
warth, Adam Schlenk, David Fisher, Michael Pfitzinger, and others. 
The society has about 170 members. 

The Church of Christ of Lyons had its inception in a Sunday school 
formed by Miss Addie Clapp in the fall of 1869. Missionary services 
and this school were held in the then vacant Baptist Church, which was 
leased in 1874 for five years at a rental of $500 annually. It was re- 
paired, and opened on December 18 by Rev. A. B. Chamberlain. The 
society was formally organized April 16, 1876, with thirty members, and 
with Rev. A. S. Hale as pastor. It flourished for a time, but finally 
weakened and disbanded. 

St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church of Lyons was legally incorpor- 
ated April 20, 1869, by Bishop McQuaid, Vicar-General James M. Early, 
Rev. John P. Stewart, Patrick Miles, and John O'Keefe. Rev. Mr. 
Stewart, the first pastor, was followed by Rev. Peter O'Connell, and in 
is; I by Rev: Charles L. M. Rimmels. Catholic services, however, had 



WAYNE COUNTY. 251 

been held in Lyons for many years prior to the formal organization. 
The first mass in the town was said at the house of James Ford, and the 
first priests were Fathers Gilbride and Towhay. In 1850 the German 
Methodist Church was purchased for a place of worship. The present 
pastor is Rev. D. W. Kavanaugh. 

St. John's Lutheran Church of Lyons was organized May 4, 1877, by 
Rev. G. Manz, who became the first pastor. The corner stone of the 
present handsome edifice was laid July 10, 1877, and the structure was 
dedicated January 2, 1878. It is of brick and cost $14,000. The society 
has over 400 communicants and a Sunday school of 130 scholars. The 
present pastor is Rev. H. Hartwig. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF GALEN. 

The town of Galen was organized by a division of Junius, in Seneca 
county, February 14, 1812; on the 11th of April, 1823, it became a part 
of Wayne county; on November 24, 1824, Savannah was set off, leaving 
it with its present area of 35,299 acres. It is the second town in size in 
the county, and is bounded on the north by Rose and Butler, on the 
east by Savannah, on the south by Seneca county, and on the west by 
Lyons. It comprises township number 27 of the old Military Tract, 
and received its name of Galen from being reserved for the physicians 
and surgeons of the New York regiments in the Revolutionary war ; 
more definitely speaking, it was named in honor of the professional fol- 
lowers of Claudius Galen (or Galenus), a celebrated Greek physician 
who was born A. D. 130. With the other portions of this vast tract, it 
was originally surveyed into farm lots of 600 acres each. 

The surface is broken into high hills and level marsh, the latter cov- 
ering a total of over one-fifth of the town. The soil of the highlands 
is a sandy, gravelly loam, while that of the lowlands is a black muck. 
It is very productive, and except the marshes is susceptible of easy cul- 
tivation. Almost the whole area was originally covered with a dense 
growth of hardwood timber, the sugar maple predominating, and during 
the earlier settlements, a number of saw mills found profitable employ- 



252 LANDMARKS OF 

ment in manufacturing lumber. The principal drainage is afforded by 
the Clyde River, formerly called the Canandaigua outlet, which enters 
the town from Lyons, flows northeasterly to Clyde village, and thence 
runs southeast into vSeneca county. It has several small tributaries, the 
largest being Black Creek, which flows through the northwest part of 
Galen and joins the river one-fourth mile east of Lock Berlin. Marsh 
Creek courses southward through the east edge of this town and enters 
Savannah near the New York Central Railroad. In 1872 a project was 
instigated for the drainage of Black Creek with a ditch seven miles long, 
ten feet wide, and four feet deep, costing $4000. This was the greatest 
effort of the kind ever attempted in the town. Several appropriations 
have been made by the State to drain and reclaim portions of the marsh 
lands. In the spring of 1855 a freshet inundated the banks of the Clyde 
River and other streams, and caused considerable damage to buildings, 
bridges, and adjacent property. March 30, 1873, a similar flood occurred, 
in which two brothers, Michael and Fenton Kelly, were drowned while 
trying to reach land on a raft from the Fox malt house in Clyde. 

Wheat long constituted the chief agricultural production, but within 
recent years it has been largely superseded by mixed farming, the strength 
and fertility of the soil, enabling the husbandman to raise a variety of 
crops indigenous to this latitude. Fruitgrowing has been an important 
industry from an early day, and the apples produced here have given 
the town, as well as the county, a leading place in distant markets. 
Raspberries are also cultivated with profit, and peppermint is extensively 
grown, especially upon the wet or marshy tracts. The largest vineyard 
in Galen is owned by A. F. Devereaux. In 1858 the town produced 31,- 
178 bushels of winter wheat and 199,093 bushels of spring wheat; 3, Six; 
tons of hay; 1.9,546 bushels of potatoes ; 4H,58S bushels of apples; 140, 
558 pounds of butter; 10,278 pounds of cheese; and 1,271 yards of do- 
mestic cloths. It contained 1,373 horses; 1,061 oxen and calves; 1,649 
cows; 8,814 sheep; and 4,198 swine. 

For twenty years or more following the advent of white settlers, the 
Clyde River was the avenue of considerable commerce; it conveyed the 
bateaux of the pioneers, brought them merchandise, and carried their 
produce to market. Previous to that its waters had long floated the 
canoe of the aborigine, for it is evident on good authority that one or 
more Indian villages existed within the borders of the town. On the 
[oseph Watson farm numerous relics have been found and several deep 
black spots in the earth, indicating fireplaces, were discovered. Half 



WAYNE COUNTY. 853 

a mile east, on the old Adrastus Snedaker place, were similar evidences 
of an Indian encampment. In the road near the Catholic Cemetery is 
now a stone five long-, two and one-half feet wide, and sunk deep into 
the ground; its surface is dug out to form a basin, in which it is claimed 
the Indians pounded their corn. In the immediate vicinity many arrow- 
heads and other relics of wigwam days have been picked up. 

The present site of the village of Clyde is historic ground. A little 
east of the Central depot, during a part of the eighteenth century, there 
stood a block house, so called from its construction. The date of its 
construction is unknown, but it was used as a trading post by the French 
prior to the French and Indian war in 1754. From that time until the 
Revolution it was occupied by other traders; it then fell into the posses- 
sion of the Tories, who used it as a station for smuggling goods from 
Canada via Sodus Bay. But before the war closed the government 
made a descent upon the place, arrested some of the smugglers and 
drove the others away. In the mean time quite a number of lawless 
characters had squatted in the immediate vicinity, and by hunting and 
smuggling, by the aid of friendly Indians, carried on a profitable busi- 
ness. They boldly kept out all persons unfavorable to their illegal 
traffic and being distantly removed from any regular settlement they 
prosecuted their trade with little fear of molestation. The best evidence 
extant indicates that the block house was burned during or soon after 
the government raid, notwithstanding the many assertions made that 
it was seen by white men as late as 1820. Captain Luther Redfield once 
said that when he and others were passing in a boat, about 1804, the 
charred remnants of the old building were plainly visible; even its cor- 
ners and shape could be distinguished. In 1811 Jonathan Melvin, jr., 
erected on the south side of the river the first log dwelling within the 
present village limits. This was also known as a block house, which 
accounts for the statement referred to above. The location of the 
original block house has advanced the theory that this was formerly a 
Jesuit mission, but this is incorrect. If this were true it would undoubt- 
edly have been mentioned in the Jesuit Relations. 

The Erie Canal opened in 1825, not only drew all the shipping busi- 
ness from the Clyde River, but also aided materially in advancing the 
settlements and promoting various industries. This was followed 
several years later by a project to connect this waterway with Great 
Sodus bay by a ship canal, locally known as the "Sodus ditch. " In 1841 
General William H. Adams organized a company, obtained a charter, 



j.vi LANDMARKS OF 

and began work a half-mile west of Clyde. After digging a portion of 
the channel, the waters of the streams and marshes were turned in to 
wash out the ditch. The general's property was alhexpended in further- 
ing this enterprise, but it was never completed and the whole work was 
finally abandoned. Evidences of the great ditch are still visible. 

January 22, 1853, a company, capitalized at $150,000, was formed for 
the purpose of building a railroad from Clyde to Sodus Bay; a survey 
was made, but the clashing of individual interests caused the abandon- 
ment of this project also. 

In 1853 the New York Central Railroad was completed and opened 
and added a new impetus to the development of the town. In 1872 the 
Pennsylvania and Sodus Bay Railroad, from a point in Pennsylvania, 
via Seneca Falls and Clyde, to Sodus Bay was projected; and to aid in 
its construction it was proposed to bond this town for $70,000. Contracts 
were let in 1873, but soon afterward the whole plan fell through. In 
1884 the West Shore Railroad was completed and opened, with a 
station at Clyde. 

Roads were opened in Galen prior to 1810, and as settlers increased 
in numbers they were improved and extended. Probably the first one 
was the military trail or State road, leading from the block house north- 
easterly and easterly to Salina. The State road proper ran through the 
north part of the town. The eastern plank road from Clyde to Port 
Byron, running north of Savannah village past the salt works there, 
was graded and opened at an early day, but it was planked eastward 
only to a point south of Crusoe Lake in that town. Laomi Beadle, the 
pioneer settler, was instrumental in constructing the Montezuma turn- 
pike from Montezuma to Lyons about 1820. It ran through the south 
part of Galen and became an important mail route and stage line. The 
Clyde and Rose Plank Road Company for several years maintained a 
plank road between those two villages, but discontinued it soon after 
1877, at which time the officers were: P. J. Thomas, president; Seth 
Smith, secretary, J. M. Nichols, treasurer. The highways in the 
vicinity of Marengo were among the earliest opened in Galen. There 
are now 105 road districts in the town. 

In 1818 mail was brought from Geneva to Marengo on horseback, and 
in 1820 the mail route was extended to Clyde. About this latter year 
a line of stages was established, and in 1830, when the first newspaper 
was printed at Clyde, the business was in full blast under the proprietor- 
ship of James M. Watson. He ran a stage between these points thrice 



WAYNE COUNTY. 

weekly each way. In 1833 Mr. Watson sold to William F. Pierce of 
Clyde, who disposed of the business a few years later to S. Salisbury. 
In 1841 the latter sold to Adrastus Snedaker, who operated it until L844, 
when the route between Rochester and Syracuse through Clyde was 
discontinued. The travel between Clyde and Geneva necessitated a 
daily stage, and Mr. Snedaker sold a one-half interest to Lewis & Colvin 
of Geneva, who continued the route until 1854, when stages were aban- 
doned. The mail route was kept up, however, and the business again 
passed to Mr. Snedaker, who sold it in 1857 to B. Hustin. The latter 
had several successors. Stage routes are now maintained between 
Clyde and Junius in Seneca county. . 

The assessed valuation of real estate in Galen in 1823 was $385,531, 
and the personal property, $7,499. In 1858 these were $1,381,393, and 
$367,578, respectively. In 1858 the town had also $24,301 acres of 
improved land, 2,706 male and 2,475 female inhabitants; 924 dwellings, 
995 families, and 490 freeholders. In 1890 its population numbered" 
4,922, or 539 less than in 1880. In 1893 the assessed valuation of real 
estate aggregated $1,360,347 (equalized $1,423,940) ; village and mill 
property, $949,250 (equalized $988,806) ; railroads and telegraphs, $836,- 
281; personal property, $173,950. Schedule of taxes, 1893: Contingent 
fund, $3,388.01; poor fund, $750; special town tax, $2,820; school tax, 
$3,131.77; county tax, $7,493.12; State tax; $4,129.11; State insane tax, 
$1,065.23; dog tax, $97.50. Total tax levied, $28,196.01 ; rate percent., 
.00842853. There are five election districts, and in 1893 the town polled 
976 votes. 

The first town meeting was held at the house of Jonathan Mel vin, jr., 
in April, 1812, and Mr. Melvin was elected the first supervisor. The 
records covering the years intervening between 1812 and 1862 have been 
burned and therefore it is impossible to give the names of the other first 
officers or a list of the successive supervisors. The town officers elected 
March 4, 1862, were as follows: Albert F. Redfield, supervisor; Jacob 
T. Van Buskirk, town clerk; Hiram P. Jones, justice of the peace; 
Charles E. Elliott, assessor; Levi Lundy, commissioner of highways; 
Ambrose S. Field and Timothy S. Brink, overseers of the poor; James 
Murphy, collector. Supervisors since then have been : Albert F. Red- 
field, 1862-63 : Porter G. Denison, 1866; Matthew Mackie, 1867 ; Ste- 
phen D. Streeter, 1868; Edward B. Wells, 1870-71; Matthew Mackie, 
1872; E. W. Gurnee, 1873; E. W. Sherman, 1874-75; Thomas P. Thorn, 
1875; Elijah P. Taylor, jr., 1877-78; Adrastus Snedaker, 1879; Albert 



256 LANDMARKS OF 

F. Redfield, 1880-81; M.S. Roe, 1882; George G. Roe, L883-84; Will- 
iam Gillette, 1885; Ward H. Groesbeck, 1886 ; Alexander Graham, 1887 
ss ; Milton J. Blodgett, 1880; Charles H. Ford, 1890-01 ; Edwin Sands, 
L892-94. The town officers for 1804 are: Edwin Sands, supervisor; 
Frank A. Haugh, town clerk; Albert M. Van Buskirk, J. M. Lieck,W. 
H. Gilbert, justices of the peace ; A. H. Gillette, W. A. Groescup, Har- 
vey H. Benning, assessors; William E. Mead, collector; Archibald Bar- 
ton, highway commissioner; Willard Crawford, overseer of the poor. 
The town Board of Health was organized August 15, 1881. 

Mention has been made of the hunters, trappers, and smugglers who 
squatted in the vicinity of what is now the village of Clyde, and who were 
driven away by the government soon after the Revolutionary War. The 
squatters made no substantial improvements, and when the actual set- 
tlers arrived it is said that not a sign of any former habitation save the 
ruins of the original block house could be seen. 

The first permanent white settler was Laomi Beadle, who located on 
land which his father, Thomas Beadle, of Junius, owned at Marengo in 
L800. He built the first log house in Galen, planted the first orchard, 
and on the little stream at that point he erected the first saw mill. In 
1801 the families of David Godfrey, Nicholas King, and Isaac Mills, 
consisting of thirty-three persons, settled on lot 70. Dr. James Young, 
the brother of Mrs. King's mother and a surgeon of the Revolution at 
Albany, drew military lots 28, 37, 70, and 87, and offered 100 acres to 
his nephew if he would settle thereon. The three men selected lot 70 
in L800, built two log cabins that fall, returned to their home at Aurel- 
ius, and brought their families hither the next spring. October 13, 
L801, David Godfrey was accidentally killed, and in February, 1802, his 
son Isaac was born, these being the first death and birth respectively in 
town. 

These settlers were followed in 180.'5 by David Creager and J. King, 
from Maryland. Mr. Creager built a log house in the northwest corner 
of (ialen, wdiich became the oldest of the kind in town. He was a vet- 
erinary surgeon and one of the first assessors, an office he held seven- 
torn years; he died here in 1854. Isaac Mills was killed by a falling 
tree; his son Nathaniel served in the war of 1812, and in 1835 he sold 
the homestead to John and Manley Hanchett and moved to Ohio. 

In 1804 Capt. John Sherman, Elias Austin, Mr. Payne, and Jabez 
Reynolds came in. Captain Sherman and Mr. Payne, while coming by 
way of Clyde River, encountered an insurmountable obstacle of logs 



WAYNE COUNTY. 251 

and brush in a bend of the stream, called " big wood reef." They 
changed the course of the river, and lessened the distance half a mile, 
by cutting' a channel twelve feet wide across the bend; this was long- 
known as the "old canal." Jabez Reynolds and Polly, daughter of 
Isaac Mills, were married in 1805, the first marriage in the town. 

Among- the settlers of 1805 were Asaph Whittlesey, William Fore- 
man, a Mr. Rich, Salem Ford (at Lock Berlin), Isaac Beadle (at Ma- 
rengo), and Aaron Ford. In 1810 Abraham Romyen located south of 
Lock Berlin, and Jonathan Melvin, jr., settled at Clyde. The latter in 
1811 erected on the south side of the river a log dwelling, which was 
known during its existence as the block house. In it was held the first 
town meeting. Mr. Romyen had settled in Lyons in 1808. He died 
here in 1830; his son Thomas T. died February 9, 1885. 

In 1809 James M. Watson moved from Schoharie county to Junius, 
Seneca county, whence he came with his family in 1810 to lot 95, near 
Marengo, and finally became stage proprietor, as before stated. Joseph 
Watson, his son, was born in 1800, came to Clyde in 1817, married a 
daughter of Capt. Luther Redfield in 1822, and died March 22, 1881. 
He was a mason, a merchant, and a farmer. Levi Watson, born in 
Galen in 1835, died on his father's homestead November 18, 1890. 

James W. Humeston, James Dickson, Henry Archer, D. Southwick, 
Arza Lewis, and E. Dean also settled at or near Clyde about 1810. 
Soon afterward Edward Wing, Benjamin Shotwell, Nathan Blodgett, 
and Samuel Stone located near Marengo. Mr. Humeston died in Michi- 
gan in May, 1893. Mr. Blodgett engaged in the manufacture of pot- 
ash. 

The war of 1812 checked the tide of immigration, and w r e find few set- 
iers to notice until 1815. In that year, in March, Simeon Griswold, sr., 
purchased of Judge Nicholas, of Geneva, 300 acres of wood land on lot 
09, and settled his family upon it. Aaron Griswold, his son, was born 
in Fairfield, N. Y., December 1, 1799, came to Phelps, and thence to 
Galen with his parents, taught school, and died in February, 1883. In 
1822 father and son built and floated on the Clyde River and afterward 
on the canal the first canal boat (the "Gold Hunter") ever owned in 
town. In 1826 Aaron Griswold built two other canal boats at Lock Ber- 
lin, and for a time was associated in the business with Stephen Fergu- 
son. In 1828 the two contracted to build three sections of a canal on 
the Juniata River in Pennsylvania, and in 1831 a half mile section on 
the Camden and Amboy Railroad in New Jersey. In 1831 he started a 

33 



258 LANDMARKS OF 

mercantile business at Lock Berlin with William Ford, who sold his in- 
terest in L832 to Alfred Griswold, a brother of Aaron. Inl836 he came 
to Clyde, and in L 840 bought the Clyde Hotel. He subsequently en- 
gaged in milling, banking, merchandising, and manufacturing. April 
:!<), 18:25, Mr. Griswold joined the Lyons lodge of Masons, and was 
deputy grand master of the State in L864-65. He was candidate for 
county clerk in 1855, for member of the State Legislature in 1857, and 
tor member of Congress in L858. He held several other positions of 
trust and responsibility. 

Sylvester Clarke came to Galen prior to 1820, for on November 5 of 
that year his son, Sylvester H. Clarke, was born here, and is now the 
oldest native of the town. The latter is a writer of marked ability, and 
an authority on local history. He has in his possession the initial num- 
ber of the first newspaper (the Standard, January 0, 1830), ever pub- 
lished in Clyde. The house in which he lives on the south side of the 
river, in Clyde, was built by his father for a store; the upper story was 
occupied by the Masons and by the Presbyterian Church Society. 

Among the settlers between 1815 and 1825 were Luther Redheld, 
Abraham Knapp, William S. St<>w (mentioned in the legal chapter), Dr. 
John Lewis, John Condit, James B. West, Rev. Jabez Spier, Levi and 
David Tuttle, Daniel Dunn, Harry West, Moses Perkins, Rev. Charles 
Mosher, Elias R. Cook, Melvin and J P. Pailey, William Hunt, Samuel 
M. Welch, Eben Bailey, Lemuel C. Paine, George Burrill, and others. 
Thomas J. Whiting was born in New York city in 1801, came to Clyde 
in 1825, and died here February 22, L881. He was a shoemaker and a 
merchant. 

Henry Van Tassel, who was born in September, 1807, became a 
farmer and later a merchant in Rose, settled in Clyde in 1864 and en- 
gaged in the dry goods business, and died January 7, 1875. David E. 
Garlic, the son of a captain in the Revolutionary war, came to Galen in 
1814, and erected two and one-half miles east of Clyde the first frame 
house in the town. He died May 6, L884. Captain Chester Smith, born 
in 1801, came hereabout L860, and died September 9, L892. Stuckley 
Ellsworth, who became prominent in State politics, was his neighbor. 
Isaac Wiley was a pioneer settler at Marengo, where he died in fanuary, 
L889. He lived for a time in Clyde and was a justice of the peace two 
terms. J. Stevens, a blacksmith, and Bryant Hall, a carpenter and 
hotel keeper, died at Marengo in L887. Both were early settlers and 
the former was the inventor of a ditching machine and cider mill. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 259 

General William H. Adams, the instigator of the famous Sodus ditch, 

and a lawyer of eminent ability, occupied while a resident of Galen the 
old house standing a few yards west of the present residence. of Hon. 
Thomas Robinson; in the cellar he had Henry Robinson (father of 
Thomas) build four wine vaults of solid masonry. He also owned 600 
acres surrounding' the place, most of which is now included within the 
village corporation. Prior to General Adams's occupancy and during 
the anti-Masonic excitement this old house is said to have been stoned 
by a mob which had gathered to wreak vengeance upon a number of 
Masons who had taken refuge therein, and who had prepared it for the 
occasion by' making loop holes through the walls and barricading the 
doors and windows. General Adams had four sons, one of whom, 
Alexander D., became captain of Company B, 27th Regiment, in the 
war of the Rebellion. The property passed from General Adams to 
Alexander Duncan, his chief financial backer, and in 1872 the home- 
stead was purchased by Mr. Robinson. 

Between 1810 and 1815 a number of Quakers settled in the vicinity 
of Marengo, among them being David Beadle, Stephen T. Watson, 
Daniel Strang, James Tripp, Henry Donnell, and Mathew Rogers. 
Cyrus Smith, a member of the Hicksite branch of this denomination, 
located in Clyde at an early day and finally moved to the farm after- 
ward occupied by Joseph Crawford. 

Thomas J. Marsh, born in Massachusetts in 1816, came to Galen with 
his parents in 1820, and died May 1, 1887. Franklin Humphrey, a 
native of Phelps, N. Y., born in 1808, moved here with his father's 
family in 1812, was engaged in the foundry business forty-one years, 
and died in June, 1877. Horace Barnes and Jacob Y. Brink both died 
here in November of that year. Matthew Mackie, who was born in 
England in 1811, removed to Galen with his father, Thomas, in 1818, 
and died here June 3(», 1873; he was a farmer and nurseryman, and 
supervisor two years. William Aurand, born in Bucks county, Pa., in 
1803, came to this town with his parents in 1819, and died in Septem- 
ber, 1884. Peter Vanderbilt, a native of Romulus, N. Y., born in 1800, 
moved to Galen when a lad, and died August 23, 1891 ; John Yosbiirgh, 
who settled here in 1835, died July 30, of the same year. Lendal Put- 
nam Powers, a harnessmaker, was born here November 7, 1828, en- 
listed in the 9th New York Heavy Artillery, and died in town June 
30, 1S92. 

Richard Wood settled in Clyde in 1820; he was a stone mason, 



200 LANDMARKS OF 

groceryman, village constable, and proprietor of the Indian Queen 
Hotel, which stood near the corner of Glasgow and Columbia streets. 
vSeth Henry Wood, who died January is, 1886, came to Galen with his 
father, Israel, in 1830; he was a cabinet maker, and in 1868 established 
with his brother, Sidney W., the present engine manufactory in Clyde 
of S. W. Wood & Son. 

George R. Mason (died July 2, 1886) and Oliver Stratton (died Sep- 
tember 3, 1886) came to Galen in 1824 and L820 respectively. JohnM. 
Blodgett settled with his parents in Marengo in 1818, removed to Clyde 
in is-.*;, and died February 23, 1888. George Closs located at Lock 
Berlin in 1813; his widow died there August 28, 1875. 

Anions the settlers of the town and village from is: 1 )!) to 1850 were: 
Tobias Forbes, carpenter, died January 13, 1891; Prosper S. Sloan, 
died in March, 1891 ; Porter G. Denison, son of George P., owner of the 
Clyde Hotel in 1850, merchant, supervisor, died in March, 1890; Henry 
Schindler, died August 22, 1887; James M. Nichols, dry goods mer- 
chant with Albert Frisbie, died the same day; Peter Fmigh, shoemaker, 
farmer, died November 26, 1SS7; Thomas Smith, father of Arthur H., 
died in December, 188'.); George W. Moon, blacksmith, died in Novem- 
ber, 1887; Samuel S. Morley, born in England, served as postmaster 
from L862 to 1871; John Schindler, died in March, 1*74; Jacob Scott, 
father of Mrs. De Lancy Stow, born in 1803, came to Clyde in 1831, hat 
dealer until 1877, became an Odd Fellow in 1845, died August S, 1881 : 
Thomas Tipling, crockery dealer with his brother John, and under the 
firm names of Tipling & Cockshaw and Tipling & Tuttle, died October 
17, 1875; JohnG. Hood, druggist; George G. De Fancy, in business with 
his brother Amos N., died October 31, 1878; Philip Mark De Zeng, 
lumber and coal dealer, and predecessor of A. H. Holmes, recruited 
and became major of Briggs Guards, 67th N. Y. Vols., son of Philip 
N,, died April 19, 1888. 

Adam Fisher, the youngest of fifteen children, was born in 1811, 
learned the shoemaker's and glassblower's trades, came to Clyde in 
L833, and died here September 11, IS!):!. His mother attained the age 
of liil and his father 104 years. He conducted a tannery for a time in 
company with S. Whitman, and later became a boot and shoe dealer. 

Jacob Van Husk irk, born at Buskirk's Bridge, N. Y., in ls->:i, came to 

Clyde in 1842, and died here in June, L891. He was a justice of the 

ce twenty years, superintendent of the Sunday school from 1859 to 

is; -J and an elder in that church from 1SUS until lsso, first lieutenant 



WAYNE COUNTY. 361 

of Co. B 111th N. V. Vols., and the first railroad ticket agent in Clyde 
in 1854. His son, Albert M., was the first superintendent and engineer 
of the Clyde water works, serving from the fall of L889 until Septem- 
ber. L891. 

Satnuel S. Briggs, born in Chatham, N. Y., in 1803, came to Galen 
in 1835, and purchased 200 acres and subsequently 300 more. He was 
one of the founders of Miller's Bank, the first financial institution in the 
town, and in 1856 he organized the Briggs Bank of Clyde. He died 
September 3, 1865, and was succeeded by his son Samuel H. The latter 
was born here in 18-14. He was president of the Briggs National Bank 
in Clyde, a founder and trustee of the Presbyterian Church, and moved 
to Rochester in 1882, where he died August 8, 1894. 

Adrastus Snedaker, born in 1813, moved with his parents to Sodus in 
1813, came to Clyde in 1838, and for sixteen years was station agent for 
the " Big Line " towing company. In 1858 he was elected sheriff, and 
in that capacity hanged James Fee, March 23, 1860, the first and only 
person ever put to death by law in Wayne county. James W. and Al- 
bert L. Snedaker, his sons, served in the Rebellion, and in their mem- 
ory the Snedaker Post, No. 173, G. A. R. of Clyde was named; this post 
was organized in July, 1880, with thirty members. 

Daniel Saxton, the father of Hon. Charles T. Saxton, was born on 
Long Island in 1822, moved to Clyde in 1845, and died here in June, 
1891. With A. F. Terry he engaged in the manufacture of coach lace 
and harness. (See biographical department). 

Prominent among settlers may be mentioned Jacob E. Tremper, gro- 
ceryman, died May 7, 1881; James Armitage, for several years town 
clerk, died April 14, 1881; Ernest Lux, cooper and coal dealer, died 
November 12, 1891; E. Willard Sherman, born in Rose in 1833, drug- 
gist and cooper, town clerk, secretary Galen Agricultural Society, eleven 
years clerk of the Board of Supervisors, died February 23, 1889; Jere- 
miah Greene, moved to Sodus with his parents in 1837, graduated from 
Union College in 1858, came to Clyde in 1865, ruling elder in the Pres- 
byterian Church eleven years, died in October, 188!); Peter F. Ryerson, 
merchant and builder, died in September, 1888; Emory W. Gurnee, 
born in Sodus in 1843, came to Clyde in 1864, town clerk, village treas- 
urer six years, supervisor, member of assembly in 1873; Morgan Cook- 
ingham, justice of the peace and county superintendent of the poor, 
died at Lock Berlin in June, 1879; Samuel V. Bockhoven, born in New 
Jersey in 1800, moved to Lyons while young, thence to Lock Berlin and 



262 LANDMARKS OF 

Clyde, died in July, 1876; Charles E. Elliott, banker, maltster, etc., 
died April s, L873; Captain William Graham, died in 185G, and his 
widow February L5, L891 ; Fredus Chapman, died July 9, 1886; Captain 
William Watters, first passenger conductor over the Niagara Falls branch 
of the New York Central Railroad, ticket agent at the New York Cen- 
tral depot in Clyde for twenty -four years from June, 1860, died April 20, 
iss| ; Ira Wells, father of ex-member of assembly E. B. Wells, born in 
1794, settled early in Sodus, removed to Lyons, died in April, 1882; 
Henry Graham, jr., born in 1802, blacksmith, moved to Port Glasgow 
in is;51 and kept hotel, came to Rose and later to Clyde, died October 
17, 1878; N. B. Gilbert, father of W. H. Gilbert, settled in Lock Berlin 
in 1837, town superintendent of schools, justice of the peace, carriage 
manufacturer, died there in 1875. Barber Streeter, some time post- 
master at Lock Berlin, died in February, 1890. Many others of equal 
note are mentioned on subsequent pages and more fully in part 2d of 
this volume. 

The first school house at Lock Berlin, and probably the first in Galen, 
was built of logs near Black Creek about 1814; its first teacher was John 
Abbott. Some nine years later it was burned and another erected half 
a mile east. About four years afterward the district school was divided 
between Clyde and Lock Berlin, and this school house was abandoned 
and a new one built in this village. The first school building in Marengo 
was erected about 1816, the first teacher being Samuel Stone and the 
second James McBride. In 1 sis the school is said to have had ninety 
scholars and Joseph Watson was the teacher. In Clyde the first school 
was taught by William McLouth in a log house which stood on the cor- 
ner of Sylvester Clarke's garden. The Clyde High School was legally 
incorporated April 23, 1834, by the consolidation of districts 14 and 1 ;, 
and the first trustees were William S. Stow, John Condit, George Bur- 
rill, Isaac Lewis, Sylvester Clarke, and Calvin D. Tompkins. A two 
story building with a high basement was erected that year on the corner 
of Lock and Caroline streets; Professor William H. Sehram was the first 
principal and Miss Abigail Packard the first preceptress, assisted by 
three teachers. Subsequently the village was divided for school pur- 
poses and a graded school established on the south side of the river, of 
which Byron N. Marriott is the present principal. July i. 18 74, the 
cornel- stone of the present High School building on the north side of 
the river in Clyde was laid with Masonic ceremonies, and school was 
opened in if that fall. It is of brick and cost $30,000. It maintains 



WAYNE COUNTY. 263 

primary, intermediate, and academic departments, and is under Profes- 
sor Alvin B. Bishop, A.M., principal, and Florence G. Ivison, precept- 
ress. It has a library of 1,575 bound volumes, and was attended dur- 
ing the school year L893-94by 415 resident and 112 non-resident pupils. 
Among- the various principals in charge of the school are recalled the 
names of Hon. William H. Lyon, William Burnett, Professor Bennett, 
John Robinson, Hugh R. Jolly, and Edward Hayward. Mr. Lyon be. 
came noted as the inventor of the telegraphic printer; or, rather, as the 
first to demonstrate through the medium of a model that the pen and 
ink or type could be used in conveying messages; this occurred while 
he was principal of this school in 184-1. The Board of Education for 
L893-94 consists of George B. Greenway, president; Archibald M. 
Graham, secretary and treasurer; and Willard N. Field. John G. Gil- 
lette is clerk. 

The town has eighteen school districts with a school house in each, 
which were taught in 1892-93 by thirty teachers and attended by 1,225 
children. The value of school buildings and sites is $51,275; assessed 
valuation of the districts $3,367,263 ; public money received from the 
State $5,137.70; raised by local tax $8,276.34. 

One of the oldest burial places in Galen is situated west of Marengo, 
and was opened by the Quakers in connection with their church. In 
the western part of Clyde village is an old, unused burying ground, in 
which the first interment was the remains of a child of Peter Moon. 
The Catholics have a very pretty cemetery in the southwest part of the 
village, between the railroads. The Maple Grove Cemetery Associa- 
tion was organized March 25, 1859, with these officers: Samuel S. Briggs, 
president; Aaron Griswold, vice-president; Leander S. Ketchum, sec- 
retary ; Isaac Miller, treasurer. Thirteen acres of land were purchased 
in the southeast part of the town, which has been beautified and fitted 
up in a very tasty manner. The presidents of the association have been 
as follows: Samuel S. Briggs, to April, 1865; Aaron Griswold, to April, 
1871; Samuel H. Briggs, to April, 1882; Samuel S. Morley, to April, 
1883 ; John Cockshaw, to present time. The other officers for 1894 are : 
Sylvester J. Child, vice-president; George O. Baker, secretary and treas- 
urer; John Cockshaw, George O. Baker, Sylvester J. Child, Samuel H. 
Briggs, William D. Ely, and Archibald M. Graham, trustees. 

Soon after the first settlers came in small distilleries began to spring 
up and flourish in various parts of the town. Abner Hand had one near 
the river two miles southeast of Clyde, and Aaron Dunn had one on his 
farm. Those in Clyde are noticed further on. 



164 LANDMARKS OF 

During the War of the Rebellion the town of Galen made a brilliant 
record, responding promptly to the various calls for troops and con- 
tributing liberally of both money and men. No little credit is due the 
ladies for their patriotism and substantial aid during that long conflict. 
A total of 155 men went out from this town, a number of whom were 
promoted to commissioned officers, and all of whom served with honor 
and distinction. Dennis G. Flynn, who died in April, 1873, recruited, 
parts of Company B, 111th, and Company K, 138th Regiments, and be- 
came captain of the latter in 1864, 

Clyde Village. — Situated near the center of the town, on the Eric- 
Canal and New York Central and West Shore Railroads, the village of 
Clyde is one of the most important points in Wayne county. It com- 
menced an existence on the south side of the river in 1811, when Jona- 
than Melvin, jr., erected the block house previously described. In this 
the first town meeting was held in 1812, in which year two more log 
houses were built. Soon afterward the hamlet was given the name of 
" Lauraville, " from Henrietta Laura, Countess of Bath, daughter of Sir 
William Pultney. William McLouth, a surveyor, laid out the original 
lots and streets south of the river, and was one of the first to carry on 
trade in the place. The first store was started about 1815 by James B. 
West in a part of the Vanderbilt tavern. In 181? Sylvester Clarke 
opened a store opposite the hotel and later moved his goods to a build- 
ing now the residence of his son Sylvester H. Among the first lot own- 
ers after McLouth's survey were Dennis Vanderbilt, R. James, W. Min- 
derse, W. Wallace, E. Dean, D. Southwick, a Mr. Richmond, J. Wcrk, 
and Tubbs and West. 

The first tavern on the south side of the river was built and kept by 
Dennis Vanderbilt about IS 14. It stood on the corner of Waterloo and 
Water streets, and in its ball room the flrst Sunday school was organ- 
ized in 1825. James Humeston a little later put up another near the 
river between the two bridges. This was subsequently kept for a time 
by Horatio G. Kingsbury and others, and in 183G it was burned. In 
1837 Herman Jenkins built on the site what was last known as the old 
Humphrey house, which was demolished in 1884 to make room for the 
road bed of the West Shore Railroad. Mr. Humeston was appointed 
the lirst postmaster when the post-office was established in "Laura- 
ville," under the name of Galen, and kept the office in his tavern. June 
1\!, L820, Sylvester Clarke was appointed to the position. In the upper 
story of his building, which is still standing, the Presbyterians and Free 



WAYNE COUNTY. 265 

Masons held their earlier meeting's, and after a split occurred in the 
former the seeeders held services here under Rev. William L. Roberts, 
who also taught a select school. Arza Lewis had a store at an early 
day on Water street. 

( )n the north side of the River Dr. Ledyard, a Revolutionary surgeon, 
received the original title to the land, and from him it passed to George 
Burrill. The first frame house was built by William S. De Zeng, as 
was also the first store, which stood on the site of the present Hunt 
block, and which was kept by his agent, Mr. Scott. This house subse- 
quently became the dwelling of William S. Stow. Mr. De Zeng never 
lived here, but his business interests in Clyde were long an important 
feature of the village; he died in Geneva, August 16, 1882. About 1817 
this side of the river was surveyed into village lots, and in 1818 Andrew 
MeNab, from the River Clyde, Scotland, came here to dispose of them. 
The landscape evidently reminded him of his native heath, for he gave 
the name Clyde to the Canandaigua outlet and this portion of the village. 

The first tavern here was originally called the Mansion House, then 
the Franklin, the Sherman, and finally the Delevan House, under which 
designation it burned in November, 1885. From the steps of the 
Mansion House in 1825 Dominic Moshier made the address of welcome 
when Governor De Witt Clinton passed through the village on the 
"Young Lion of the West, " the first canal boat that passed through 
Clyde. The Exchange Hotel, subsequently known as the Eagle House, 
was built on the canal bank near the glass works in 1825. Its first land- 
lord was a Mr. Garrett, and directly in front of it was the old canal 
lock long since torn out. Opposite was the large yellow grocery of 
Strong & Harrington, and a little west was the American Hotel, once 
kept by Harry Goodchild. This formed quite a settlement, but when 
the lock was removed the buildings disappeared and the Eagle Hotel 
was made an ashery. The site of the present Clyde Hotel was originally 
occupied by the Clyde Coffee House, a two-story hostelry, erected by a 
Mr. Whitmore in 1818. It was burned in 1826 while Horatio G. Kings- 
bury was proprietor, and in the same year the first Clyde Hotel was 
built by David Williams and Benjamin Ford. It was two stories high, 
but when P. G. Denison became proprietor he added another and Peter 
Ryerson subsequently built the north wing. With adjacent buildings 
it was burned September 11, 1883. The present Clyde Hotel was 
opened November 18, 1884. The present proprietor, F. B. Smith, ob- 
tained possession in January, 1889. 

34 



im 



LANDMARKS OF 



January 6, 1830, Eber F. Moon issued the first number of the Clyde 
Standard, the first paper published in Clyde, from a wood building on 
the site of the S. S. I Lock (now the home of the Clyde Times I, 

and which is now occupied as a tenement on Sodus street. It states 
that boats passed through the Erie Canal on January 3, on their way to 
Albany; it also contains the following" local advertisements: Elisha 
Blakeman. select school; James Dickson, dry goods and groceries; 
Mason & Pendleton, cabinet ware and furniture; William S. Stow, loo 
building lots in Clyde for sale; James M. Watson, proprietor Clyde and 




mekn View <>i Clyde. — From an old print, l s 4n. 



Geneva mail stage, three trips each way weekly ; Acker & Chapman, 
I » S. Bartles, Ely, Shepard & Co., and M. L. Faulkner (dry goods), all 
published notices to delinquent debtors: De Zeng & Rees, cash or 
barter paid for ashes: J. W. Furnal & Co.. hatters; D. Foster, saddle 
and harness maker; Clyde Hotel, Edmund B. Hill, proprietor; C. 
Bartles, beer. The second newspaper was the Clyde Gazette in 1 6 

In 1830 Clyde contained seven dry goods stores, ten groceries, four 
hotels, two drug stores, a glass factor} - , two lawyers, an insurance office, 
a printing office and newspaper, two saddle and harness makers, two 
hatters, two grist mills, a saw mill, a wool carder, one cloth dresser, 
two physicians, two milliners, live shoemakers, two blacksmiths, three 
tailors, two tanners, four storage and forwarders, six painters, twelve 
carpenters, four masons, a cabinet maker, two distilleries, one wheel- 
wright, three coopers, and "upwards vt 200 houses, most of which have" 
been built within the last two years." 

In 1845 Clyde had eleven dry goods stores, four groceries, two drug- 
inhabitants. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



■>Ju 



William S. Stow settled in Clyde in 1825, and the same year built his 
law office west of and facing- the public square; this structure is still 
standing and is occupied by his son, DeLancey Stow. It is the oldest 
office in the village and in it the village government was inaugurated. 
In it also Clyde village was incorporated May 2, 1835, when five trustees 
were elected, as follows: William S. Stow, Samuel C. Paine, Aaron T. 
Hendrick, Arza Lewis, and John Condit. Lauraville then ceased to be 
and the settlements on both sides of the river have since been known as 
Clyde. The post-office, as previously noted, had been called Galen, 
but in 18-2 1 i, through the efforts of Representative Robert S. Rose and 
William S. Stow, the name was changed to Clyde. The present post- 
master is De Lancy Stow, who succeeded George G. Roe in October 1, 
181)4. 

The presidents of Clyde village have been as follows : 



Aaron T. Hendrick, 1885, 
Ira Jenkins, 1836, 
Nathan P. Colvin, 1837, 
William S. Stow, 1838-40, 
B. M. Vanderveer, 1841, 
Charles D. Lawton, 1842, 
William O. Sloan, 1843, 
William S. Stow, 1844, 
William O. Sloan, 1845, 
Albert Clark, 1846, 
Luther Field, 1847, 
Ambrose S. Field, 1848, 
Jabez S. Amoreaux, 1849, 
Charles E. Elliott, 1850, 
Alfred C. Howe, 1851-53, 
Samuel S. Streeter, 1854, 
Samuel Weed, 1855, 
Albert F. Redfield, 1856, 
Adrastus Snedaker, 1857, 
Aaron Griswold, 1858, 
John Condit, 1859, 
Byron Ford, 1869, 
Solomon H. Skinner, 1861, 
William H. Coffin, 1862-63, 
Dr. Darwin Colvin, 1864-66, 



Aaron Griswold, 1867-69, 
James M. Streeter, 1870, 
Aaron Griswold, 1871, 
P. Ira Lape, 1872, 
Aaron Gregory, 1873, 
John Crowell, 1874-75, 
Charles T. Saxton, 1876, 
Dr. Darwin Colvin, 1877, 
John Cockshaw, 1878, 
Edwin Sands, 1879, 
James M. Streeter, 1880, 
Marcus Shafer, 1881. 
Lathrop S. Taylor, 1882, 
Albert F. Redfield, 1883. 
Edwin Sands, 1884, 
Levi Paddock, 1885, 
Michael A. Fisher, 1886, 
Arthur H. Smith, 1887, 
Avery H. Gillette, 1888, 
Charles R. Stranghan, 1889, 
Albert C. Lux, 1890, 
James Keesler, 1891, 
James R. Miller, 1892, 
Archibald M. Graham, 1893, 
George B. Greenway, 1894. 



Village officers for 1804: president, George B. Greenway; clerk, 
Charles R. Kennedy; trustees, George B. Greenway, George W. Cowles, 
Charles A. Sloan, Charles S. Skinner, H. K. Compson; collector, 



268 LANDMARKS OF 

John E. Haight; treasurer, William A. Hunt; chief of fire department, 
John Hak ; police justice, De Lance) 7 Stow. 

June 3, L835, that part of the village south of the river was designated 
as corporation number!, with Eleazer H. House, overseer of highways; 
that part cast of Sodus street, north of the river, as corporation 2, with 
Richard Wood, overseer; and that portion west of Sodus street as cor- 
poration 3, with George Thompson, overseer. In 1836 the following 
ordinance was enacted and has never been repealed: 

That any person or persons who shall hereafter suffer or permit any playing with 
cards, or dice, or other gatning-table or shuffle-board, or shall permit any kind of 
gaming by lot or chance, within his or her house, out-house, yard, or garden, within 
the village of Clyde, shall, for every offense, forfeit or pay into the village treasury 
the sum of ten dollars. 

On May 14, 1840, the charter was amended and authorized the trus- 
tees to raise ',1,(100 to extinguish the debt incurred in purchasing a fire 
engine. May'.', 1855, and in May, 1873, the charter was further amended; 
on the latter date it increased the corporate limits to four square miles, 
making the center of the public square the center of the village and 
allowing $2,000 per annum to be raised for expenses; before that $1,000 
was the maximum sum. In February, 1874, a special bill was enacted 
by the Legislature authorizing the trustees to levy and collect a tax of 
$6,000, in addition to the regular tax, to pay the village debt to that 
date. 

The first public hall, a wooden structure, stood on the site of the 
present one; it was burned April 20, 1870, and an act was passed en- 
abling the town and village to jointly raise $4,000 to erect a new build- 
ing. This was legally authorized at a special election May 3, 1870, and 
the present hall was built during that and the following year. It is of 
brick and contains the village offices, the fire department headquarters, 
and an opera house. 

On April K), 1824, Eli Frisbie, Simeon Griswold, and James Dickson 
were appointed commissioners to build a bridge over the river at Clyde, 
and the supervisor was empowered to raise $1,000 for the purpose. This 
bridge took the place of the first one built at this point in L810, and 
stood on the site of the present upper bridge. In L867 the old wooden 
bridge at the corner of Geneva and Griswold streets was replaced by a 
stone one. 

The first license granted for a public entertainment was dated June 8, 
L835, and permitted " Noel E. Waring to exhibit for one day, on the 



WAYNE COUNTY. 269 

24th inst. , his Zoological Institute Association, Menagerie and Aviary, 
and also his paintings andSerpant," in consideration of the payment of 
$10. The .first band of musicians in Clyde was organized in L839 under 
the leadership of Major Gilbert, of Palmyra; he was succeeded in L840 
by Major Pitman, who was paid a salary of $400 a year. This band dis- 
banded about 1854. In 1860 the Wells Cornet Band was organized, and 
in L878 the Saxton Band was formed. 

The Clyde Fire Department was instituted January 7, 1830, by the 
appointment of sixteen persons as a hook and ladder company. In 1 841 
the Cataract hand engine was purchased for $1,000 and the first engine 
company was then organized. October 20, 1857, the old Cataract com- 
pany was reorganized into the Niagara Fire Company No. 2, to man the 
engine Niagara, which had been purchased October 7 at a cost of $1,000; 
this engine and hose were destroyed in the glass works fire July 24, 
1 873. The old Cataract engine, long since disused, is still in possession 
of the Ever Readys. In 1872 two dams were constructed in the Erie 
Canal to retain water for use at fires. In September, 1873, the village 
purchased a Silsby steamer and 1,000 feet of hose for $5,000, and in the 
same year the Protectives Hook and Ladder Company No. 1 was organ- 
ized. In June, 1886, a fire bell was placed in the town hall. In May, 
1889, a new truck costing $1,000 was purchased for the Protectives, and 
a new chemical extinguisher was bought for the Ever Ready Hose Com- 
pany No. 2. 

Among the more disastrous fires that have visited the village may be 
mentioned the following: July 24, 1873, glass factory, loss about $55,- 
000; in September, 1874, same place, loss $3,000; in October, 1874, the 
Newman House, loss $8,000; March 28, 1878, Barse block, loss $10,000; 
September 11, 1883, Clyde Hotel, St. John's Episcopal Church, Gillette 
blocks, etc., loss $25,000; January 17, 1889, on Columbia street, loss 
$12,000; January8, 1890, same street, loss $7,000; January 16, 1890, 
on Glasgow street, loss $7,000. 

The project of providing an adequate water supply for Clyde was 
agitated in 1883, and on January 17, 1885, the Clyde Water Works Com- 
pany was organized. Nothing was done, however, until 1887, when the 
matter was revived. On May 14, 1888, the present water works com- 
pany was formally organized and in the same month a contract was 
signed with the Bassett Brothers to construct the existing system. The 
village bound itself to pay $1,600 annually for five years for water for 
fire protection. Twelve wells were sunk on the N. G. Moore farm in 



270 LANDMARKS OF 

the western part of the corporation, and a steel water tower with a ca- 
pacity of 200,000 gallons, was erected on Rees hill. A pumping sta- 
tion equipped with two boilers and a compound duplex engine was 
erected ami the system went into operation in the fall of 1889. Albert 
W. Van Buskirk was appointed the first superintendent and engineer, 
and held the position until he resigned in September, L891, when the 
present incumbent. E. M. Ellinwood, took charge. Since the inception 
of the water works the engines and steamer have been superseded, in 
ease of lire, by hose attached to the hydrants. 

The Clyde Board of Trade was organized in L890, and has sinee been 
the means of materially advancing the commercial growth of the 
village. 

The gas works of Clyde were started about L856, and have continued 
to supply the village and individuals with gas sinee that date. The 
works are situated on the south side of the canal, west of the upper 
bridge, and are now in charge of George Tuffts. 

The Clyde Electric Company was incorporated September 20, 1890, 
by E. Fred Stoetzel (president), Charles II. Ford (vice-president), 
E. M. Mclntyre (secretary and treasurer), Calvin Mclntyrc, and J. 
George Kaelber, with a capital of $25,000, which has remained un- 
changed. The plant was erected that fall and placed in operation 
December 25, in a brick building between the canal and the Central 
Railroad, west of Sodus street. It is the only plant burning 2,000 candle 
power arc lights in streets between Syracuse and Rochester. They 
have thirty-eight are street lamps and about 500 incandescent lamps, 
and a wired system of fourteen miles. The present officers are : D. M. 
Wright, president; Nathan Shaw, vice-president; E. M. Mclntyre, 
secretary and treasurer. 

The banking interests of Clyde date from L837, when Miller's Bank 
was established through the influence of Messrs. Briggs, Ford, Chap- 
man, Smith, Griswold, Redlield, and De Zeng. Stocks were issued to 
farmers in exchange for mortgages, which became the securities under 
State law. The bank did a large business, but it failed in 1843, 
spreading disaster in every direction. January ;, L851, Isaac Miller 
organized the Commercial Bank of Clyde; but he failed in 1869 with 
heavy liabilities. In L865 Mr. Miller, father of Isaae, established the 
First National Bank of Clyde, he tilling the office of president, anil 
William II. Miller, son of Isaac, cashier. This bank also failed in 1869. 
Charles Hamilton, who was born in Steuben county in 181'.), came to 



WAYNE COUNTY. r, \ 

Clyde about L859, and for several years prior to his death (February 23, 
L893) conducted a private banking- business. 

The Briggs Bank of Clyde was incorporated in 1856, under the 
State law, as the Briggs Bank, with Samuel S. Briggs, president, 
and William H. Coffin, cashier and principal manager. Its capital was 
about $70,000, and among its stockholders were Messrs. Briggs, Coffin, 
Redheld, and Ketchum. In 1859 Mr. Briggs became by purchase the 
sole owner. January 28, 1860, Aaron Griswold bought a one-half 
interest, and at the death of Mr. Briggs in September, 1865, he sold out 
to Samuel H. Briggs, son of Samuel S., who also acquired his father's 
interest. In the same year S. H. Briggs sold a part of the business to 
Lewis H. Palmer, and in the fall of 1866 its circulation was called in, 
its securities in possession of the State redeemed, and it became a 
private bank under the name of Briggs & Palmer. In March, 1880, it 
closed business under this title, and April 19 following began anew 
as the Briggs National Bank with paid in capital of $50,000, and with 
these officers: Samuel H. Briggs, president; Lewis H. Palmer, vice- 
president; J. W. Hinman, cashier; W. A. Hunt, assistant cashier. 
These, and W. S. Hunt and George W. Cowles, constitute the Board of 
Directors. 

In March, 1869, Aaron Griswold and Charles E. Elliott purchased the 
office fixtures of the defunct First National Bank and started a private 
bank on the corner of Columbia and Glasgow streets; in the next year 
it was removed to the corner of Glasgow and Ford streets. The firm 
name of Griswold & Elliott was soon changed to Griswold, Elliott & 
Company, and subsequently to Griswold & Gurnee. In May, 1874, Mr. 
Griswold retired and the firm became Gurnee & wStreeter, but on June 
1, 1876, Aaron Griswold repurchased the entire business and conducted 
it until his death in February, 1883, when it was discontinued. 

In 1832 a company consisting of eight men was formed in Clyde for 
the purpose of manufacturing salt. A well 400 feet deep was sunk and 
$1,800 were expended in promoting the enterprise. Brine was obtained 
in small quantity, but when exposed to the air it turned red. An 
artesian well was put down near the glass works which emitted gas and 
produced a weak brine. In May, 1887, a company was organized with 
a capital of $3,000; the trustees were: W. D. Ely, J. M. Streeter, A. H. 
Smith, W. H. Groesbeck, and George O. Baker. On September 13, a 
well was commenced on the vacant lot near the glass works; at a depth 
of 340 feet the Niagara formation appeared, at 675 feet the Clinton 



LANDMARKS OF 

group, and at 758 feet the Medina sandstone, and at 1,792 feet work 
was suspended. At 1 1<> feet mineral water was found, and at 175 feet 
salt water was struck; at 685 feet a pocket of gas was encountered; this 
was 'Darned for some time, but was never utilized. 

The Clyde mineral springs were analyzed by Professor Hadley, of 
Geneva College, in 184-1, and found to contain the following ingredients: 
muriate of soda, 55 gr. ; muriate of lime, 30 gr. ; sulphate and muriate 
of magnesia, 12 gr. ; a gallon of the water contains 288 grains of saline 
matter. In 1893 a well was sank in the middle of the public square 
which produces water strongly impregnated with mineral substances. 

About the year 1820 William S. De Zeng purchased a tract of land 
within the present limits of Clyde, and with James R. Rees founded the 
present glass works in 1827. It was then simply a window glass factory, 
and the corner stone was laid March 27, 1828, under the superintendence 
of Major Frederic A. De Zeng. The proprietors since that time have 
been as follows: 

William S. De Zeng, James R. Rees (De Zeng & Rees); Charles S. De Zeng; Dr. 
Hiram Mann; Lawrence De Zeng, Abner Burlingame, Theodore Hinman (De Zeng 
& Co.); James H. Stokes; James H. Stokes, William C. Ely (Stokes & Ely); James II. 
Stokes; II. H. Stevens, Isaac Miller (Stevens & Miller); H. H. Stevens, Isaac Miller, 
C. E. Elliott, H. G. Groesbeck (Stevens, Miller & Co.); Isaac Miller, George Rowell, 
Cornelius Miller (Miller, Rowell & Co.); William C. Ely; Dr. Linus Ely; Orrin South- 
wick; Orrin Southwick, Charles W. Reed, John Schindler, George H. Hoyt (South- 
wick, Reed & Co.); William C. Ely, Charles W. Reed, John Schindler, George H. 
Hoyt (Ely, Reed & Co.); William C. Ely, Charles W. Reed, George H. Hoyt (Ely. 
Reed & Co.). 

From IS^S to 1864 the window glass factor)- alone was run. In 1864 
tlie bottle factory was started, the first firm being Southwick & Woods 
(Orrin Southwick and Almon Woods); then Southwick & Reed (Orrin 
Southwick and Charles W. Reed). Afterward both factories were 
under the management of Southwick, Reed & Co. 

On July 24, 1873, the establishment was burned, but was at once re- 
built. In 1878 the buildings underwent repairs and the old corner stone 
was replaced by anew one August 10. In isso Mr. Rco(] retired and 
the (inn became Fly, Son & Hoyt, by the admission of Charles 1). Ely. 
William C. Ely died September 20, L886, since which time the firm name 
has been William C. Ely's Sons & Hoyt (Charles 1). and William D. 
Ely and George II. Hoyt.) Window glass and bottles, fruit jars, etc., 
are made, and the product is sent to all parts of the country. 

In 1831 Condit & Van Buren established a foundry in a wooden build- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 273 

ing; and a little later the firm became Whiting, Humphrey & Co., who, 
in 1843, sold to Dolph, Humphrey & Co. The latter erected a stone 
building and added the manufacture of machinery and here the business 
has ever since been conducted. Among their successors were A. S. 
Field, Humphrey & Wood, Millard Olmstead, F. Humphrey, Wood & 
Chandler. December 1, 1866, S. W. & S. H. Wood purchased the con- 
cern and carried on business until the death of S. H. Wood, when S. W. 
assumed the business. In 1887 the latter admitted his son Henry I. 
as partner under the style of S. W. Wood & Son. They make traction, 
portable, and stationary engines, iron and brass castings, and do a gen- 
eral machine business. 

In 1866 the First National Paper Manufacturing Company of Clyde 
was organized, with Dr. Darwin Colvin, president, and erected a build- 
ing with a weekly capacity of nine tons of manilla wrapping paper. 
The next year the Clyde Paper Manufacturing Company, of which Aaron 
Griswold was president, began making printing paper. After running 
about two years, at a heavy loss, both mills were closed. One of the 
buildings was afterwards used by T. P. Thorn as a malt house, and in 
August, 1877, it was burned with a loss of $11,000. 

Isaac Scott, a Quaker, is said to have started the first tannery in 
Clyde. William Andrews became his partner and when Roberts & 
Rose assumed the business Mr. Scott established another on the north 
side of the river. The tannery of Roberts & Rose was finally converted 
into a dwelling and occupied by Asahel Tichnor, Ezra Furman, and 
others, and eventually was torn down. Root & King also had a tan- 
nery here at an early day, and failed about 1835. 

In 1818 William S. De Zeng's father built a dam across Clyde River 
west of the lower bridge, and the son erected a grist mill on the north 
side of the stream just west of the site of the mineral spring. In early 
days another mill was built west of the lower bridge and a carding mill 
on the north side of the river below that bridge. The first steam grist 
mill was erected by Ford & Smith where the lumber yard is now situated. 
It was purchased by Aaron Griswold, Charles S. De Zeng, W. C. Ely, 
and H. G. Groesbeckin 1851, who sold it in 1854 to Briggs, Coffin &Co. , 
by whom it was converted into a distillery. It burned and was not re- 
built. Mr. Griswold and Fredus Chapman purchased in 1843 two grist 
mills and a saw mill which at that time constituted the milling interests 
of Clyde, and the two men also engaged in mercantile business. Mr. 
Griswold subsecpiently soldhis interest to Luther Redfield, jr. In 1854 

35 



274 LANDMARKS OF 

Cornelius Miller erected a brewery and malt house which his son, John 
C, transformed into a grist mill, and its proprietors have since been 
James H. Congdon, 1857; Zina Hooker, 1863; Louis Strumm and John 
Hartman, 1864 ; Mary Hartman, 1874; and Wood & Keesler since L883. 
The latter have enlarged and remodeled the mill and substituted the 
roller process for stones. S. Skinner built a steam saw and grist mill on 
the south side of the river which subsequently passed to Joel Thorn. 
It was demolished in 1883 to make room for the West Shore Railroad. 

The malting business, though carried on in a quiet manner, forms one 
of Clyde's most important industries. In 1854 Cornelius Miller erected 
a brewery and malt house previously mentioned; upon the death of 
Louis Strumm it was leased for four years by A. H. Smith. Capacity 
12,000 bushels. Charles E. Elliott had a malt house near the present 
foundry, and his successors were Reed & Elliott, A. H. Smith, and 
Charles R. Kennedy, since 1880. Capacity 30,000 bushels. Mr. Ken- 
nedy also leases a malt house of C. W. Reed. In I860 Charles Gordon 
converted one floor of his warehouse into a malting establishment with 
a capacity of 8,000 bushels. S. D. & J. M. Streeter purchased the 
building, and in 1806 increased its capacity to 60,000 bushels. In 1891 
S. D. Streeter sold his interest to George B. Greenway, who one year 
later became sole proprietor, enlarging its capacity to 100,000 bushels. 

John Stevens & Company started a malt house capaple of carrying 
about 15,000 bushels. Thomas P. Thorn succeeded as proprietor and 
also to that of the Newlove brewery adjoining, and in 1867 he enlarged 
the latter, making the combined capacity 100, 000 bushels. Thorn & 
Fox started a malt house in the old paper mill on the south side of the 
river about 1864, but abandoned it some four years later. In 18(18 the 
Nichols warehouse was converted into a malt house with a capacity of 
12,000 bushels. Upon the death of Mr. Nichols, Charles W. Reed 
bought the property, enlarged it to a capacity of 60,000 bushels, and 
excepting two years, when he was in partnership with A. II. Smith, 
has since conducted it. Mclntyrc & Warner's malt house was built as 
a storehouse by Calvin Mclntyre. Its capacity, formerly 35,000 bushels, 
was increased in L889 to 158,000 bushels. Thomas Smith built a malt 
house in L856 with a capacity of 8,000 bushels, which he increased, until 
in 1867 it was 100,000. In lssl he associated his son Arthur II. in a 
partnership styled T. Smith & Son, which continued until L888, when 
J. K. Souther, a Boston brewer, and A. II. Smith bought the concern 
as the Smith Malting Company. In L89Q Mr. Souther purchased his 



WAYNR COUNTY. J7r, 

partner's interest and continues the business under the above name. In 
1890 Arthur H. Smith bought the site of the old Franklin House ad 
joining the Central Railroad and erected his present malt house; 
capacity 100,000 bushels. 

George A. Brown opened a harness shop in Clyde in 1872, and from 
that year to the present gradually increased the business, employing 
now about fifty-five hands in making harness for the trade and turning 
out $90,000 in goods annually. He has occupied his present quarters 
since 18G4, and also deals in carriages, wagons, etc. 

The canning factory of Hemingway & Company was started in the 
old paper mill building in 1878. They have since erected a large plant 
and carry on an extensive business. 

The Clyde Creamery Company was incorporated in the summer of 
1 89 I, and a factory placed in operation in August of that year. 

Of the merchants in Clyde thirty years ago Ambrose S. Field, Jacob 
.Strauss, and Sylvester J. Childs are the only ones who still continue 
business. Chester A. Ward opened a general store in 1838, and after- 
ward had George M. Closs as partner; on the death of the latter the 
business was closed out. Mr. Ward was elected sheriff on the Whig 
ticket, moved west, and died in Michigan in February, 1892. Among 
other old-time merchants in the village were: Frisbie & Nichols, A. 
Mundy, Isaac Miller, Halsted & Clark, Luther Redfield, jr., Frederick 
Bellamy, J. D. Stone, S. J. Sayles, Edward Canfield, Ely & Mead, 
Scott & Dickinson, and J. C. Atkins. Jacob Zearfoz, a German bach- 
elor, had a hat factory here in early da3^s. 

The Clyde marble and granite works of Edward B. Wells was estab- 
lished by him in 1860. In 1873 he represented the First Assembly 
District of Wayne county in the Legislature. 

The S. S. Briggs brick block, one of the oldest in the village, was 
erected in 1851; the A. E. Adams block, three stories, in 1869; the 
Adams block, two stories, in 1882; and the L. W. Burton brick build- 
ing, also in 1882. Other handsome and imposing brick blocks have 
been erected from time to time, giving the main street (Glasgow) of the 
village quite a metropolitan appearance. 

Clyde village now contains three dry goods stores, three hardware 
stores, seven groceries, three boot and shoe stores, five millinery stores, 
two jewelry stores, three clothing stores, three drug stores, one news 
room, a photograph gallery, three furniture establishments, one furniture 
repair shop, two printing offices and newspapers, two hotels, three 



276 LANDMARKS OF 

liveries, two flouring mills, seven malt houses, three coal dealers, one 
lumber yard, one produce dealer, five lawyers, six physicians, three 
dentists, four meat markets, two marble works, one warehouse, a 
machine shop, two cooper shops, a district graded school, a high school, 
five churches, and a population of 2,638. 

Lock Berlin. — This place was first settled by Solomon Ford in 1805. 
He bought one hundred acres of land mainly on the south side of the 
canal, which five years later became a prosperous farm. In his neighbor- 
hood in 1812 James Showers, John and McQuiller Parish, and John 
Acker each purchased one hundred acres and settled. The last survivor 
of these families was Mrs. Delia Gernard, daughter of John Parish. 
The first frame house was built by David Ford in 1817 on the farm 
owned by the heirs of Daniel Jennison. David, William, and Benjamin 
Ford erected and opened the first store in 1824, and in connection 
therewith conducted a distillery, a brick yard, a cooper shop, and an 
ashery. Aaron Griswold and William Ford started a second mercantile 
business here in 1831, but a year or two later Alfred Griswold, brother 
of Aaron, purchased Mr. Ford's interest, and the two continued trade 
until March, 1836. N. B. Gilbert, father of W. H. Gilbert, came here 
in 1837 and engaged in carpentering; in 1849 he began making carriages, 
which he continued until his death in 1875. 

It has generally been claimed that the post-office was first established 
in William Ford's store, and it is probable that he was the first post- 
master. The present incumbent is James Dunkley. James Darned 
and Seth Brown, the first road commissioners of Galen, were prominent 
residents of the hamlet ; and Samuel Brockner was one of its earliest 
blacksmiths. In 1838, and for many years before, a tavern furnished 
entertainment for travelers. William Griswold had the lock grocery at 
an early day and went to New York each fall and spring to buy goods, 
purchasing generally from forty to fifty casks of whisky and a liberal 
supply of rum, gin, and brandy. At that time the place contained 
about seventy-five inhabitants. The temperance movement long since 
suppressed the large number of bar rooms and lias given to Lock Berlin 
a respectable reputation. Situated on the canal and the Central Rail- 
road, in the west part of the town, the little hamlet now contains a 
store, post-office, evaporator, district school, church, and the usual 
shops. 

M \kkm;o. — This little village is the site of the first settlement in 
Galen. It is situated in the southwest part of the town on lot 95, on 



WAYNE COUNTY. 277 

the Montezuma turnpike, a half mile north from the county line. 
Thomas Beadle, of Junius, Seneca county, originally owned the land, 
and in 1800 settled his son Laomi upon it. The latter erected the first 
house and the first saw mill, and Edward G. Ludlow started the first 
store in 1818; this was in charge of his agent, Cyrus Smith, who was in 
that year appointed the first postmaster; the present official is David 
H. Perry. About 1818 Edward Wing built and opened the first tavern, 
and Nathan Blodgett started an ashery. The village was rapidly sur- 
rounded by thrifty farmers, most of whom were Quakers, who long im- 
parted to the community an influence for good. They early established 
a church of their sect and have maintained their simple doctrines and 
quiet reserve through the intervening years to the present day. 

Angell's Corners, three miles east of Marengo and half a mile north 
from the county line, is a small rural hamlet of a few farm houses. 

Meadville, or Lock pit, is a little settlement on the canal near the 
southeast corner of the town. It has a grocery and a few dwellings. 

Churches. — The oldest religious organization in this town is the 
Galen Preparatory Meeting of Friends, which was formed in 1815 into 
a regular monthly meeting to be held alternately in the towns of Junius 
and Galen. Among the first members from this town were : David 
Beadle, Stephen Y. Watson, James Tripp, Daniel and Nathan Strang, 
Mathew Rogers, and Henry Bonnell. Five years prior to this they had 
organized the above society in conjunction with Junius, and until 1812 
meetings were held occasionally in a log meeting house near Marengo ; 
in that year their present house of worship was built one-fourth of a 
mile west of that village. After, several years' experience as a regular 
monthly meeting the organization changed back to the Galen Prepara- 
tory Meeting of Friends, which title it still retains. 

The First Presbyterian Church of Clyde was organized by Rev. 
Francis Pomeroy, of Lyons, and Rev. Hippocrates Roe, of Palmyra, 
July 8, 1814, with these members: Samuel Garlic, William Diddie, Ezra 
and Nabby Lewis, John and Sally Grow, and Erastus Wilder. On the 
following day the Presbyterian form of government was adopted, and 
Samuel Garlic, Erastus Wilder, and Ezra Lewis were chosen elders; 
Erastus Wilder, deacon; Rev. Francis Pomeroy, stated moderater; 
Samuel Garlic, clerk. At this meeting Tamar, wife of Erastus Wilder, 
became the first member admitted to the society, and on July 10, Huldah 
and Charlotte Grow, Lydia Elizabeth Wilder, and John A. Addison 
were christened and baptized into the church by Rev. Mr. Roe. The 



278 LANDMARKS OF 

church was attended by supplies until July, 1820, when Rev. Charles 
Mosher was made the first pastor; he was succeeded among' others by 
Maltby Gelston, Joseph Fisher, S. J. M. Beebe, J. W. Roy, John 
Ward, Robert E. Wilson (sixteen years), J. R. Young-, A. C. Roe, and 
W. H. Bates (twelve years). The present pastor is Rev. J. C. Mead, 
and the society has about 200 members. The society worshiped a few 
years in the school house south of the river, and then in the upper story 
of Sylvester Clarke's store, the same now occupied by his son Sylvester 
H. as a dwelling. The first house of worship stood on the corner of 
Lock and Caroline streets; was of wood and cost $5,500 ; its cornerstone 
was laid in August, 1829. In 1870 it was superseded by the present 
imposing brick edifice, the corner stone of which was laid August 20. 
The church cost about $30,000. It was dedicated November 30, 1871. 
The parsonage was donated to the society by General Charles P. Kings- 
bury of Watertown, Mass., as a memorial to his mother, who was long 
one of its members. 

On the 4th of April, 1821, the Galen Sabbath School Society was 
organized at the house of Ephraim Marsh with the following officers: 
Rev. Charles Mosher, superintendent; Dea. John Leavenworth, vice- 
superintendent; James Humeston, secretary; Dr. John Lewis, treasurer; 
Oliver Whitmore, Joel Blakeman, Sylvester Clarke, Capt. Jerry Darrow, 
and Asahel Tickner, trustees. It had thirty-two teachers and was 
attended by children of all the church-going families in the village and 
its vicinity. Shortly afterwards it was merged into the Presbyterian 
church and among its subsequent superintendents was Jacob T. Van 
Buskirk from 1859 to 1873, who increased its membership from fifty- 
seven to over 300. It now lias an average attendance of L25, with G. A. 
Brown, superintendent. 

The First Baptist Church of Clyde was organized as early as 1*1 H, 
and Rev. Joseph Potter was the first pastor; but owing to the loss (A' 
the records to 1843. further information concerning its early history 
cannot be obtained. The erection of an edifice was begun soon after 
the formation of the society— an edifice that has since been remodeled 
into the present church. In L843 the pastor was Rev. Mr. Maxwell, 
and following him came Revs. Mitchell, Weld), Vrooman, Loomis, 
Gilbert, Cormac, Cooley, and Hubbard, the latter serving in 1858-59. 
Dissension sprang up in the church which threatened its existence, and 
it was finally decided to dissolve and reorganize thesociety. September 
10, 180 1, and soon after the old church had formally disbanded, a meet- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 279 

ing for reorganization was held and the present society was formed. 
In September the legal organization and recognition by council took 
place in Parker's hall. The new church had fifty members and these 
officers: P. Sloan, A. Devereaux, J. Vandenberg, B. Jones, and J. S. 
Lamereaux, trustees; A. De Laney, treasurer; La Fontaine Russell and 
Hiram Burton, deacons. The first pastor of the new society was Rev. 
William H. Steegar; the present pastor is Rev. C. H. Howes, who is 
also moderator of the Wayne Baptist Association, 1893-94. In 1864 the 
church building was partially sold to the Free Methodists, who still own 
a half interest ; but the new Baptist society has always used it for their 
meetings. It is a brick structure on Sodus street, and cost about 
$2,500. In 1877 it was remodeled at a cost of $4,319, and on October 3, 
of that year, it was dedicated. The church has about one hundred 
members and a Sunday school with an average attendance of seventy- 
five scholars; the superintendent is W. L. Devereaux. 

The First Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Clyde was 
organized in the village school-house by Revs. Isaac Chase and Joseph 
Gardner, November 23, 1824, the first trustees being Jabez Cook, Ben- 
jamin B. Wright, and Isaac Chase. In 1831 their first house of worship 
was finished and dedicated at a cost of about $1,900. It was of wood 
and was used until 1859, when a brick structure was erected on the 
corner of Sodus and Caroline streets. Enlarged and its length increased 
to one hundred feet it was rededicated November 23, 1871 ; it was again 
remodeled and refurnished in 1892. The church proper including the 
parsonage is valued at about $30,000, and the society has a membership 
of 375. The Rev. John Robinson was appointed for two years as first 
pastor of the new society. From the organization in 1824 to 1833 the 
church was in a circuit. The first regular appointment was in 1833, 
when Philo E. Brown was pastor. The present pastor is Rev. David 
Keppel. The Sunday school was organized in 1824, and now has an 
average attendance of about 200; superintendent, J. W. Hinman. 

The Methodist Episcopal Church of Lock Berlin was organized in the 
school house in 1835 with about twenty-five members. Prior to this, 
however, services had been held in the place by Methodist preachers, 
prominent among whom was Rev. Loren Riley. The church building- 
was erected in 1838 and cost $1,200. Among the first pastors were Rev. 
Silas Bolls, Joseph C. Chapman, and Rensselaer Harrington, the latter 
of whom died recently in Lyons. The society has about forty mem- 
bers, under Rev. W. C. Burbank. 



280 LANDMARKS OF 

St. John's Protestant Episcopal Church of Clyde was organized in the 
High School building- September 26, 1840, the first officers being: 
James C. Adkins, senior warden; Charles A. Rose, junior warden; 
William H. Griswold, Josiah N. Westcott, William S. Stow, James R. 
Rees, Daniel H. Allen, Henry Goodchild, Charles D. Lawton, and 
William H. Adams, vestrymen. Rev. Benjamin W. Stone, D.D., was 
the first rector. In 1842 the first church edifice, a wooden building, 
was erected on the site of Harmony Hall at a cost of $1,200, and was 
consecrated by Bishop William Heathcote De Lancy, D.D., in May of 
that year. In 1845 it was moved to the north side of the public square, 
west of the Clyde Hotel, on the site of Mrs. J. R. Muth's present 
dwelling; here it was burned September 11, 1883. The present hand- 
some stone edifice was built in 1884, and is valued at $18,000. The 
corner stone was laid by Bishop Coxe of Buffalo, September 13, 1884, 
and the church opened for service just one year from that day. The 
parish has about eighty communicants. Rev. Richard T. Kerfoot has 
been rector since January, 1892. The officers for 1894 are: Homer 
Daboll, senior warden; De Lancey Stow, junior warden; Clark Potts, 
Dr. J. N. Arnold, Robert Nichols, George B. Green way, and P. H. 
Kenyon, vestrymen. The society owns a brick rectory east of the 
church. The Sunday school has an average attendance of about fifty, 
under H. Cady, superintendent. In the chapel of this church is a pipe 
organ that is cherished as a memorable relic of the past. It was donated 
to this parish by the Trinity church of Geneva in 184(i in consideration 
of the fact that many of the members here formerly belonged to that 
body. It was used until about 1890, when it was replaced by a hand- 
some pipe organ costing $2,000. The old organ is said to have been 
the first of its kind in this State and the first instrument purchased by 
the Trinity church of New York city. Upon the solicitation of Rev. 
Davenport Phelps it was secured as a gift by the Trinity church of 
Geneva soon after the formation of that society. 

St. John's Roman Catholic Church of Clyde had its inception in 
services of that denomination which were held in Thomas Hickey's 
building by Rev. Father Gilbride about 1845. Priests occasionally 
visited the village until 1851, when the first edifice, a wooden building, 
was erected at a cost of $1,300. It was in the Lyons charge and Rev. 
Thomas O'Brien was the first pastor. In the spring of 1869 the corner 
stone of the present brick and stone edifice was laid, and on Christmas 
following midnight mass was celebrated therein by Rev. J. P. Stewart, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 281 

to whom great credit is due for its erection. It was consecrated in 
August, 1870, by Bishop McQuaid and Father Stewart. The building 
cost $22,500. The parish has 1,000 communicants. The present pastor 
is Rev. Father J. J. Gleason. The presbytery south of the church was 
built in 1872, and remodeled in 1891. The Sunday school was begun 
in 1856; it now has an attendance of eighty scholars, under the super- 
intendence of Father Gleason. 

The German Lutheran Church of Clyde was organized in the old 
M. E. edifice in 1859, and occupied it until 1864 on a lease. The first 
pastor was Rev. Mr. Stahlsmith. Among his successors were Revs. 
Thompson, Schmaltzel, Schapple, and Manns. The society purchased 
a half interest in the old M. E. church building in 1864. Services were 
maintained with some irregularity until a year or two ago, but the 
society has become weak in numbers and is practically disbanded. 

The Free Methodist Church of Clyde was organized in Harmony Hall 
by Rev. William Cooley early in 1864. The first trustees were : Samuel 
Fornecook, Henry Baker, Henry Cole, Harrison Holcomb, P. Grim- 
shaw, Isaac Hammond, Philip Sours, and B. Griner. The first pastor 
was Rev. J. B. Stacey, and the present pastor is O. M. Owen. The 
church is in the Rose charge and the pastor resides at Rose Valley. In 
1864 the society purchased the old Baptist building, but through a legal 
technicality it passed back to that organization. The same year the 
Free Methodists, jointly with the German Lutherans, bought the old 
M. E. edifice, the former's half interest costing them $1,600. It was 
dedicated in the fall of 1864. A Sunday school was organized in 1864. 

The Universalists formerly maintained occasional services in Clyde, 
but never effected an organization. From 1859 to 1864 they used the 
old M. E. church buildingf on a lease. 



36 



282 LANDMARKS OF 



CHAPTER XIX. 
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF WOLCOTT. 

The old town of Wolcott, comprising- the present towns of Butler, 
Wolcott, Huron, and Rose, was set off from the north end of Junius, 
Seneca county, on the 24th of March, 1807, but a legal organization was 
not effected until April, 1810. June 11, 1814, a special town meeting 
was convened to consider the question of uniting with the town of 
Galen (then including Savannah). Sterling, Cato, Hannibal, and Ly- 
sander in the formation of a new county to be known as Pern, but the 
delegates appointed were instructed to vote against the proposition. 
The subject was revived in 1815, but was soon abandoned. About 
1823 it was once more agitated, and this time effectively, but not with- 
out considerable difficulty in the adjustment of boundary lines. Among 
the committeemen appointed for the purpose were Amos Snyder, Nor- 
man Sheldon, Thomas Armstrong, and Elisha Plank. Huron and 
Butler both wanted to include Wolcott village, while the settlers in the 
vicinity of Red Creek were willing to accommodate either town so as to 
make their village the principal point in the new township. The mat- 
ter was finally settled and the three towns were set off, as at present 
constituted, in 1826, viz.: Rose on February 5; Huron on February 
25; and Butler on February 26, leaving Wolcott with its present assessed 
area of 20,828^ acres. 

The town lies in the northeast corner of Wayne county, and is bounded 
on the north by Lake Ontario, on the east by Cayuga county, on the 
south by Butler, and on the west by Huron and the lake. The surface 
is undulating with a general inclination toward Lake Ontario. The soil 
is a sandy and gravelly loam and susceptible of easy cultivation. Port 
Bay, in the northeast corner of the town, extends inland several miles 
and receives the waters of Wolcott Creek, which Hows from Butler 
through Wolcott village, where it affords valuable mill sites. In the 
northeast corner is Blind Sodus Bay, so named from the sand-bar which 
stretches across its mouth from the west shore. Between these arc two 
smaller bays, the east one of which receives the waters of Big and 



WAYNE COUNTY. 283 

Little Red Creeks, the former flowing through the village of Red 
Creek. These and two or three other small streams, all flowing to- 
wards Lake Ontario, afford excellent drainage and several good mill 
privileges. 

Agriculture forms the chief industry of the inhabitants. The soil is 
well adapted to all kinds of farming and fruit raising. Apples, pears, 
peaches, plums, raspberries, etc., are grown with profit, and of late- 
years the cultivation of tobacco has received more or less attention. 
Originally the town was covered with a heavy growth of timber indig- 
enous to this latitude, which furnished employment to a number of 
saw mills, all of which, with the exception perhaps of a few portable 
concerns, have long since gone down. 

North of Wolcott village and along Big Red Creek are several beds 
of iron ore. The bed near the village of Red Creek has been worked 
in past years with considerable profit. In various parts of the town 
evidence of salt water have been discovered. In 1887 the Wolcott Gas 
and Mining Company, of which Jefferson W. Hoag was president, sunk 
a well inside the limits of Wolcott village to a depth of 2,700 feet. 
Brine and natural gas were found, the latter in considerabla quantities, 
but neither was ever utilized. 

The town was settled with a class of hardy, resolute men and women, 
who were endowed with sterling traits of character and remarkable 
powers of endurance, and whose keen perception, habits of thrift, and 
personal characteristics are inherited by their descendants and perme- 
ate the communities in which they lived. The pioneers, with very few 
exceptions, have passed away, but the fruits of their labors are visible 
on every hand. The fertile fields, the beautiful orchards, the pleasant 
and commodious homes, the thriving villages — all are living monu- 
ments to their hardships and privations, while the numerous schools 
and churches attest the standard of their ideas of civilization. 

The town derived its name from Oliver Wolcott, governor of Con- 
necticut, from which State and Massachusetts many of the first settlers 
originally came. It lies wholly within the old Military Tract. The 
original town extended south to Galen and Savannah and west to the 
new pre-emption line, and when the latter boundary was established 
all of the present town of Huron, nearly all of Rose, and the western 
parts of Wolcott and Butler were made over to the Pultney estate as 
compensation. From that estate Capt. Charles Williamson, the founder 
of Sodus Point, received title to the entire tract in payment for money 



284 LANDMARKS OF 

advanced in the purchase of previous patents. It thus became known 
as Williamson's patent. 

During the earlier settlement of Wolcott the chief means of trans- 
portation was by way of Sloop Landing, an important port on the east 
side of Great Sodus Bay, between the present sites of Port Glasgow 
and Bonnicastle. Thither all produce was drawn, whence it was shipped 
to Canada or down the St. Lawrence. It promised a brilliant future 
and maintained a wide prestige for many years. But the Erie Canal 
drew nearly all the commerce southward, and Sloop Landing gradually 
fell into decay. The New York Central Railroad, through the south- 
ern part of the count}', had a marked influence upon the settlement and 
development of this section, but its most important acquisition was the 
Lake Ontario Shore Railroad (now the R. , W. & O. ), which was com- 
menced in 1871 and completed through the town, with stations at Wol- 
cott and Red Creek, in 1874. At Red Creek the old settlers, on August 
23, 1871, made the occasion memorable by formally breaking ground 
for the line with appropriate ceremonies. To aid in the construction 
of this railroad the town was bonded at seven per cent., the bonds be- 
ing exchanged February 1, 1882, for five per cent, bonds, amounting to 
$139,000, of which about $95,000 remain unpaid. The railroad com- 
missioner is Wesley Hall. 

The first highway in Wolcott was the "old Galen road,'" running 
from the salt works in Savannah to Capt. Helms's place at "Floating- 
Bridge" (now Port Glasgow); this thoroughfare was opened by the 
Galen Salt Company prior to 1808. The first regular road was sur- 
veyed and established November 2, 1810, by Osgood Church ; Jacob 
Shook and Peres Bardwell,' highway commissioners; this is now called 
the New Hartford road leading south from Wolcott village. Air. 
Church surveyed nearly all of the early highways, and Messrs. Shook 
and Bardwell were long the road commissioners. In 1810 the old town 
was divided into nine road districts, the commissioners filing their re- 
port March 19, 1811. The present town contains sixty-three. 

The first town meeting was held at the grist mill of Jonathan Mel- 
vin, sr., in Wolcott village on April 3, 1810, a little more than three 
years after the old town had been set off from Junius. The first officers 
were as follows : 

Osgood Church, supervisor; Adonijah Church, town clerk; Obadiah 
Adams. Osgood Church, John X. Murray, assessors; Ezra Knapp and 
Jesse Mathews, overseers of the poor; Isaac Shook, Peres Bardwell, 



WAYNE COUNTY 



285 



Noah Starr, highway commissioners; Levi Wheeler and John Grandy, 
town viewers; Glazier Wheeler, William P. Newell, James Alexander, 
Roger Sheldon, overseers of highways. 

It is believed that those who participated at this town meeting, and 
who, of course, were residents of the old town of Wolcott, were : 



Osgood Church, 
Adonijah Church, 
Aaron Hoppin, 
Franklin Ward, 
Alpheus Harmon, 
Obadiah Adams, 
Seth Craw, 
John Hyde, 
William P. Newell, 
Noah Starr, 
Dr. Zenas Hyde, 
John Hyde, 
Roswell Fox, 
Zenas Wheeler, 
John Woodruff, 
Lambert Woodruff, 
Charles Woodruff, 
Peres Bardwell, 
Silas Munsell, 
James Alexander, 



Ezra Knapp, 
Abijah Moore, 
Jacob Shook, 
Eliab Abbott, 
John Grandy, 
Roger Olmsted, 
Gardner Mudge, 
Alpheus Collins, 
Abram Bunce, 
Lyman Whitney, 
Robert Van Tassell, 
Stephen Herrick, 
Jacob Ward, 
Eli Ward, 
Caleb Mills, 
Jonathan Melvin, sr. , 
Nathaniel Williams, 
Glazier Wheeler, 
Eli Wheeler, 
Levi Wheeler, 
Roger Sheldon, 



George Sheldon, 
Harvey Mudge, 
Moses Gillett, 
Thomas Hancock, 
Elijah Hancock, 
Lucius Hubbard, 
Jacob Frober, 
Wareham Sheldon, 
Consider Herrick, 
Prentice Palmer, 
Ashley Goodrich, 
Thaddeus Collins, 
Milton Fuller, 
Pender Marsh, 
Eliakim Tupper, 
William Hallett, 
Jarvis Mudge, 
Lott Stewart, 
Jabez Stewart, 
Jesse Mathews. 



For the first few years, or until 1826, the town meetings were held 
alternately at the houses of Obadiah Adams in Wolcott village, and 
Lott Stewart at Stewart's Corners. It is impossible to give a complete 
list of the supervisors owing to the records prior to 1867 being burned. 
Osgood Church held the office for four years (1810-13), and was suc- 
ceeded by Adonijah Church (1814-17). Jesse Mathews, Arad Talcott, 
Norman Sheldon, and perhaps others down to 1826, when the town was 
divided. The first supervisor of the present township, in that year, 
was Dr. David Arne. March 5, 1867, the following town officers were 
elected: Edwin H. Draper, supervisor; Ezekiel K. Teachout, town 
clerk; Isaac Vought, John J. Van Alstine, George E. Due, Daniel C. 
Washburn, justices of the peace; William W. Phillips, assessor; Ashley 
Milliman and H. W. Burchard, overseers of the poor; Isaac Rice, high- 
way commissioner; Harmon V. Becker, collector. The supervisors 
since then have been : 



286 LANDMARKS OF 

Edwin H. Draper, 1867-70. George W. Snyder, 1885-86. 

James W. Snyder, 1871. Myron Wood, 188.7-89. 

Edwin II. Draper, 1872-77. George R. Miles, 1890. 

Marion Conklin, 1878-80. Alanson Church, 1891-93. 

Myron Wood, 1881-84. George R. Miles, 1894. 

The town officers for 1894 are: George R. Miles, supervisor; Herbert 
Perkins, town clerk; E. H. Kellogg, E. H. Horton, O. J. Frost, Mills 
Douglass, justices of the peace; William H. Milliman, Nathaniel }. 
Field, George Johnson, assessors; Burgess Jenkins, highway commis- 
sioner; Hiram Snyder, collector; Rolla Stewart and Henry Schuyler, 
overseers of the poor. 

Settlement in the present town of Wolcott commenced at Wolcott 
village as early as 180?. About 1806 Jonathan Melvin, sr. , who in 1705 
had located on 500 or 600 acres of land on Melvin hill in Phelps, On- 
tario county, purchased lot 50, containing 500 acres, now included with- 
in the corporate limits. He began improvements in 1807 or 1X0S, but 
did not settle his family here until 1811. His tract was on William- 
son's patent, which included the old town of Wolcott. The actual sale 
of lands on this patent continued from June L6, 1808, to October 15, 
L813, during which period 117 contracts, covering about L0, 000 acres, 
were made, the prices ranging from $2.40 to $5 per acre. The first 
contract was taken by Abram Bunce for 144 acres, now the Van Yleet 
farm in Butler. The sub-agents for Williamson's patent were Osgood 
Church and Frederick Wolcott. The latter did not live here, and the 
work devolved upon Mr. Church, who made the sales and accounted for 
the proceeds. 

Adonijah Church, the first town clerk and a brother to ( >sgood, came 
to Wolcott with his family in 1807 and settled on lot 4S. He was one 
of the early commissioners of common schools, supervisor from 1X14 
to 1817 inclusive, and died in 1842, aged forty-two. Osgood Church 
located on lot 40 in 1808. He was born in Berkshire county, Mass., in 
list), and being a surveyor he laid out all of the earlier roads in this 
town. He was a prominent citizen, an influential man, the first and 
for four years supervisor, and died March 15, 1815. October 27, 1809, 
lie had deeded to him 855 acres of land here at $2. Hi per acre. 

Jonathan Melvin, sr., and Osgood Church were closely associated 
with the business development of not only Wolcott village, but the old 
town as well, and for many years carried on a number of important 
industries. .Melvin began improvements about 1808 and the following 



WAYNE COUNTY. «87 

year had a gristmill in operation on the present Rumsey site. He also, 
and doubtless before this, built a saw mill, and about 1812 he sold both 
establishments to Obadiah Adams for $10,000. He donated a site for 
a school house or a church which would include the present Baptist 
church lot and public square in Wolcott village. He sold a lot below 
the saw mill to Daniel Mellin. who erected a fulling, cloth-dressing, 
and carding mill. He sold about three acres, then known as the swamp 
lot, to Dr. David Arne ; this included the site of the new Presbyterian 
church. He built an ashery on the north side of Main street and a dis- 
tillery on the west side of the road leading to the Beach grist mill. In 
1811 he moved his family here and about 1813 he erected a dwelling 
house which he painted jet black. Mr. Melvin was a peculiar man. 
Upon being asked why he chose such an unusual color for his residence 
he replied : "I like to see things correspond ; if my character is black, 
I paint the house so." He always wore a buckskin apron, one for 
work and another on Sundays to church. His farm and residence were 
widely known as the " Black House." 

Extensive business interests like Melvin's required more capital than 
he could command, and so the banks at Utica and Geneva were called 
upon to furnish funds, for which notes and mortgages were given as 
collateral. This involved Osgood Church, who became Melvin's en- 
dorser, and when their paper fell due they unfortunately found them- 
selves without the necessary money. The banks were obdurate, and 
the sheriff levied upon everything the two men owned, including about 
450 acres within the present limits of Wolcott village. The property 
was bid in by the Geneva Bank, or at least passed into the control of 
that institution, by which it was subsequently parceled out to individual 
purchasers, as noted further on. Melvin was a pensioner of the Revo- 
lutionary war, and after his failure here he returned to Phelps, where 
he died about 1845. 

Obadiah Adams, a brother-in-law of Osgood Church, came here in 
1810 and purchased forty acres on the east side of New Hartford street 
in Wolcott village. He was a colonel in the State militia, and from 
about 1812 to 1824 was the chief business man in the town. Upon the 
site of the Wolcott House he built a story and a half frame dwelling, 
which he opened as a tavern, and a year or two later he erected an ad- 
dition, in which he kept a store, being the first merchant and tavern 
keeper in the town of Wolcott. He also built the first distillery and an 
ashery, and. had a kiln in which he dried corn meal for shipment to 



288 



LANDMARKS OF 



Canada. He bought wheat and had a warehouse at Sloop Landing, 
where he speculated in land, laid out village lots, and erected several 
very good buildings. He owned a sailing vessel, which plied the waters of 
Lake ( )ntari<>, and he built the first frame barn in town, opposite his hotel. 
His tavern, being on the Oswego-Buffalo stage line, was a favorite and 
important stopping place. He erected a blast furnace a little east of the 
Beach mill and was about to start operations in the manufacture of plow 
castings when he failed (about 1824). The law then imprisoned for 
debt and Mr. Adams was taken by the sheriff to the jail limits at Lyons. 
He was soon liberated, however, and 1826 he moved to Rochester, 
where he opened a hotel, but died soon afterward, a poor man. The 
last town meeting of the old town of Wolcott was held at his house in 
April, 1825. 

Dr. David Arne was a practicing physician and the first postmaster of 
the town. He purchased of the Geneva Bank the old Black House farm 
of 250 acres at $17 per acre. He was a conspicuous man, as was also 
Obadiah Adams, and the two were inveterate political opponents. Dr. 
Arne was justice of the peace, and on one occasion swore out and per- 
sonallv wrote several summonses against Adams for swearing on the 
street, securing of course the usual judgments, which the latter was 
obliged to pay. Mr. Adams retaliated by suing the doctor for false 
arrest and secured a verdict of about $50. 

The war of 1812 checked immigration somewhat; the following were 
residents of the old town of Wolcott just prior to that conflict : 



James Kellogg, 
Sylvanus Joiner, 
Jonathan Mayo, 
Daniel Lounsbury, 
Isaac Lounsbury, 
Jonathan Wilson, 
Henry P. Mead, 
Andrew Petabone, 
Luther Aldrich, 
Micajah Aldrich, 
Jacob Watson, 
Seth Mead, 
Ira Smith, 
Samuel Southwiek, 
Thaddeus Fitch, 
Giles Fitch, 
Charles S.weet, 



Asa Town. 
Silas Town, 
John R. Laraway, 
Nathan Parker, 
Norman Sheldon, 
Orlando Seymour, 
Nathaniel Graves, 
John Burns, 
Abram Palmer, 
Stephen Betts, 
Thomas Avery, 
Loren Doolittle, 
Thomas Hale, 
fames Phillips, 
John Southwiek, 
Eli jali 1 low, 
Asahel Gillett, 



Chester Andrews, 
Joseph B. Grandy, 
James Van Aukcn, 
Robert Mason, 
Daniel Roe, 
Asa Whitmore, 
Michael Vandercook, 
Samuel Harskell, 
William Moulton, 
Aaron Shepard, 
Ralph Sheldon, 
Samuel Millin. 
Elisha Benjamin, 
Simeon T. Viele, 
Solomon Chapin, 
Palmer Lovejoy, 
Worcester Henderson, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 289 

Isaac Gillett, Elisha Plank, Elijah Olmstead, 

Elihu Spencer, C. Avery, SimeonBissell, 

John Calkins, Stephen Joiner, John Wade, 

Seth Shepard, Jeduthan Wilson. 

Dr. Denas Hyde came here in 1807, and November 5, 1811, he took 
a contract for eight and one-half acres of lot 20. He was the father of 
Harlow Hyde, who is now the oldest living" supervisor of the town. 
The latter was for twenty years a justice of the peace and a member of 
Assembty in 1856-60. His son, James H., was lieutenant of Company 
A, 138th N. Y. Infantry. 

Zenas Wheeler came to Wolcott about the same time and was a mem- 
ber of the General Assembly in 1837. He was an elder in the Presby- 
terian Church, and died in Phelps in March, 1879. 

Lambert Woodruff bought and settled on about 500 acres adjoining 
the Black House farm, on the north, in 1808. He had five sons, John, 
Jesse, Charles, Luther and Andrew. His homestead subsequently be- 
came the residence of Enos Reed. 

Elisha Plank removed to this town in the spring of 1813, and on May 
21 purchased 467 acres on lots 381, 383 and 385, for which he paid 
$4.25 per acre. He built a saw mill and grist mill on Mill Creek, 
about one mile north of the village ; both establishments were carried 
away by a freshet November 1, 1814, carrying him and a son with 
them. The latter was drowned, but the father escaped with slight in- 
juries. The following spring his house was burned. He erected 
another grist mill on the same site, and died September 25, 1852. His 
son, born in 1796, came here with the family in 1813, and died Decem- 
ber 27, 1886. He taught school in early life and held several town 
offices. 

Abijah Moore was the pioneer settler on New Hartford street. He 
came in 1809 and brought his family hither in 1810, and led the first 
dance held in the town. Stephen and Sylvanus Joiner, on March 1, 
1811, purchased 1,050 acres for $4.00 an acre of Fellows & McNab; 
this was on lot 344, and upon it they built two frame barns. 

Hiram Church was a son of Osgood Church, previously mentioned, 
and was born in Marlboro, Mass., April 8, 1806. Coming herewith 
father in 1808 he lived to see the old town transformed from a wilder- 
ness into beautiful homes and thrifty villages, and a few years before 
his death he published in the Lake Shore News a number of articles 
37 



290 LANDMARKS OF 

pertaining to the early history of this locality. He had two daughters 
and a sen (William O.), and died here October 13, 1889. 

Giles Fitch contracted for ninety-six acres of lot 352 July 20, L811, 
and the same day Thaddens Fitch purchased a like amount of the same 
lot. The former was the first mail contractor from Wolcott to Auburn, 
carrying the mail on horseback once a week each way. 

Eliab Abbott was a settler of 1808. < >n September 30 of that year 
he contracted for fifty-nine and a half acres of lot 370. Among other 
pioneers and prominent settlers in the old town of Wolcott were Lott 
Stewart, inn-keeper at Stewart's Corners; Jarvis and Gardner Mudge; 
Ransom Ward, Joseph Foster, father of Asahel; Jedediah Wilson, on 
lot 66; Linus Hibbard, a blacksmith; Jonathan Runyon, a Revolution- 
ary soldier, who drew a bounty of 600 acres; Levi Smith ; Samuel J. 
Otis, on lot 352, an old Mason; Stephen D. Fowler, son of John P.; 
Ephraim P. Bigelow; Isaac Otis, on lot 267; Daniel Dutcher, on lot 75; 
Benjamin Brown, on lot 320, who died in June, 1871; John Mack, 
father of Harrison, on lot 31; Luke Brinkerhoff, on lot 62; John Ford, 
a soldier of the war of 1812; Daniel Patterson, also a veteran of 1812, 
and the father of John; William Sax, Roger Olmsted, George I. and 
Garrett Van Fleet, James M. Hall, Rev. Ira H. Hogan, William W. 
Phillips, father of John M. ; and Robert McArthur, another soldier in 
the war of 1812, and the father of John. June 24, 1812, Thomas Hale 
contracted for 200 acres of lots 304 and 312 and August 26, 1813, he 
purchased twenty -five acres more of lot 304. Charles Sweeet bought 
fifty acres of lot 344 October 15, 1813. 

Elias Y. Munson, born in New Jersey in July, 1703, removed to 
Auburn, where he helped to lay the walls of the State Prison, and came 
thence to Wolcott in 1820 as a clerk for Obadiah Adams. Upon the 
failure of the latter he went to Waterloo, but soon returned to Wolcott 
as agent in the store of Reuben Swift & Co., whom he soon bought out. 
About 1821) he purchased of the Geneva Bank the old tavern stand and 
farm of Adams's. The hotel was burned in the winter of 1836-7 and 
in 1837 he built the Northern Exchange Hotel, which was the first brick 
building in Wolcott. He subsequently bought a farm two miles south 
of the village, but two years later returned and engaged in merchandis- 
ing, a business he followed until shortly before his death, June 23, 
L861. He was the second postmaster of Wolcott, and for several years 
was a justice of the peace. He had three children. 

Rev. Amos P. Draper was born in Dover, N. Y., in L791, and by 



WAYNE COUNTY. 291 

trade was a carpenter and joiner. He " went from the bench to the 
pulpit" of the Baptist Church and beg'an his ministerial labors in Wol- 
cott, subsequently officiating- in Phelps and Red Creek. He was the 
father of Dr. Edwin H. Draper, a practicing' physician in Wolcott vil- 
lage; he also had four children. 

Thomas Snyder, born in Owasco, N. Y., in 1796, came with the 
family in 1813 to Red Creek, where his father purchased 1,000 acres of 
land. The latter built the first saw mill and grist mill in that village, 
and during his life was a prominent citizen of the place. 

John O. Wadsworth, from Vermont, settled in Butler with his father, 
Elisha W., in 1819. In 1832 he removed to Wolcott, and was sheriff of 
Wayne county four years. He was the father of Henry Wadsworth. 

Capt. Horace L. Dudley, born in Guilford, Conn., February 25, 1803, 
came to Wolcott in 1824, and in 1826 married Melinda Hendrick. He 
was a progressive agriculturist, held several town offices, and was com- 
missioned captain in the State militia August 22, 1829. He had nine 
children, and died March 25, 1880. 

Jedediah Wilder was born in Bristol, N. Y., in 1792, and came to 
Wolcott village in 1816. He purchased of Samuel Millen the fulling 
and cloth-dressing mill, which he conducted until 1826, when he sold 
it to Roswell Benedict and bought a farm of Zenas Wheeler. He was 
one of the earliest agents of the American Bible Society, for twenty 
years a magistrate of the town, for ten years president of the Wayne 
Sunday School Union, and a soldier in the State militia under Col. 
Swift during the attack on Sodus Point by the British. He died 
August 8, 1867. 

William Olney Wood, son of Noah, was born in Otsego county, N. 
Y., in August, 1809. He finally removed to Butler, and learning the 
trade of a tanner came to Wolcott village. In 1831 he purchased a small 
tannery in Red Creek and became one of the wealthiest and most in- 
fluential men in the town. He built Wood's Hotel and opened a 
private banking, office, and for several years was supervisor of Wolcott. 
He had ten children, and died in March, 1879. 

Hon. Isaac Leavenworth, a native of Watertown, Conn., born June 
17, 1781, became a resident of Wolcott village about 1838, and during 
the remainder of his life was one of the town's most prominent citizens. 
He founded the Leavenworth Institute, and in 1819 was elected to the 
Legislature. He was energetic, public spirited, enterprising, and gen- 
erous, and died February 26, 1860. 



292 LANDMARKS OF 

Anson Drury, born in Vermont in 1799, came to Huron with his par- 
ents Caleb and Jane in L816, and removed to a f arm in Wolcott in 1855, 
where lie died in January, 1881. Jesse W. Williams was born in Bur- 
lington, Yt., October 30, L797, served as a teamster, with his father, in 
the war of 1812, and came to this town in 1834, where he died in- August, 
L876. M. P. Foote, born in Newtown, Conn., in 1805, came here in 
1840, was first a merchant and then a farmer, and died September 25, 
L889. Capt. Thomas W. Johnson removed to Wolcott when a boy, 
served in the Civil War and was brevetted major, and died in Novem- 
ber, 188G. Jesse Mathews was supervisor of the old town in 1817 and 
for several years was a justice of the peace; his daughter Amanda sue. 
eeeded him on the homestead. 

Prominent among other settlers and residents are George W. Brink- 
erhoff, born in Wolcott in 1838, served in the 9th Heavy Artillery, 
brevetted major, elected to the Assembly in 1891; George Doolittle, 
supervisor, deceased; Joseph Ward, father of Reuben, died in 1882; R. 
W. Vonnglove, of North Wolcott; Jesse Olmstead, the last of nine 
children, died September 20, lss4; Deacon Cyrus Brockway, died in 
October, 1875; John Turner, father of M. B., died in 1890; Isaac Rice, 
father of Amnion, died in L893; John Dow, who purchased 300 acres of 
land at North Wolcott for $5 per acre and died in 1884; Alanson Frost, 
from Connecticut, father of Oscar J. ; Hamilton Hibbard, who died 
April 29, 1894. Many others are noticed in Part II of this volume. 

In 1858 the town had 12,995 acres improved land; real estate assessed 
at $549,749; personal property, $55,300; 1,535 male and 1,478 female 
inhabitants; 593 dwellings, G09 families, and 484 freeholders; 15 school 
districts attended by 1,223 children; 073 horses, 1,327 oxen and calves, 
882 cows, 4,296 sheep, 1,092 swine. There were produced that year 
9, L03 bushels winter and 1 L2,751 bushels spring wheat, 1,714 tons hay, 
10,854 bushels potatoes, 17,456 bushels apples, 79, 180 pounds butter, 
2,452 pounds cheese, and 840 yards domestic cloths. 

In 1890 the town had a population of 3,216, or 515 less than in 1880. 
In 1893 the assessed valuation of land was $629,375 (equalized $644,- 
831); village and mill property, $351,035 (equalized $344,149); rail- 
roads and telegraphs, $102,638; personal property, $23,150. Schedule 
of taxes for L893 : Contingent fund, $2, 984. 62 ; town poor, $200; roads 
bridges, $634.42; special town tax, $5,800; school tax, $1,019.91; 
count_\- tax, $2,440.25; State tax, $1,344.71; State insane tax, $346.91; 
dogtax, $72:50. Total tax levy, $15,185.44; rate percent. .01372759. 



WAYNE COUNTY 293 

There are four election districts and in 1893 the town polled about 690 
votes. 

In the war of the Rebellion the town of Wolcott sent to the front a 
large number of her brave and heroic citizens, who did valiant service 
in the suppression of that sanguinary conflict. Some of them rose to 
the ranks of commissioned officers ; many gave up their life blood on 
Southern battlefields or in rebel prisons. The survivors are few, and 
with the dead they share the tender remembrances of a grateful people 
upon each Memorial Day. 

The first birth in Wolcott was that of Isaac Hopper, and the first 
death in the old town was that of Sarah Mills, who died December 25, 
1809, and was buried on the Viele farm. The two principal cemeteries 
in the present town are those at Red Creek and Wolcott villages. The 
oldest portion of the latter is known as Leavenworth cemetery, while 
the annex, or new part, is called Glenside; the receiving vault was 
built in April, 1887. 

The first school house in town was a log structure built in 1810, in 
Wolcott village, on the site of Dr. E. H. Draper's present residence. 
Another log school building was erected two or three years later by 
Jonathan Melvin, sr. , near the Knapp foundry. This was the first dis- 
trict in the town, and was organized as No. 1 about 1812, the first 
trustees being Osgood Church, Lambert Woodruff, and Eliakim Tup- 
per. One acre, covering the site of the Baptist church, was donated 
by Mr. Melvin, and soon a frame school house was built thereon; this 
building was subsequently purchased by Obadiah Adams, who moved 
it across the street and added it to his hotel. A new structure was 
erected on the lot and known as the old red school house until 1843, 
when it was removed and a two-story building put up in its place. 
This employed two teachers, and was burned in 1865. Among the 
earlier teachers in these buildings were Mary Lambert (daughter of 
Lambert Woodruff), John Melvin (son of Jonathan), Daniel Butrick, 
Huldah Seymour (daughter of Dea. Noah Seymour and afterward Mrs. 
John Roe), Prudence Wells (afterward Mrs. Jedediah Wilder), William 
Plank (son of Elisha), Loren Doolittle, Austin Roe, Harlow Hyde, 
Levi Hendrick, Barabus Knapp, Willis Roe, and Samuel Colboth. 

In 1859 Leavenworth Institute was incorporated and a brick building- 
erected on New Hartford street in Wolcott village, through the mu- 
nificence of Hon. Isaac Leavenworth, .who contributed one-half of the 
funds, the balance being raised by subscription. It is two stories high 



294 LANDMARKS OF 

above a stone basement, and for several years contained the only pub- 
lic hall in town. The first principal was M. J. Slee, and the first presi- 
dent of the Board of Trustees was Dr. James M. Wilson, who was suc- 
ceeded by E. N. Plank. Upon the destruction by fire of the public 
school building a project was inaugurated to consolidate the two, which 
was effected November 1, 1865, under the name of Leavenworth Insti- 
tute and Cmion Free School, the former becoming the academic de- 
partment, and the district being reorganized as Union Free School 
district, No. 1, towns of Wolcott, Huron and Butler. November 4 the 
following Board of. Education was elected: Dr. James M. Wilson, 
Jedediah Wilder, E. N. Blank, J. Talcott, B. F. Peck, William H. 
Thacker, W. W. Paddock, T. W. Collins, C. P. Smith, R. Sours, J. S. 
Roe, L. Millington and R. Matthews ; E. N. Plank was president ; W. 
\V. Paddock, treasurer; Chester Dutton, secretary and librarian. The 
new organization paid a debt of $250 against the institute and refunded 
$260 to the Leavenw r orth heirs. The first term opened December 12, 
18G5, with John Teller as principal, and Miss Tappan as preceptress. 
Among the successive principals have been Amos H. Thompson, Pro- 
fessor Hutton, M. T. Brown, C. T. R. Smith, Jefferson W. Hoag, Pro- 
fessor Baldwin, John T. Cothran, W. R. Vosburgh, Edward Hay ward, 
E. B. Nichols, John W. Robinson and E. D. Niles. The preceptress 
is Miss Agnes Ford. 

The first school house at Red Creek was a frame structure, twenty 
feet square, on Canada street, and one of its first teachers was Abigail 
Bunce. In 1837 the wooden building of the present academy was 
erected, and the first teacher therein was Norman F. Wright. March 
27, 1830, the Red Creek Union Academy was incorporated, and among 
the first trustees were William (). Wood, Amos Snyder, Abel Lyon and 
Francis Nichols. The first principal was N. F. Wright, A. M. ; second, 
John W. Armstrong, A. M. ; third, Professor Hendrickson, associated 
with Rev. E. C. Bruce, who remained until 1854. About this time the 
first brick building, fifty by seventy feet, three stories high, was erected, 
and Rev. William C. Mason was appointed agent; lie alone contributed 
$500. The fourth principal was Rev. John B. Van Patten. In L858 
or 1859 the brick building burned, and the citizens subscribed for 
another. The contract was let to Jonathan P. Jones for $4,000, who 
put up the present structure with a judgment against it of $1,500. The 
property was sold, being bid off by William 1'. Jones, who took a 
sheriff's <\<^-\\, and who disposed of the whole in 1865 to a stock com- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 895 

pany for $10,000, divided into shares of $25.00 each. The institution 
was reorganized, a new charter was obtained, and the name was 
changed to the Red Creek Union Seminary, which it has since born; 
the trustees named in this charter were William P. Jones, president; 
J. B. Decker, secretary; Jonathan P. Jones, Lewis Jones, Riley Z. Pat- 
rick, Parson Cooper, Amasa Ouivey and George Coplin. Mr. Decker 
has served continuously as trustee and secretary since 1865. The old 
charter building is still standing, and occupied by the principal as a 
residence. The Board of Education for 1891-5 consists of Parson 
Cooper, president; J. B. Decker, secretary; Riley Z. Patrick, treasurer; 
George M. Coplin, Abram Harris, Jay D. Frost, Amasa Quivey, Lewis 
Jones and William T. Clark. The principal is Albert D. Whitney, 
A. M., assisted by three teachers. The school is in a very flourishing 
condition. 

The first school house in the vicinity of North Wolcott was a log 
structure erected about 1835 by John Dow. Prior to this a school had 
been kept in "the shanty" near Little Red Creek by Margaret Shaft, 
afterward Mrs. Elijah Edwards. A frame school house was built in 
district No. 2 in 1840. 

The town now has fifteen school districts with buildings, in which 
twenty-six teachers are employed, and which are attended by about 920 
scholars. Value of school buildings and sites in 1893, $20,220'; assessed 
valuation of districts, $1,370,525; money received from the State, 
$3,582,12; raised by local tax, $5,146.11. 

Wolcott Village. — This is one of the pleasantest villages in Wayne 
county. It lies in the extreme west corner of this town and partly in 
the town of Butler, and on the south side of the R. , W. & O. Railroad. 
Containing valuable mill privileges on Wolcott Creek, it was the site 
of the first settlement and the first business interests within the present 
town, and much of its earlier history has already been recorded in 
previous pages of this chapter. Intimately connected with its growth 
and development from a dense forest to a thrifty village are associated 
the names of Jonathan Melvin, sr. , Obadiah Adams, Osgood Church, 
Dr. David Arfie, Elias Y. Munson, and others heretofore mentioned. 
The first improvements were inaugurated by Melvin, and the first 
tavern and distillery were conducted by Adams. The latter also had a 
cornmeal kiln, and his huge hogsheads, filled with meal for shipment, 
early give the place the name of " Puncheonville. " Dr. Arne was the 
first postmaster. About 1811 Jacob Butterfield, a tanner and shoe- 



296 LANDMARKS OF 

maker, purchased of Mr. Church three acres on which he built a tan- 
nery and conducted business many years. William M. Nurss and Mer- 
ritt Candy from Oneida county, came here in L823 and erected a dis- 
tillery and ashery on the east side of the creek; they purchased Elisha 
Plank's grist mill, and also established a store. Mr. Candy died in 
L828 and Nurss closed out their business, being succeeded by Alanson 
Melvin, whom his father, Jonathan, sr. , had left here to wind up his 
affairs. E. Y. Munson, as previously noted, succeeded to the Adams 
tavern and all the land on lot 50 which Adams had purchased of Melvin. 
He sold to Stephen P. and Chester A. Keyes all that tract across Main 
street from the Wilder lot to the gulf and moved the old barn and sheds 
over to his tavern stand. The Messrs. Keyes occupied Munson's old 
store. Nathan Pierce, son-indaw of Levi Smith, built a hotel opposite 
his stone building and kept it several years; it was later known as the 
old White Hotel. A Dr. Tripp, from Montgomery county, purchased 
from the Geneva Bank the Melvin mill property and repaired and con- 
ducted it some time. The present Wolcott House, standing on the site 
of Adams's pioneer tavern, which was burned and replaced by the 
Northern Exchange, was rebuilt by Julius Whiting in isso and passed 
from him to the present proprietor, S. A. Williams, on February 1, 
L887; the latter has also made additions. Abram Cuyler settled here 
in 1833; his son, John H., was the first producer of barrel staves in the 
village. 

Wolcott village was incorporated February 24, L852, and reincor- 
porated in February, 1873. March IS, 1873, the following- officers were 
chosen: Asa D. Kellogg, president; B. Franklin Knapp, Horace L. 
Dudley, Nelson Moore, trustees; Henry A. Graves, treasurer; Hiram 
Silliman, collector; William O. Church, clerk. The presidents since 
then have been : 

Anson S. Wood, is; I, Benham S. Wood, L882. 

William W. Paddock, is;:,. Noah Wood, 1883. 

George I'.. Curtis, 1876. Henry A. Graves, 1884. 

Thomas W. Johnson, is;;. Martin E. Cornwell, 1885-87. 

Martin E. Cornwell, 1878. Alanson Church, 1888. 

David H. Mann, 1879. F. S. Johnson, 1889 92. 

Henry A. Graves, 1880 si G. II. Northrup, L893-94. 

The village officers lor IS'.U arc: G. 11. Xorthrup, president; J. E. 

Lawrence, 1!. J. Worden, II. A. Loveless, trustees; Joel Fanning, 

F. A. Prevost, treasurer; William Borden street commissioner; 



WAYNE COUNTY. .".K 

E. H. Kellogg, police justice; the trustees, assessors; N. W. Merrill, 
collector. 

The village has been visited by a number of conflagrations, impor- 
tant among which are the following: In 1874, destroying a large amount 
of property; July 20, 1875, eight business houses from the Wolcott 
House to the "Arcade" building, loss about $12,000; August 28, 1876, 
six business places on the east side of Mill street; November 11, 1879, 
the old landmark, the " Arcade," which was owned by the Presbyterian 
church and leased for stores; February 10, 1884, eight business blocks 
including the Lake Shore News office, rendering homeless twenty-three 
business concerns and fourteen families, less about $150,000; and 
February 19, 1887, Campbell's block. 

In April, 1884, it was decided to raise by tax $2,500 for the purchase 
of a fire engine and suitable equipment, and in the fall of 1885 the 
present frame engine house and village hall was erected. In Novem- 
ber, 1886, a new hook and ladder truck for Independent Company No. 
1 was purchased. The fire department is now constituted as follows : 
Chief, Henry A. Graves; first assistant, Rolla Stewart; second assist- 
ant, J. G. Cook. Independent Hook and Ladder Company No 1, Cy- 
rus E. Fitch, foreman. Wolcott Fire Company No 1, B. J. Worden, 
foreman; Wolcott Hose Company No 1, William Olmsted, foreman. 

The first banking business in Wolcott village was instituted in a 
small way by James V. D. Westfall. Roe & Ellis's private bank was 
started by Roe, Ellis and Pomeroy in 1875, in the present bank build- 
ing, which was erected for the purpose. In the spring of 1884 Mr. 
Pomeroy sold his interest to the present firm, consisting of Willis S. 
Roe and A. D. Ellis. 

Wolcott village now contains four dry goods stores, three groceries, 
four drug stores, two hardware stores, three clothing stores, two furni- 
ture and undertaking establishments, a boot and shoe store, four 
jewelry stores, three milliners, a newspaper and printing office, a bank, 
three hotels, three liveries, two meat markets, a bakery, two harness 
shops, a music store, four churches, five physicians, seven lawyers, two 
dentists, two insurance offices, a variety store, two grist mills, two 
foundry and machine shops, two lumber and three coal yards, a box 
factory, a fruit warehouse, one grain elevator, a laundry, marble and 
monumental works, a photograph gallery, two public halls, two wagon 
and four blacksmith shops, _ and about 950 inhabitants. The present 
postmaster is C. F. Van Valkenburg. 
38 



298 LANDMARKS OF 

Red Creek — This village is situated in the east part of the town, on 
the stream of the same name, and on the R., W. & O. Railroad, and in 
an early day was called Jacksonville in honor of Gen. Andrew Jackson. 
A post-office was established, the name of which as well as that of the 
village was changed to its present designation in 1836. The first set- 
tler, tradition says, was a hunter and fisherman named Beman, who 
built a rude hut on the banks of Red Creek, some forty rods east of the 
Presbyterian Church. The second comer was a Mr. Babbitt. Neither 
of these remained more than a few years. In 1811 Noadiah Childs 
came in, built a log house, and made other improvements. Then fol- 
lowed Jacob Snyder with his ten children: John, Peter, Thomas, Amos, 
Noah, Betsey,. Polly, Catharine, Nancy and Jacob, jr. He built a log 
house and later a frame one on the site of the dwelling of the late W. 
O. Wood. This was the first frame house in the village. Mr. Snyder 
was a Methodist preacher and often officiated at local meetings. The 
next settler was Isaac Easton, with eleven children, of whom the sons 
were William. John, Mahlon, Chillion, David, Abram and Walter. 
This was in 1816, and soon afterward Isaac Hoppin, Philip Bien, Abra- 
ham Teachout and James S. Brinkerhoff came in. 

The first store was opened about 1832 by Stephen P. and Chester A. 
Keyes, who came hither from Wolcott village. Lyon & Hawley 
started another the same year. Isaac Easton was the first blacksmith, 
and following him were Messrs. Bunceand Gage. Noah Snyder opened 
the first tavern about 1829; it was twice burned and rebuilt. The first 
brick buildings were the academy and the store of Underbill & Lyon, 
the latter being built in 1854. The first physician was a Dr. White. 
The first lawyer was John W. Carey, who practiced here for six years 
prior to 184!), when he removed to Wisconsin, where he was State 
senator two terms; he is now in Chicago, and has been general attor- 
ney for the C, St. P. & M. Railroad for over twenty-five years. J. B. 
Decker was town superintendent of common schools for four years. 
lie was admitted to the bar of this State in 1850, has been district at- 
torney three years, and a notary public ever since that office was cre- 
ated in the town. He was a student in the Red Creek Academy the 
first year it started, is a graduate of Union College, receiving the de- 
grees of A. B. and A.M., and for several years was admitted to the 
United States Courts. 

K. C. Hoff, the father of Hubbard Hoff, became a merchant here in 
is:! I. The first saw mil] on Red Creek was erected by Jacob Snyder 



WAYNE COUNTY. 299 

in 1814; this was carried away in a freshet March 17, 1820; another was 
built in 1826, and has given place to the present one, owned by William 
Camp. Mr. Snyder erected the first grist mill on the same stream in 
1816, which was subsequently occupied by G. M. Wood. A tannery 
was built here about 1820 by a Mr. Hale. M. and W. G. Wood also 
operated a tannery for many years ; their old building is now used for 
a fruit evaporator. The present owners of the two gristmills are Wal- 
lace Benedict and Homer Campbell. 

In 1852 the village was incorporated with an area of one square mile. 
In the spring of 1874 the records were burned, and the earliest officers 
obtainable are those elected in 1876, when William O. Wood became 
president and A. T. Delling clerk. The presidents since then are : 

S. H. Hamlin, 1877-78, E. Becker, 1888; 

James Keesler, 1879, William H. Milliman, 1889, 

S. H. Hamlin, 1880, Abram Harris, 1890, 

J. P. Jones, 1881, C. O. Peterson, 1891, 

B. H. Benedict, 1882, George D. Barber, 1892, 

J. D. Frost, 1883, Patrick Keegon, 1893, 

Abram Harris, 1884-85, Charles Longyear, 1894. 
G. M. Coplin, 1886-87, 

The officers for 1894 are: Charles Longyear, president; George Long- 
year, Daniel McMullen, Jacob D. Covert, George W. Flint, trustees; 
John S. Smith, clerk; George Robertson, Parson Cooper, George D. 
Barber, assessors; Amasa Quivey, collector; Patrick Malone, treasurer; 
Daniel D. Becker, police justice; Amasa Q. Milliman, police constable; 
James Hedges, street commissioner. 

William O. Wood established the first banking business in Red Creek 
and continued it about four years, being succeeded by his son, G. W. 
He soon gave way to a younger brother and A. M. Green as Wood & 
Green, who finally discontinued the business. In the fall of 1884 Becker 
& Hall purchased Wood & Green's safe, etc., and started a private 
banking establishment, which they still carry on in connection with a 
large general store. 

In the spring of 1874 the business portion of the village was almost 
entirely devastated by fire. In September, 1878, the stave, saw, and 
heading mill of James Van Voorhees & Co. was burned, with a loss of 
$7,000. February 28, 1884, the post-office building and stores were con- 
sumed, causing a loss of some $16,000. In March, 1894, fire destroyed 
the brick block on the site on which PI. C. Van Alstine is now (August, 
1894) building a handsome structure. 



300 LANDMARKS OF 

Red Creek village now contains three general stores, two drug- stores, 
a meat market, two hotels, three liveries, a newspaper and printing of- 
fice, one furniture and undertaking establishment, one jeweler, five 
blacksmith and two wagon shops, two milliners, a photograph gallery, 
one grocery, two lawyers, three physicians, a veterinary surgeon, two 
warehouses, one lumber and two coal yards, a harness shop, a flour and 
feed store, two grist mills, a cooperage, a hardware store, saw mill, 
several fruit evaporators, four churches, the Union Seminary, district 
school, and about 500 inhabitants. The postmaster is William M. 
Milliman. 

North Wolcott is a small hamlet on the east side of Little Red Creek 
in the northern part of the town. Minott Mitchell purchased for spec- 
ulation 3,000 acres, including lots 20, 21, 39, and 40, and in 183(1 he 
built a saw mill on the creek on lot 3!). About 1841 Winslow Dodge 
erected another, and in 1842 John Dow put up a third, which subse- 
quently became known as the Casterline mill. The first steam saw 
mill was built by Fowler & Conner in 1804. In 1844 Hiram Blanchard 
opened a blacksmith shop and about 1865 George Delemater built a 
store. In 1873 the post-office was established with Nathaniel J. Field 
as postmaster, who held the office for nineteen years, being succeeded 
by the present incumbent, D. J. Kyle. Mr. Field became a merchant 
here about 1873. The first frame house in the locality was built by a 
Mr. Hill in L837. 

Furnack Village, one mile north of Wolcott, contains a saw mill, 
bed-spring manufactory, and a few houses. A blast furnace was built 
here about 1823 by Andrew Chapin and conducted under the firm name 
of Chapin l\: Parks. They soon abandoned the iron ore bed near by and 
secured ore from the Red Creek ore bed north of that village. The 
business was continued until Chapin 's death, when the property passed 
to their former employees, Hendrick & Seymour, who were succeeded 
by Hendrick & Leavenworth. The furnace has long since been dis- 
continued. 

The First Presbyterian church of Wolcott was founded July 18, 1813, 
by Revs. Charles Mosier and Henry Axtell, with twenty-three mem- 
bers, and September 7 the society was legally organized "at the school 
house near Obadiah Adams" by the election of these trustees: Lam- 
bert Woodruff, Josiah Upson, Jarvis Mudge, Noah Seymour, Jonathan 
Melvin, and John Wade. Adonijah Church was the first clerk, and the 
corporation certificate was filed before Judge Jesse Southwick, of 



WAYNE COUNTY. 801 

Seneca county, January 18, 1814. The first pastor was Rev. Daniel 
S. Buttrick; he received an annual salary of $200 and remained about 
two years. The second pastor was Rev. William Clark. For twelve 
years meetings were held alternately at the Adams and Cobble Hill 
school houses. An attempt was made to build a church by subscrip- 
tion, but without avail, and the result was the erection of one at South 
Huron and another in the village of Wolcott. The latter was built 
where Dr. E. H. Draper's residence now stands in 1826, but re- 
mained unfinished inside until 1832. The first trustees of this church 
were Alanson Melvin, Abijah Moore, Elisha Plank, John Woodruff, 
Andrew Chapin, and Merritt Candy ; the first pastor was Rev. 
Nathaniel Merrill. The society had twelve members.' In 1852 during 
the pastorate of Rev. Thomas Wright, a new edifice was built on the 
site of Newberry & Burton's store; Rev. Mr. Wright preached the last 
sermon February 11, 1883. The corner stone of the third and present 
brick structure was laid by the pastor, Rev. William A. Rice, July 6, 
1882. It was dedicated free from debt February 15, .1883, and cost 
complete $16,814. The present pastor, Rev. H. B. wStevenson, as- 
sumed charge in October, 1889. The society has about 275 members. 

The Methodist Episcopal Church of Wolcott. — Preaching b) r circuit 
riders commenced in this section at a very early date. It was known 
as the Sodus circuit, and the first quarterly meeting was held at the 
barn of Daniel Roe on October 9, 1813. The first class in Wolcott was 
formed in 1833 with these members: L. Millington, leader, Lovina 
Millington, Nathan and Jerusha Pierce, and a Mrs. Southwick. In 
1838 a church was built. This was replaced by the present edifice, the 
corner stone of which was laid June 29, 1872. It is of brick, was dedi- 
cated in 1873, and cost about $12,000. The society has about 290 
members under the pastoral care of Rev. J. C. B. Moyer. The first 
preacher located on the original circuit was Rev. Truman Gillett. 

The First Baptist church of Wolcott was incorporated June 2, 1835, 
with twenty-four constitutent members. The first pastor was Rev. 
Isaac Bucklin, and among his successors have been: Revs. Hiller, 
D. D. Chittendon, H. P. Stillwell, Barrel, Wadhams, C. A. Skinner, 
Peter Irving, Garret, Smith, O. P. Meeks, A. H. Stearns, A. R. Bab- 
cock, J. J. Hammer, Wm. Furgeson, C. E. Christian, and Abner Mor- 
rill, the present pastor. The first church was a wood structure which 
stood on the site of the present handsome edifice. The latter was built 
in 1880 and dedicated March 4, 1881* by Rev. R. E. Burton. It is of 



302 LANDMARKS OP 

brick and cost complete $6,282. The society has about eighty mem- 
bers. 

The Methodist Protestant Church of Wolcott was organized by Rev. 
Ira Hogan, the first pastor, in 1855, with seven members: Alanson 
Millington (leader), Henry S. Cornwell (steward), Mrs. H. S. Corn- 
well, Henry S. Nichols, John and Aurelia Cook, and Walter Paddock. 
Services were held in a stone church that had been erected by a de- 
funct Universalist society until 1863, when their present edifice was 
built at a cost of $3,300; it was consecrated by Rev. James Smith. 
The present membership is about thirty-five, and the pastor is Rev. 
Mr. McChesney. 

The Methodist Episcopal Church of Red Creek. — Of this society the 
record is as follows: "Red Creek, formerly the eastern part of Rose 
circuit, was constituted by the appointment of the Rev. Royal Hough- 
ton, of the Black River annual conference, preacher in charge, at their 
session held in Syracuse, commencing the 19th dav of Julv, 1843. The 
society of the station was organized at a meeting of official members 
held at the church at Red Creek on Saturday, August 12, L843, and is 
as follows, viz.: Royal Houghton, preacher in charge; Abiram Skeel 
and Abel Lyon, local preachers; Aurelius Dykeman, exhorter; Amos 
Snyder, Harvey Douglass, William G. Brown, John W. Miller, and 
Anthony Prior, stewards; William G. Brown, recording secretary." 
Eleven classes were formed, with a membership of ninety-eight. The 
class leaders were Amos Snyder, Benjamin Jenkins, John Quereau, 
James Cosgrove, Harvey Douglass, Henry Madan, John Ford, John 
McArthur, William G. Brown, Silas Nichols, and Jesse Viele. Among 
the pastors succeeding Rev. Mr. Houghton were Revs. John W. Coope, 
P. S. Bennett, M. H. Gaylord, D. W. Roney, E. Wheeler, H. Kinsley, 
John Slee, R. N. Barber, Isaac Turney, B. Alden, George C. Wood, 
S. B. Crosier, R. Redhead, and C. N. Damen. The society has a neat 
edifice and also owns a parsonage. They have a membership of about 
150. Rev. D. B. Kellogg is pastor. 

The Presbyterian Church of Red Creek was regularly organized May 
13, 1818, by Rev. William Clark with these members: George B. and 
Luke T. Brinkerhoff, William Wood, Ebenezer Nale, Samuel Van Fleet, 
Martin and Saffarine Courtright, John Turner, Jane and Netty Brinker- 
hoff, Catharine Wood, Hannah Courtright, and Richard Van Fleet. 
The first officers were : G. B. Brinkerhoff, Luke T. Brinkerhoff, and 
William Wood, elders; Ebenezer Nale, deacon. The first session was 



WAYNE COUNTY. 303 

held September 12, at the house of George B. Brinkerhoff and Daniel 
B. Wheeler was received as a member and baptized ; thirteen persons 
also joined by letter. The first church edifice was erected in 1838, and 
the first meeting- in it was held February 2, 1839. The society owns a 
parsonage, which the}'' built, and has a membership of sixty-five. The 
present pastor is Rev. A. Nelson. 

The Baptist Church of Red Creek was organized in 1841, with about 
thirty members. The first trustees were William O. Wood, Abram 
Teachout, and Daniel Dutcher, and meetings were held in the school 
house several years. About 1847 a church edifice, thirty-two by fifty- 
six feet, was erected, and subsequently a parsonage was secured. 
Among the earlier pastors were Revs. J. S. Everingham, Kinney, 
Amasa Curtis, Ira Bennett, and Ira Dudley. The society has about 
forty-five members under the pastoral charge of Rev. J. M. Shotwell, 
whose wife is superintendent of the Sunday school. 

St. Thomas's Roman Catholic Church of Red Creek was built in 
1875 at a cost of $3,000, the corner stone being laid by Rt. Rev. Bishop 
McQuaid on October 26, of that year. It is a frame structure and 
stands on Main street near the depot. The first pastor was Rev. 
Father King; the present one in charge is Father Ruby, who resides 
in Cato, Cayuga county. The parish has about sixty families. 

The Methodist Protestant Church of North Wolcott was built in 
1863, the first pastor being Rev. Philip Swift. The first meetings of 
the society, which was organized about 1838, were held in " the shanty " 
and afterward in the school house. The church subsequently passed 
to the control of an M. E. society, but later returned again to the Metho- 
dist Protestants. There are now about 100 worshipers and Rev. W. 
H. Church is pastor and superintendent of the Sunday school. 



::ni LANDMARKS OF 



CHAPTTER XX. 

HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF WILLIAMSON. 

Williamson was set off from the town of Soduson February 20, L802, 
and until the organization of Wayne county in 182-5 comprised apart of 

the county of Ontario. It was originally known as township No. 11, 
and its formation included also within its limits the present towns of 
Marion, Walworth, and Ontario. Ontario (including Walworth) was 
sel off March 27, L807, and Marion on April is, L825, leaving William- 
son with its present assessed area of 20,256 acres. It is nearly six 
miles square, and was named from Capt. Charles Williamson, the first 
agent of the Pultney estate. ( >riginallythe town was divided into three 
tracts, viz. : The Pultney estate, comprising the north, west, and south- 
west portions, the Hornby tract, the southeast portion, and the Hudson 
the east part. The land sold for ten shillings an acre. 

Situated on the northern border of Wayne county, west of the cen- 
ter, this township is bpunded on the east by Sodus, on the sonth by 
Marion, on the west by Ontario, and on the north by Lake Ontario. 
From about the center of the town northward, the surface is generally 
level, sloping toward the lake; on the sonth it is broken by low ridges. 
The soil is an alluvial formation. In the northern part it is mainly a 
sandy loam while in the south it consists largely of clay. Salmon 
Creek, emptying into the lake at Pnltneyville, Mink Creek, in the east- 
ern part of the town, and a small brook west of these, with a few tribu- 
taries, afford excellent drainage. 

The town is mainly devoted to agricultural pursuits, and in point of 
productiveness is one of the best in Wayne county. The raising of 
-rain, which formed the chief product in earlier daws, has largely been 
superseded by mixed farming. Large apple orchards, set out a gen- 
eration ago, still bear abundantly, while pears, peaches, quinces, 
grapes, etc., are cultivated with considerable profit. During the last 
decade the growing of raspberries has developed extensively, the acre- 
age in is 1 .):; being estimated at over (ion. The fruit industry has 
brought into existence numerous evaporators or dry houses, scarcely a 
farm of any size being without one. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 305 

In several parts of the town iron ore has been produced in paying 
quantities, but the business of digging it has never been prosecuted to 
any extent. From the present farm of John P. Bennett, his father, 
Dr. Josiah Bennett, once took $200 worth of bog ore. 

The first thoroughfare in Williamson was the Sodus road running 
from Geneva via Palmyra and Marion to Sodus Point. It crossed the 
southeast corner of the town, passed through East Williamson village, 
and was opened by Capt. Williamson in 1794. The second highway 
was a road leading through Marion and Williamson villages to Pultney- 
ville, over the old Indian trail or " post road," and was later known in 
this town as Jersey street from the fact that many of the settlers along 
its lines came from New Jersey. The ridge road, running east and 
west through Williamson, was opened at a later date. Most of the 
highwa)^s were surveyed between 1800 and 1820. Moses Still and 
Abraham Pratt were road commissioners in the first named year. 

Until the completion of the Lake Ontario Shore Railroad (now the 
R. W. and O.) in 1876 the only means of transportation and travel were 
by stage or by water from Pultneyville ; the advent of this route gave 
to the town a commercial importance that it has ever since maintained, 
and opened for its .products the best markets of the world. To aid in 
the construction of this railroad the town was bonded for $60,000. 
These bonds are practically all paid off , and to-day Williamson enjoys 
the distinction of being the first town along the route to extinguish the 
indebtedness incurred for this purpose, the credit for which is mainly 
clue its veteran supervisor, Hon. John P. Bennett. 

The first town meeting convened at the dwelling of Timothy Smith 
in Marion village in March, 1803, when Daniel Douglass, David Hard- 
ing, Leonard Aldrich, and Henry Lovell were elected assessors; 
Leonard Aldrich and Stephen Bushnell, commissioners of highways. 
The tax levy this year was $145 and the wolf bounty aggregated $52. 

March 6, 1804, the second town meeting was held at the residence of 
Daniel Powell in Marion and these officers were chosen: Luke Phelps, 
supervisor; Daniel Douglass, town clerk; Micajah Harding, Samuel 
Millett, Samuel O. Caldwell, assessors; Abraham Pratt, constable and 
collector; S. O. Caldwell and Micajah Harding, overseers of the poor; 
Jonathan Hill, Henry Lovell, William B. Cogswell, highway commis- 
sioners; Micajah Harding and Moses Blakesley, fence viewers; Moses 
Blakesley, pound keeper. Five dollars were voted for every wolf 
39 



30C LANDMARKS OF 

killed, four dollars for each bear's head taken, and fifty dollars were to 
be reused by tax for the destruction of noxious animals in the town. 
The following license was issued to John Fuller, June 1, 1801 : 

A. 1 >. 1807, — Be it known that we, the commissioners of excise of the town of 
Williamson, in the county of Ontario, Irave licensed, and in pursuance of the statute 
provided in such case do hereby license and permit John Fuller, of the town of Wil- 
liamson, distiller, to sell by retail any strong or spirituous liquors under five gallons, 
provided the same be not drank in his house, outhouse, yard, or garden, from the 
date of these presents until the first Thursday in May next. Given under our hands 
and seals this first day of June. 

Caleb Lyon. 
Pardon Di rfee, 
William Rooeks, 

Executive Committee. 

The name of the first supervisor (1803) cannot be ascertained, and it 
will also be noticed that the first town meeting was held more than a 
year after the town was organized. The supervisors since 1804 have 
been : 

Luke Phelps, 1804-0. Daniel Grandin, 1845. 

Caleb Lyon, L807. John Cottrell, 1846-48. 

Luke Phelps, 1808. William Stautenburg, 1849. 

Jacob Hallett, 1809-11. Hiram Gallup, 1850-51. 

S. II. Caldwell, 1812-16. Hayden W. Curtis, 1852. 

David Eddy, 1817-1820. John S. Todd, 1853. 

Russell Whipple, 1821-22. Henry W. Brownell, 1854. 

Freeman Hart, 1823. Elias Cady, 18.-),-). 

Russell Whipple, 1824-34. William H. Rogers, 1856-59. 

Daniel Poppino, 1835-36. Benjamin J. Hance, 1860-74. 

John Borrodaile, 1837-38. Washington S. Throop, is;;, 78 

William Johnson, 1839-40. John P. Bennett, 1879 to 1894 iu- 

Jedediah Allen, 1841-44. elusive. 

Town officers for 1S ( .)4 are : John P. Bennett, supervisor; Frank S. 
Wilder, town clerk; H. N. Burr, J. A. French, Samuel Lyon, Amasa 
Cady, justices of the peace; Joseph Hanby, Amos F. Selby, Charles S. 
Adams, assessors; William A. Coutant, collector; Charles B. Hoag- 
land, highway commissioner; John J. Lucknor, overseer of the poor 

In 1858 there were in Williamson 14,796 acres of improved land, real 
estate valued at $69,632, 2,552 inhabitants, PC) dwellings, 529 families, 
128 freeholders, fourteen school districts, and 791 schoolchildren. Agri- 
cultural statistics, L858: 994 horses, L,278 working oxen and calves, 
l,n:;; cows, 7,509 sheep, 1,519 swine, 8,803 bushels winter wheat, 93,- 
l\C bushels spring wheat, 2,943 tons of hay, L3,835 bushels potatoes, 



WAYNE COUNTY. Wt 

32,702 bushels apples, 91, 822 pounds butter, 36,175 pounds of cheese, 
and 845 yards domestic cloths. 

The assessed valuation of real estate in the town in 1893 was $694,- 
879 (equalized, 664,079); value of village and mill property, $196,925, 
(equalized $167,445); value of personal property, $115, 000; total as- 
sessed valuation, $1,092,292, (equalized $1,032,012). Schedule of taxes 
for 1893: Contingent fund, $751.65; poor fund, $500; roads and 
bridges, $250; schools, $944.24; county tax, $2,259.19; State tax, 
$1,244.94; insane tax, $321,17; dog tax $119. Total tax levied, $6,025.41 ; 
rate per cent, .0060056. The town had a population in 1890 of 2,670, 
and in 1893 polled 603 votes. In August, 1890, it was redistricted into 
three election districts; in July, 1891, it was again formed into two 
election districts. 

Settlements were commenced at Pultneyville and Williamson villages 
following the year 1804. The pioneers were a sturdy class of New 
Englanders, and as the town filled up they imparted to the community 
sterling characteristics, which are largely traceable to their descendants 
and the present inhabitants. By toil, frugality and hardships they 
cleared off the dense forests, transformed the wilderness into produc- 
tive farms, and built for themselves and their successors pleasant 
homes, substantial churches, good schools, thriving villages. 

The first white settler in Williamson was "Yankee Bill" Waters, 
who squatted in 1804 at " Appleblossom Point," on the lake shore, a 
place that took its name from a few apple trees which he planted. By 
sailors it was known as "Apple-boom Point " from its resemblance to 
the boom of a vessel. A hunter living only for the sake of mere living, 
he remained a few years and suddenly and mysteriously disappeared 
forever. 

It was about 1800 that the first permanent settlers came into town, 
but accurate data concerning them are deplorably lacking. In fact it is 
almost impossible to name and locate any comers prior to 1807, in which 
year Amasa Gibbs, John Sheffield, James S. Seeley, Gardner and Joel 
Calhoun, Andrew Stewart, and William Rogers came in. Mr. Gibbs 
bought 300 acres of lots 61 and 02, which upon his death passed to his 
heirs. Seeley located on fifty acres west of Williamson village, and a 
few years aftewards moved west. Joel Calhoun settled on lot 61 on 
the Ridge, and his brother Gardner located on lot 25. Reuben, a grand- 
son of Joel, now resides in town. Andrew Stewart came with his wife 
and twelve children. A native of Scotland, he first settled in Herki- 



308 LANDMARKS OF 

mer county, whence he moved here and located on lot 3. He finally 

sold to .Major William Rogers, an Englishman, who had settled at the 
Corners. Major Rogers served in the war of 181*2, and until 1816 kept 
hotel here. Some years afterwards he moved to Palmyra, but returned 
and died in Williamson village. His children, Sophia, Lucy, Harriet, 
William, jr., and Franklin, survived him. His grandson, George F., 
lives in town. Major Rogers was very active in inducing his country- 
men to locate in Williamson. 

In 1806 J; W. Hallett was appointed deputy land agent for this town 
and for his services was given 1,000 acres on the lake shore, includ- 
ing the site of Pultneyville. He built a log house in that year on a lot 
recently occupied by Mrs. Samuel Cuyler. He settled in Macedon in 
J 824. Capt. Samuel Throop located on the site of Pultneyville in 1806, 
removing thence from Farmington. He navigated Lake Ontario until 
1819, when he was drowned from the schooner Nancy while entering 
Sodus Bay during a gale. He was originally from Connecticut, was a 
paymaster in the war of 1812, and sailed the first vessel owned at Pult- 
neyville. 

Jeremiah Selby, a millwright from Connecticut, settled at Pultney- 
ville soon after 1806 and built there the first saw and grist mill in the 
town. His sons, Jared, Dyer, and Brainard went west. A grandson, 
Joseph Church, born in Palmyra, came to live with him when thirteen 
years old. He was a carpenter here many years. 

Matthew Martin settled on the first lot west of Hallett's reservation, 
which his grandson, Evelyn Cornwall, afterwards owned. Martin was 
a Pennsylvanian. He was one of the earliest settlers of this town and 
brought with him the first sheep, cattle and horses. He also planted 
the first corn and sowed the first wheat in Williamson. 

Elder Fairbanks was presented with 100 acres of land by the Pnltney 
estate on condition that he would come here and preach the gospel two 
years. He came in 1810 and located on his lot in the northeast corner 
of the town, and thus became the pioneer minister. Upon similar con- 
ditions Rev. George D. Phelps, an Episcopal clergyman, received a lot 
and settled just west of Fairbanks. He held two slaves who were 
emancipated by the law abolishing slavery in this State. From 1813 
he continued to preach until a few years before his death. In 1810 
William Ilolling settled the lot next west and John Abel located on the 
II allett reservation. 

In 1808 Anion Pratt settled on the northwest lot in the town, where 



WAYNE COUNTY • 309 

he died, and which was long - owned by his descendants. The father of 
Egbert B. Grandin located on the second farm west of Hallett's reser- 
vation. Egbert B. Grandin was once the editor of the Wayne Sentinel 
and the publisher of the "Book of Mormon." 

On Jersey street the first settlers were a Mr. Conk, who located on 
the farm afterwards purchased by William Shipman; John Mason, who 
was drowned at Pultneyville, and who was the father of Charles and 
Joseph Mason; David Fish and Luther Bristol, who moved west; 
Joseph Lewis; Thomas Cooper, who died on his homestead; Stephen 
Fish, who came with his children, David, Isaac, Zolovicl, Thomas, 
Perns, Stephen, jr., Harriet, Charity and Phoebe (Mrs. Stephen Ger- 
rolds), in 1811; Lyman Seymour, who died in Sodus; Jacob Wilber; 
Joseph Landin; John White; Silas Nash; Nathan Arnold; Abraham 
Peer, father of Mrs. Remington Kiny on; Benjamin Waters, who died 
and was buried on his farm; John Lambert, who went west; Ebenezer 
Seymour, who sold to Enos Sanford; and Josiah Wilber, James Web- 
ster, Daniel Hart, Andrew Stewart, William and Joseph Johnson, 
Timothy Culver and Whitford Hatch. 

Ansel Cornwall, who was born in Chatham, Conn., in 1789, came to 
Williamson in 1812. He was twice married and by trade was a carpen- 
ter. He built the first church (Union) and contributed $1,000 towards 
the erection of the M. E. Church in Pultneyville. At his death he was 
the oldest man in town and the oldest Free Mason in the county. 

Zimri Waters was born in Pultneyville in 1811, and died in Septem- 
ber, 1870. He was a staunch temperance advocate, a Republican and 
spiritualist, and had five children. 

Andrew and William Cornwall came to Pultneyville from Connecti- 
cut about 1809. William soon afterward died, and in 1810 Andrew- 
married Eliza B. Martin, which was the first marriage in town, the 
ceremony being performed by an Irish missionary. Mr. Cornwall en- 
gaged in cabinet making, served as magistrate eighteen years, and died 
in 1854. His sons were Andrew T , jr., Evelyn, and Dr. William. 

Other early settlers of the town were Joel Howe, Jeremiah Cady, 
James Calhoun in 1808, Hugh Clark on lot 23, Enoch Tuttle on lot Gl, 
Amos White, Col. John Cottrellin 1810, Isaac Fish in 1811, Justin Eddy 
in 1809, Alexander White in 1811, Daniel Poppino (father of Samuel 
wS.), and Merritt Adams in 1808. At Pultneyville were Abraham Pep- 
per, Thomas Thatcher (a blacksmith), Elisha Wood (a mason), Richard 
Sweet (a tanner), Richard White, Robert Armstrong, John De Krumft 



310 • LANDMARKS OF 

(a cabinet maker), Perkins and Jacob Dana (coach and sleigh makers), 
Simeon S. Strong, A. J. Deming, M. A. Blakeley, William Ingalls, 
Oliver Cobb, Charles Gilbert and Samuel Gilbert. 

The first birth of a white person in the town was that of Capt. H. 
11. Throop at Pultneyville, November in, ISO?. The first female child 
born in Williamson was his sister Julia, born in 1809. The first deaths 
were those of a son (aged three) and daughter (aged one) of Samuel 
Throop, who, with their parents and Robert Armstrong and Jeremiah 
Selby, were capsized from a boat on the lake; all escaped except the 
children. 

Alpheus Curtis, a Revolutionary soldier, settled in town at an early 
day and died here; a son survives him. His old house stood on the 
site of the present residence of Joseph Britton. Benjamin Thompkin- 
son, a native of England, came here with his parents and located east 
of Pultneyville. He became a licensed exhorter and subsequently an 
ordained local preacher of the M. E. church. 

Myron Holley Bennett was born here in 1820 and died in 1887. At- 
kinson Sayles was born in England in 1811, Williamson in 1831, 
and died in July, L890. Remington Kinyon, born in Hartford, N. V., 
in 1803, moved here early in life and died October 31, 1891. Augustus 
Beach was born in Canada in L818, removed to Marion when eighteen, 
and finally came to AVilliamson, where he died in 1892. Isaac E. 
Shipley, a life long resident of Pultneyville, died in June, L892. George 
W. Miller, a wagonmaker and a member of the M. E. church, died 
here in March, 1888, after a residence of fifty-six years. Deacon Ros- 
well Harkness, a native of Marion, died here the same year. M. Aaron 
Thorp, another old settler, died in May, 1889. J. D. Pearsall was long 
an active business man in Williamson village and prominently con- 
nected with the work of surveying the Lake Shore Railroad through 
the town, being appointed one of tin- railroad commissioners. He built 
the warehouse and elevator near the depot, and died in L890. 

John Pallister and his sons, A. A. and M. \\, at Pultneyville, be- 
came prominently identified with that village. The father died here 
in December, L889, aged nearly eighty-one. The death of his daughter, 
Mrs. Evelyn Cornwall, occurred March 31, L891. 

Norman Meaker came to Williamson on the canal soon after 1825, 

followed farming and droving, and died here in July, L881. He was 

of the first to engage in shipping produce from Wayne county to 

New York, and at an advanced aged was a soldier in the war of the 

Rebellion two ami a half years. 



WAYNE COUNTY. :;il 

Dr. Josiah Bennett, the second physician in town, came in L815, and 
Spent his life here. Wesson Pratt, who died June 30, L894, aged nearly 
ninety-two, was then the oldest man in town. His son, Alanson, re- 
sides on the homestead. Samuel Gilbert, a native of Connecticut, came 
to the Genesee country on his wedding- trip. At Canandaigua he got 
stranded, but borrowing five dollars of Major William Rogers (who had 
removed there from Williamson), he came to this town and with the 
money purchased five acres of land on contract, which he soon sold and 
bought 100 acres farther back in the woods. Two of his sons live in 
the Russell neighborhood in Marion. 

Prominent among other settlers were William Tuttle, born in 1799, 
died here in February, 1886; Lorenzo Fish, for twenty-four years post- 
master at Pultneyville, died January 23, 1885; John J. Morley. a ship- 
builder, son of Hon. Horace Morley, born in Pultneyville in Novem- 
ber, 1823, died in Rochester in August, 1885; Hon. William H. Rogers, 
supervisor and assemblyman, who removed to New Jersey in 1887 
after residing here fifty-one years; and John Reynolds, who was born 
in 1803, came to Pultneyville in 1829, engaged in business as a mer- 
chant, became an active operator of the "underground railroad," was 
postmaster under Tyler's administration, and died October 15, 1882. 
John P. Bennett, son of Dr. Josiah Bennett, is the town's most prom- 
inent resident. He has been supervisor continuously since 1879, was 
county sheriff from 1861 to 1867, and assemblyman in 1890. 

Hon. Samuel C. Cuyler was the most distinguished citizen this town 
ever had. Born in Aurora, N. Y., in 1808, the son of a lawyer, he was 
educated in Cayuga Academy and settled in Pultneyville in 1830. His 
mother was a. sister of Samuel F. Ledyard, of that village. Mr. Cuyler 
early became an ardent temperance advocate and a strong abolitionist, 
and ever afterward lived the life of a true reformer. He was originally 
a Whig and in 1840 joined the Liberty party. In 1848 he became a 
Free Soiler and in 1855 was elected to the State Senate on the Repub- 
lican ticket. For seven years he was collector of customs at Pultney- 
ville. When the anti-slavery struggle opened he espoused the cause 
of emancipation and throughout the country his house became famous 
as a depot of the "underground railroad." From it boat load after 
boat load of slaves were sent to Canada, many of them by Capt. H. N. 
Throop's steamer. Mr. Cuyler was a born orator and during his two 
years' service in the Legislature, made a number of effective speeches 
in favor of equal suffrage. He died February 13, 1872, and was buried 



312 LANDMARKS OF 

in Lake View Cemetery at Pultneyville. His son, Ledyard S. Cuyler, 
survives him and is now clerk of Wayne county. Among - Mr. Cuyler's 
active co-workers in freeing slaves were Abram Pryne, Capt. Throop, 
and Griffith Cooper, of Williamson; Dr. Cook, of Sodus; and William 
R. Smith, of Macedon. 

Capt. H. N. Throop was born in Pultneyville November 10, 1807, and 
was a son of the Samuel Throop previously mentioned. From the age 
of fourteen he followed the business of boat building and commanding 
lake vessels, and during his life built at Pultneyville a number of 
schooners, yachts, and steamers. Among" the more important vessels 
which Capt. Throop constructed were the steamer Ontario and the 
steam yacht Magic. His brother, Washington S., was associated with 
him more or less in business, and under the hitter's supervision the 
captain built in 1832 the stone house in Pultneyville, which he occupied 
until his death, April L3, L884." 

Prominent among other citizens of the town may be mentioned the 
names of John Adams, the no-license commissioner; Darius F. Rus- 
sell, grandson of Daniel (who settled very early on the old Sodus road), 
who resides on the homestead; the Wake family; John A. Sprague, 
coroner; Reuben Nash, who died here a few years since; R. M. and 
G. F. Cheetham, brothers, bankers; and William Eaton. Numerous 
others are noticed a little further on and in Part II of this work. 

During the rebellion the town sent 172 of her citizens to defend the 
Union. A number of these were killed in action and several died in 
rebel prisons. Of those who returned but few have survived the lapse 
of time to tell the story of the great conflict. 

There are four cemeteries in this town. The first land used for 
burial purposes was a plat on the Martin farm, and among the first 
burials therein were Mrs. J. W. Hallett, William Cornwall, and Robert 
Armstrong. This is now Lake View Cemetery at Pultneyville and for 
its maintenance an association was legally incorporated a few years 
since. Albert A. Pallister is secretary and superintendent. A little 
west of Williamson village on the south side of the Ridge road is an- 
other pretty burial ground. The first interment in it was the body of 
Mrs. Seeley, in L809, and the second a child of William Rogers. There 
is also ;i v at East Williamson, and an old burying ground on 

the west side of the road near tin- Marion town line. 

The first school house was erected on the present public square in 
Pultneyville' in 1808, and a Mr. Morrison was the first teacher therein. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 313 

It was burned in the winter of L816— 17, and in L811 a larger building 
was erected on the site. This was used until it was superseded by i In- 
present stone structure. Schools have been maintained at Williamson 
since 1811 and at East Williamson from an early day. At the former 
village there is a good graded school with F. L. Coop as principal. The 
town now has fourteen districts with a school house in each, in which 
sixteen teachers are employed. The -whole number of children who 
attended these schools in 1803-4 was 579; value of school buildings and 
sites, $10,115; assessed valuation of the districts, $1,019,000; public 
money received from the State, $1,957.80; amount raised by local tax, 
$-2,111.81. 

Williamson Village. — This is a post village and a station of the R. 
W. & O. Railroad a little south of the center of the town. Major Will- 
iam Rogers came here in 1808 and took up 100 acres on the west side 
of the four corners. In the same year Abraham Gallup purchased a 
similar tract on the southeast corner and John Holcomb on the north- 
east corner. These were the only inhabitants in the south part of the 
town at that time. They each built a log house and Major Rogers 
opened a tavern in his. This old tavern dwelling was twenty by fifteen 
feet in size and one story high. It was divided into two rooms, one for 
the family, the other for the bar room, and stood just west of the site 
of the present hotel. In 1810 a log addition 12x16 feet was added for a 
bar room, and a few shelves were partially filled with a variety of goods 
and groceries. Rogers kept this tavern until 1816, when the property 
was purchased by Dennison Rogers, of Palmyra. The latter built a 
small frame addition, which was used in connection with the log part, 
was rented to different parties, changed hands, rebuilt, and finally 
burned. Major Rogers was the first postmaster and had his office in 
this tavern store. The "post route " from Canandaigua to Pultneyville 
passed through this settlement. Mr. Holcomb removed to Sod us in 
1811, and Simeon S. Strong transformed his log house into a black- 
smith shop. It stood on the lot occupied by John French. Mr. Strong 
carried on his trade here until his death in 1827. He also manufac- 
tured rifles. 

About 1815 the first regular store was opened by Alfred J. Deming 
in a part of the frame building now occupied on the same site by Frank 
Gordon & Co. William Gallup built the first frame dwelling in is In, 
in which he kept a tavern for a period ; this is now a part of George 
Russell's residence. The first school house was a log building erected 

40 



:;il LANDMARKS OF 

in L811, a little west of the tavern, and in it John Lambert was the 
first teacher. In L815 the place comprised two hotels, one store, a 
blacksmith shop, a school house, and one frame and live log- houses. 
Drs. Bigelow and Josiah Bennett were the earliest physicians. 

The Williamson steam flouring mill was built by William Eaton, the 
present proprietor, in L873, with three runs of stones. In May, 1891, 
these were replaced by a full roller process. 

C. J. Muhl and C. J. Elve formerly carried on quite an extensive 
business here in their respective establishments in the manufacture of 
wagons and sleighs; but their work now is largely confined to repair- 
ing. 

R. ML Cheetham & Co. (F. G. Cheetham) opened their private bank 
July 15, L893. It is the first and only banking institution in the town. 

The Williamson Fire Company No. 1 was organized April 20, 1889, 
with forty members. A brake engine and a hose cart, ladders, and 
over 500 feet of hose were purchased at a cost of about $600. A frame 
engine house is now (1894) in process of erection, which, with the lot, 
costs $800. J. A. French is foreman of the company. 

Williamson village now contains three general stores, two hardware 
;s, a drug store, two hotels, two liveries, a newspaper, a private 
bank, a clothing store, two jewelry stores, a furniture and undertaking 
establishment, one grocery, a variety store, a photograph gallery, five 
physicians, one attorney, one dentist, a harness shop, two meat mar- 
kets, three blacksmiths, two milliner)* stores, two carriage and wagon 
dealers, two wood-working shops, a flouring mill, two warehouses and 
produce dealers, a lumber yard and planing mill, three churches and 
about loo inhabitants. The present postmaster is Abraham Clic- 
quennoi. 

I'i i r\i;\ \ii.i i ■:. - -This village was named from Sir William Pultney, 
one of the proprietors of the Pultney estate. It lies on the lake shore 
at the mouth of Salmon Creek, near the center of the north border of 
i. and is a United States port of entry in the Genesee district. 
During the aboriginal occupancy of the country this point was a favor- 
ite meeting place of the Indians; here they met the French voyageurs 
in their maloupes; here they came on fishing excursions; here the 
French expedition of L686, against the Senecas, made a hah; and here 
was the end of an Indian trail which led to Seneca Lake, and over 
which the early mails were carried once a week from Canandaigua, by 
Andrew Stewart on horseback. The first postmaster was Samuel Led- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 315 

yard. Merc also Commodore Vco landed a small force of English 

marines in June, IS 14, which were fired on by the militia that had as- 
sembled under Gen. John Swift. It had been agreed between the 
commanders that the British were to have all the public property in 
the place, but persons and private property were to be respected. Most 
of the United States stores had been removed. Boats landed and took 
on board a quantity of flour from the storehouse. The American 
militia were stationed some distance back, and it was understood by 
them that the British were confined by the stipulation to the warehouse 
yard. Two or three of them came outside some distance, and were 
fired upon by one of the militia, and an officer was wounded. A signal 
was at once given to the fleet, which commenced firing, and the party 
on shore went to the tavern and captured Richard White and Russell 
Cole, and thence to the storehouse and took Prescott Fairbanks. Cole 
escaped before leaving shore; the others were taken to Montreal. Fair- 
banks was soon released, and White was exchanged some time after. 
Fortunately for Pultneyville and her people, a signal was given to the 
fleet that they were needed in another quarter, and the shore party, 
hastily taking to their boats, pulled away. In this skirmish the British 
suffered a loss of two killed and two wounded. One man was killed on 
shore by their own firing, and the other on the ship by the premature 
discharge of a cannon. The militia lost none. 

As early stated, J. W. Hallett was given 1,000 acres of land, where 
Pultneyville now is, in 1806; he accordingly settled here that year, as 
also did vSamuel Throop and Samuel Ledyard. In 1807 Mr. Throop 
erected on village lot No. 2 the first frame house in the place, and in it 
he kept tavern until 1810. Mr. Hallett : s log dwelling, built in 1806, 
stood on a lot subsequently owned by Mrs. Samuel C. Cuyler. Jeremiah 
Selby in 1808 put up another on the corner of Washington and Jay 
streets; in 1809 he erected a saw mill and grist mill, one on each side 
of the mouth of Salmon Creek. Near these mills during that year 
Samuel Ledyard built the first log store building here; several years 
later he superseded it with a frame structure twenty rods east of the 
log house. Mr. Ledyard also constructed piers for a harbor, built two 
warehouses, and began a forwarding and shipping business to Canada 
and down the St. Lawrence. Russell Cole put up a blacksmith shop, 
and afterward built a larger one on the site of the James B. Cragg 
house. 

In 1810 Russell Whipple built a larger tavern which comprised a part 



316 LANDMARKS OF 

of the hotel that was burned in 1887. The year before a tannery and 
distillery had been placed in operation. The old tannery building- is 
now used as a eider mill and dry house. In 1812 the village consisted 
of a saw mill, a grist mill, one store, one tavern, a distillery, a tannery, 
two warehouses, a cabinet shop, a school house, and about twenty 
dwellings. April 12, 1887, fire destroyed the old hotel (which had been 
kept several years by William Smith), a drug store, harness shop, two 
dwelling houses and the post-office. 

The first physician was Dr. Mallory in 1810. In 1819 a Mr. Allen 
started a forge. In 1825 a Union church edifice was built, the corner 
stone being laid by members of Pultneyville Lodge, No. 159, F. and 
A. M., which was organized in 1811. This building was lengthened 
and remodeled a few years since, a basement put under it, and is now 
the (hites Public Hall. The grist mill here was erected by James B. 
Cragg, and upon his death passed into the hands of his sons. The 
present proprietor is George Lee. 

Pultneyville now contains a hotel, two general stores, a drug store, 
two blacksmith shops, a cooperage, one flouring mill, a lumber yard, 
a public hall, storage and forwarding business, a government light- 
house, two churches, a district school, and about 300 inhabitants. The 
postmistress is Ellen Tufts. 

E \m' Williamson.— This little rural hamlet was settled by Holland- 
ers at an early date. It is located near the east border of the town, 
south of the railroad, and consists of a post-office, two stores, two 
churches, a blacksmith shop, school, and about twenty dwellings. The 
postmaster is J. J. Lacknor. 

Churches. — The First Presbyterian Church of Williamson was or- 
ganized by Rev. Allen C. Collins, a missionary, November 21, 1816, 
the constituent members being: Isaac Curtis, Barnabas Moss, Luther 
Bristol, Alinda Paddock, Lucretia and Nancy Moody, Eunice Nash, 
Christiana Mason, Wilhelmina Pepper, John Albright, Abraham Pep- 
per. Maria Fairbanks, Catharine Curtis, and Marcia De Kruyft. The 
first church edifice was a brick structure erected in 1828, one-fourth of 
a mile south of Williamson village. It cost $3,000, and was used until 
L859, when it was demolished. From that year until 1862 meetings 
were held in the Baptist Church. The present edifice was begun in 
the latter year and finished in L866. The first settled pastor was Rev. 
lei White, who was installed January 24, 1 s is. The society has 
now eighty-five members, under Rev. L. W. Page, of Rochester, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



317 



pastor. The Sunday school was organized as early as 1832; the pres- 
ent superintendent is Edward Cornish. 

The First Baptist Church of Williamson was organized by Rev. Mar- 
vin Allen, with thirty members December 12, 1826, the first trustees 
being" David Williams, Pasqua Austin, Dr. Josiah Bennett, Daniel Pop- 
pino, James Wright, R. A. Lee, and Lewis Bradley. The first church 
building was erected on the site of the present edifice in 1827, and was 
dedicated the same year by Rev. Mr. Allen, the first pastor. It was a 
"galleried" structure, and was built by subscription "payable in grain 
or money." In 1842 it was burned and in the next year the present 
cobble stone church was built; it was dedicated by Rev. Seth Ewer in 
184H. The society has about sixty members under the pastoral charge 
of Rev. C. B. Welcome. The Sunday school, which was organized 
with the church, has seventy-five scholars, with Nelson Olcott as super- 
intendent. 

The Second Methodist Episcopal Church of Williamson was incor- 
porated March 26, 1828, with the following members: 



Serall Robins, 
John Wake, 
Richard Britton, 
Ira Clark, 
John M. Bull, 
David Alexander, 
S. P. W. Douglass, 
George Howell, 
Anthony Wake, 
Erastus Seely, 
Thomas Wake, 
Benjamin Green, 



Richard Abbey, 

Thomas Pallister, 

John Clark, 

Earl Wilcox, 

Levi Eddy, 

John Hutchins, 

Stephen Skellinger and wife 

Charles B. Gardner, 

Jonathan Wake, 

Nathaniel Russell, 

Allen C. Tracy, 

Lyman Robins, 



Isaac Fish, 
Lyman Sandford, 
Thomas Britton, 
J. W. Sherman, 
Simeon Miller, 
William Danforth, 
A. B. Pepper, 
William Wake, 
Harry Fish, 
William Grigsby, 
Munson Seelv. 



The original trustees were Richard Britton, John Wake, and Serall 
Robins. The first house of worship was built of cobble stone in 1830, 
and still stands on the south side of the Ridge road about two miles 
west from Williamson village. It has always been locally known as the 
" Ridge Chapel. " In 1856, when the present church was erected in 
the village, the chapel was converted into a dwelling and is now used 
as a dry goods house by John Starks. The present pastor is Rev. John 
E. Showers. The society has always maintained regular services and 
is in a flourishing condition. 

The First Methodist Episcopal Church of Pultneyville apparently had 
a nominal existence prior to 1830, for in 1833 there was a record of a 



318 LANDMARKS OF 

parsonage being purchased. It is known that an edifice was erected 
in L825 (the same building- since remodeled and raised, was known as 
Gates Public hall) by the Union Society, which was independent of gen- 
eral church government, but which contributed the use of the church 
in any Christian denomination. This house was used for more than a 
generation and was maintained by disposing of the pews on subscrip- 
tion. The first settled pastor was Rev. E. H. Cranmer, in lS51-:>. 
The society was incorporated April S, L872. with John Van Winkle, 
Albert Milliman, Ansel Cornwall, James Shipley, and Walter Shipley, 
trustees. The corner stone of the present brick church was laid July 
1. is! 4. under pastoral charge of Rev. J. A. Fellows, jr. It was dedi- 
cated March 27, 1875, and cost $7,888.76. In 1878 a new parsonage 
was built nearly on the site of the old one at a cost of about $1,200. 
The present membership is 100. Rev. Byron B. Showers is pastor, 
and Isaac Fisher, superintendent of the Sunday School. 

The Reformed Church of Pultneyville was organized May 13, 1850, 
the first pastor being Rev. A. K. Kasse. The) 7 first worshiped in a 
building removed here from East Williamson, where it had been used 
as a Presbyterian chapel. It is now a storehouse owned by Mary Cot- 
trell. The present frame church was built in 1872 and cost about 
$4,000. The parsonage was built in 1888, and cost $1,215. The so- 
ciety has about 170 members, under the pastoral care of Rev. M. Van 
I )orn. 

Protestant Episcopal services were held at a comparatively early date 
at the house of Samuel Ledyard in Pultneyville, and St. Paul's Epis- 
copal Church was formally organized. It had but a brief existence, 
however, and never acquired a substantial meeting place. 

The Reformed Church of East Williamson was organized November 
1. L854, by the Presbytery of Rochester. It had forty constituent mem- 
bers and Rev. A. B. Veenhuizen was installed the first pastor. In 
L852 a cobble stone church was built and it was used until 1890, when 
the present frame edifice was built at a cost of $6,200. It was dedi- 
cated February L0, L891. A frame parsonage was built in 1883 and 
cost $1,700. The lot of ten acres on which the buildings stand was 

purchased of Josiah Bruno in L882 for $2, The society has 261 

members, with Rev. Martin < >ssewaarde, pastor. 

The First Free Methodist Church of East Williamson was organized 
October 6, L866, by Rev. Benjamin Winget. Services were held in 
school houses and dwellings until 1887, when the present frame church 



WAYNE COUNTY. 319 



was built; the parsonage was built in 1889, the entire property now 
being- worth about $2,800. The first pastors were Rev. Charles Bee- 
man and wife, the latter a licensed evangelist. The present pastor is 
Rev. James A. Tholens. The membership is 35. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF ONTARIO. 

( hitario, the northwest corner town in Wayne county, was set off 
from Williamson as Freetown on the 27th of March, 1807. The name 
was changed February 12, 1808. As originally constituted it included 
also Walworth, which was organized into a separate township April 20, 
1829. This town derives its appellation from Lake Ontario, which 
forms its northern boundary; Williamson lies on the east, Walworth on 
the south, and Monroe county on the west. It contains an area of 
19,171 acres. 

Excellent drainage is afforded by Bear, Deer, and Davis Creeks, 
which flow northerly into the lake. The surface is generally level, 
with a slight inclination northward; through the south part of the town 
extends the famous ridge, to the north of which the soil is a clay loam ; 
on the south it is largely a gravelly loam and muck. The chief in- 
dustry is farming. Wheat, oats, barley and fruit are grown in abun- 
dance. Considerable attention is given to raspberries and apples, and 
there are a number of well equipped evaporators scattered throughont 
the town. 

In 1810 Noah Fuller, while hunting, found two salt springs, which 
he secured by title and sold to Stimson & Schanks, who commenced 
manufacturing salt the same year. They continued the business five 
or six years, but it proved unprofitable and they abandoned it. 

In 1811 a Mr. Knickerbocker, in digging a well near the center of 
the town, discovered the first bed of iron ore here in the form of red 
oxide. Extending east and west, it had an average width of half a 
mile and a depth of from six to forty inches. Little notice was taken 
of Knickerbocker's discovery until four or five years later, when 
Samuel Smith, one of Walworth's pioneers, constructed a forge near 



320 LANDMARKS OF 

the furnace dam and began manufacturing iron at the rate of 400 
pounds per day. Soon afterward two more forges were erected. In 
L825 Henry S. Gilbert built the first furnace on the site of the one re- 
cently abandoned at Furnaceville. Its capacity was three or four tons 
daily, and the iron was drawn to Rochester. In 1840 the Clinton Iron 
Company erected another furnace of six or seven tons capacity on the 
property subsequently owned by Joseph La Frois. This was carried 
on until 1867, when the plant was burned. 

In February, 1870, the Ontario Iron Company was organized with 
these officers: James Brackett, president; Isaac Palmer, vice-president; 
W. H. Bowman, secretary and treasurer; the latter was succeeded by 
John H. White in 1873, and two years later William H. Averill became 
secretary, and Isaac S. Averill treasurer. A large furnace, containing 
two blast ovens and two blooming tubes, was erected in 1870 at Fur- 
naceville, the site of Gilbert's pioneer establishment, and the first iron 
was manufactured October 10. The capacity was twenty tons of No. 1 
iron per clay, and, including the miners, from 100 to -200 men were 
employed. A switch connected the furnace with the R., W. & O. Rail- 
road at Ontario village, and upon it a locomotive and several cars were 
placed by the company. About $200,000 were expended in the enter- 
prise, and several ore beds were opened and worked. The business 
eventually declined, and in 1887 the works were permanently aban- 
doned. The old stone walls, the railroad, the adjacent ore beds and 
heaps of iron refuse are the only evidences left of one of the largest 
manufacturing establishments ever founded in Wayne county. 

The town was originally covered with heavy timber; portions of the 
surface were marshy and conducive to the creation and spread of mias- 
matic diseases, which troubled the early settlers for many years. Suf- 
fering from all the hardships and privations incident to a new country, 
it is not surprising that many of them became discouraged, but if they 
did history fails to record the fact. The pioneers braved the perils of 
frontier life witli commendable heroism, and established for succeeding 
generations comfortable homes, thriving villages, nourishing churches, 
and excellent schools. The fruits of their labors, seen on every hand, 
attest their Sterling characteristics and exalted ideas of civilization. 

The Lake Ontario Shore Railroad (now the R., \Y. & ().) was con- 
structed through the town and opened in is 1 ; I, for which bonds were 
voted to theamountof $85,000 on December 24, L870, when Lorenzo R. 
Boyington, Ilezekiah Hill, and Alonzo \V. Casey were appointed rail- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 321 

road commissioners. In May, 1871, $5, <)<)(> <>l stock of said railroad was 
subscribed for at par, and in September following $51,000 in bonds 
were issued, the balance of $34,000 being issued about September, 
1.873. December 4, 1893, the net indebtedness of the town was esti- 
mated at $50,517.21. The opening of the road imparted a new impetus 
to this section. Prior to its construction transportation and communica- 
tion were carried on by teams or by water from Pultneyville. 

It is impossible to ascertain any information concerning the earliest 
town meetings as the records prior to 1878 are destroyed. The first 
town meeting after Walworth was set off was held at Ashville Culver's 
tavern in Ontario village in April, 1830, and among the officers chosen 
were the following : Henry S. Gilbert, supervisor; John Stolph, town 
clerk: Joseph Patterson and Ashville Culver, magistrates; Daniel In- 
man, collector; Alonzo Peckham, constable. The supervisors since 
1878 have been : 

Stephen N. Maine, 1878-82. Russell Johnson, 1889-91. 

Francis A. Hill, 1883-88. Freeman Pintler, 1892-93. 

Charles J. Nash was elected town clerk in 1879 and has served con- 
tinuously to the present time. The Board of Health was organized 
April 20, 1882. The officers for 1894 are E. D. Willits, supervisor; 
Charles J. Nash, town clerk; Walter L. Cone, Chauncey C. Norton, 
Harvey Jones, assessors; George H. Brown, Russell Johnson, Oscar 
C. Palmer, Horatio Waldo, justices of the peace; William Jamieson, 
collector; Charles Fewster, highway commissioner; Charles Gurney, 
overseer of the poor. 

The first settler in Ontario was Freeman Hopkins, who came from 
Rhode Island and located on the lake shore in 1806. Being a Quaker, 
and consequently deprecating warfare, he returned with his family to 
the east upon the beginning of hostilities with the British in 1812, but 
came again to this town in 1818. He built the first saw -mill, and be- 
coming blind in old age he drowned himself in a cistern. The birth of 
his daughter Melissa on May 7, 1806, was the first in Ontario. 

In 1807 Peter Thatcher settled with his family in the north part of 
the town in a log cabin which he had caused to be built the )^ear be- 
fore. He came in a one-horse wagon from Oneida county, and was the 
pioneer blacksmith in Ontario, building a log shop near his home in 
1811. Daniel Inman came here from Connecticut in 1807 and pur- 
chased 400 acres where Ontario village now stands. He erected his log 

41 



322 LANDMARKS OF 

dwelling on the site of the old steam mill. In L810 lie built the first 
tavern and at an early day put up a saw mill. He was the first post- 
master and collector in town, and a prominent and influential man for 
many years. With his son Joseph, he finally went west. The same 
year James Lavens, also from Connecticut, purchased 99^ acres of lot 
76 for $298.50 and settled his family upon it. His daughter was Mrs. 
Joseph W. Gates. 

In L808 Jonas Davis located on the farm which finally passed to his 
nephew, Munson Davis. About the same time came Noah Fuller from 
Massachusetts, Major Inglesby, from Connecticut, and Messrs. Fifer and 
Kilburn. The latter died in Webster and Fifer in this town. Major 
Inglesby was a Revolutionary soldier, and eventually moved west. 
Elder Wilkins came from Massachusetts with a large family and settled 
near the lake shore. He died soon afterward and the family removed. 

From this date to 1810 few settlers arrived. In the latter year Isaac 
Simmons came in from Connecticut, and in 1815 built a tavern, which he 
kept a few years, when he moved to Monroe county. Amos, Amasa, and 
Levi Thayer removed from Rhode Island and located on the ridge in 
the west part of the town, but they soon went to Palmyra and engaged 
in merchandising. Willard Church (on the lake shore), John Case, and 
David Jennings settled in Ontario about the same time. 

In 1811 Zebedee Hodges came in; he was the father of Zebedee J. 
and Isaac Z. Hodges and Mrs. Jesse Hurley. The same year Dr. Will- 
iam Greenwood, the pioneer physician, located at Ontario village and 
practiced until his death in 1829. Milton Worster, who had settled in 
Macedon in 1810, came here in 1811 and began the manufacture of axes 
in a log shop, an occupation he followed in Ontario village many years. 
Alfred Town located on the Peter Freer farm and died here. losiah 
Goodman, a Vermonter, removed hither from Oneida county with his 
son Alanson, then fifteen years of age. William Billings and Nathaniel 
Grant were pioneers in the west and center parts of the town respect- 
ively; the latter died here and the former in Webster. The death of 
Harriet Kilburn occurred in 1811, and was the first in town. 

William Middleton removed from New Jersey to Montgomery 
county, N. V., and thence to Ontario. In 1S10 he purchased 300 acres 
of land on the lake shore for $3 per acre, and settled his family thereon 
in L812. He was the first hatter in town and prosecuted the business 
t twenty years. His son Joseph succeeded to the paternal home- 
stead. John Stolph, the first clerk of the present township, became a 



WAYNE COUNTY. 323 

settler the same year; he finally removed to Illinois. Nathan Ilalloek, 
the first tailor, resided near the lake shore until his death. George 
Sawyer came from Connecticut and located on the Ridge road west of 
Ontario Center, whence he moved eighteen years later to Michigan. 

The war of 1812 checked the tide of immigration and few settlers ar- 
rived until that conflict subsided. In 1813 George Putnam, the father of 
Mrs. Chauncey Smith, located in the northwest corner of the town and 
Burton Simmons and Jared Putnam near the Monroe county line. The 
three were from Connecticut. Among others who came in about this 
time were Samuel Sabin, John Edmonds, Lewis Janes, and Abraham 
Smith. 

In 1815 Ezekiel Alcott settled in town and commenced the manu- 
facture of pearlash. He was a man of considerable enterprise and in- 
fluence. The following year Ashviile Culver and Isaac Gates came to 
Ontario. The former was an early tavern keeper and one of the first 
magistrates of the present town. Mr. Gates had eighteen children, all 
but four of whom accompanied him hither from Chenango county. In 
1817 Joseph W. Gates, a son of Isaac, made a visit here and in 1818 
settled permanently. He taught school winters, was married in 1820, 
and purchased an article of Stephen Sabin for fifty acres of land at $5 
per acre. 

Hezekiah Hill was born in 1811, in Walworth, where his parents 
had settled in 1800, and where his father died in 1815. He early 
taught school, held several town offices, married a daughter of Samuel 
Strickland, and moved to Ontario village in 1848. He laid out the site 
into village lots and sold them. He was a very prominent man and 
always highly respected. 

Other early settlers were Gardner Robb, Samul Gilbert, Henry Barn- 
hart, Henry S. Gilbert, a Mr. Knickerbocker, Alonzo Peckham, Messrs. 
Stimson & Schanks, Alanson* Goodnow, Joseph Middleton, Cyrus 
Thatcher, Reynolds K. Northrup, Israc Pratt and Jonathan Chandler. 
Nathan K. Pound came here in March, 1835, and held various town 
offices. 

Prominent among subsequent settlers and present residents of On- 
tario may be mentioned the names of: 

Freeman Pintler, Alanson Warner, Charles Pease. 

A. W. Casey, D. L. Reed, Aldrich Thayer, and 

G. W. Crandall, O. F. Whitney, Joseph W. Gates, two 

Dr. F. M. Ellsworth, Dr. L. D. Rhodes, of the oldest citizens. 



324 LANDMARKS OF 

W. E. Clark, E. Rood, jr., Melvin B. Gates, 

X. A. Pitts, B. B. Weeks, E. D. Willits, 

B. W. Gates, M. A. Risley, J. C. Howk, 

F. A. Hill, J. A. Stokes, Alexander Sands, 

P.H.Norton, N. C. Richmond, G.P.Norton, 

B.J, Hopkins, Edson Smith, Charles J. Nash, 

J. B. Pratt, Flynn Whitcomb (ex- R. A. Woodhams, 

member of Assembly,) 

And many others noticed a little farther on and in Part II. of this 
work. 

The first grist mill in town was erected about 1825 by Henry Barn- 
hart, on the farm subsequently owned by Henry Brewer. It has long 
been discontinued for milling purposes. In an old warehouse in the 
northeast corner of Ontario, an early, and probably the first, store was 
opened in 1830 by Henry S. Gilbert, who closed out at the end of two 
years. 

The first school house was a log structure erected about 1816 on the 
lake road, on the farm latterly owned by Abraham Albright. It was 
finally demolished and a stone building put up near by ; the latter in turn 
gave place to a brick school house. In 1820 a school building was 
erected on the Daniel Eldridge place in which Lucy Chandler taught 
the first three terms. In 1835 the structure was torn down. In June, 
L894, districts 5 and 6, comprising the villages of Ontario and Ontario 
Center, were united to form a union free school district, and the sum 
of $8,000 was voted for the erection of a suitable school house near the 
old dividing line. It is expected to have the building in readiness for 
the fall term of school. 

The town has fourteen districts, with a school house in each, taught 
during the year L892— 3 by sixteen teachers and attended by 069 scholars; 
value of buildings and sites, $11,450; assessed valuation of districts, 
sl. 1 76,000; public money received from the State, $2,057.82; raised by 
local tax, $3, 146.49. 

No town in Wayne county, in proportion to the size, can show a bet- 
ter record in the war of the rebellion than Ontario. During that 
sanguinary struggle a total of L90 brave and heroic citizens went out 
from within her borders to fight the nation's battles. Many of them 
met untimely deaths on Southern fields, or in Rebel prisons; a few 
were promoted to commissioned officers. The veterans who remain to 
tell the thrilling story of that conflict are steadily joining their comrades 
gon< and on each Memorial day the survivors and the dead are 

tenderly remembered by a grateful country. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 325 

In 1858 the town had 13,887 acres improved land, real estate assessed 
at $464,509, personal property valued at $72,588, 1,222 male and L,10J 
female inhabitants, 451 dwellings, 466 families, 371 freeholders, 1 1 
school districts, 1,319 school children, 886 horses, 1,201 oxen and 
calves, 923 cows, 4,020 sheep and 1,286 swine. There were produced 
that year 9,510 bushels winter and 83,610 bushels spring- wheat, 2,686 
tons hay, 15,272 bushels potatoes, 17,431 bushels apples, 86,375 pounds 
butter, 17,400 pounds cheese, and 1,669 yards domestic cloths. 

In 1890 the population was 6,211, or 351 less than in 1880. In 1893 
the assessed value of land aggregated $754,832 (equalized $686,561); 
village and mill property, $183,143 (equalized $176,153); railroads and 
telegraphs, $86,482; personal property, $72,400. Schedule for taxes 
for 1893: Contingent fund, $1,476.36; town poor fund, $300; roads and 
bridges, $200; special town tax, $3,789.34; school tax, $934.68; county 
tax, $2,236.34; State tax, $1,232.34; State insane tax, $317.92; dog- 
tax, $121.50. Total tax levy, $11,173.10; rate per cent., .01018646. 
The town has two election districts, and in 1893 polled 475 votes. 

Ontario Village is situated in the southwest part of the town 
about a mile east of Ontario Center. It lies on the ridge road, running 
east and west, and is a station and post-office on the south side of the 
R., W. & O. Railroad. The site was originally settled in 1807 b) T 
Daniel Inman, who built a saw mill and tavern as previously noted. 

Ashville Culver erected a second public house in 1827, and Gardner 
Robb subsequently put up a third hostelry on the site of the present 
hotel. In 1828 the village contained two taverns, one blacksmith shop, 
a saw mill, and about ten houses. Robert Horton in 1854 erected and 
kept the first store, which was finally destroyed by fire. In 1873 the 
Ontario Sun, afterward changed to the Lake Shore Independent, was 
started, and after a brief existence discontinued publication. The ad- 
vent of the railroad gave new impetus to the village, and since then it 
has developed rapidly and steadily. Its broad streets are lined with 
commodious business houses and attractive dwellings. June 21, 1885, 
the hotel and other buildings were burned, entailing a loss of $30,000, 
but upon its site a new and better hostelry was at once erected. 

A foundry and agricultural implement manufactory was started a 
number of years ago by George Parnell, sr. , who continued it until his 
death, when the business passed to his son, George, jr. 

The village of Ontario now consists of four general stores, a drug- 
store, one furniture and undertaking establishment, one hardware 



326 LANDMARKS OF 

store, a meat market, harness shop, two blacksmith shops, an hotel and 
livery, one clothing and shoe shore, one jeweler, four milliners, a 
bakery, one variety store, a shoe shop, one lumber and coal yard, two 
produce dealers, a foundry, an agricultural implement dealer, three 
physicians, three ehurches, a district school, and about 600 inhabitants. 
The present postmaster is H. E. Van Derveer. 

( >NTARio Center is a post village on the Ridge road a little south of 
the center of the town and about one mile west of Ontario. It lies 
south of the R. , W. & O. Railroad, the station being nearly midway 
between the two villages. Reynolds K. Northrup built a tavern on the 
site of the present hotel in 1830; this was finally removed and a portion 
converted into a hardware store. Another hotel was erected in which 
the Masons held their meetings until its destruction by fire. Soon af- 
terward the lodge was moved at midnight to Ontario village, where it 
is still continued. The old hotel burned in 1886, under the proprietor- 
ship of E. A. Booth, who also built and keeps the present one. Foote 
& Northrup erected a store on the southwest corner about 1830, and 
in it business was conducted until it was burned in 1844. The village 
now contains three general stores, a hardware store, one drug store, an 
hotel and livery, harness shop, blacksmith shop, a carriage repository, 
one church, a district school, one physician, and about 300 inhabitants. 
The postmaster is John Freeh. 

Furnaceville, situated in the eastern part of the town, derives its 
name from the blast furnace that was operated there almost contin- 
uously from 1825 to L887. It owes its existence to that establishment, 
and for fifteen years following 1870 was a very busy hamlet. In is;:; 
the post-office was established with L. J. Bundy as postmaster. Since 
the furnace was abandoned the place has lost nearly all its former pres- 
tige, and consists now of merely a store and post-office and a number of 
dwellings. The postmaster is Arthur L. Fries. 

Fruitland (Lakeside station) is a post-office on the R., W. & O. 
Railroad, about two miles west of Ontario Center. The postmaster is 
1). J. Fitzgerald. 

Lakeside is a postal hamlet two and one-half miles north of Fruit- 
land. The postmistress is .Mrs. W. G. Willard. 

hes. — The Baptist Church of Ontario was organized July 3, 
lsi ;, with Jonathan Chandler and Abraham Foster as deacons and Rev. 
George B. Davis as first pastor. In 18o4 a church edifice was built at 
Ontario Center; it was repaired in L849 and used as a house of worship 



WAYNE COUNTY. 327 

until 1884, when the society moved to Ontario village. The old build- 
ing" is now owned and occupied by Charles J. Nash as a storehouse and 
carriage repository ; for a few years the elections were held in it. In 
1884 the society purchased the old Advent Church in Ontario village, 
repaired it, and have since used it as a place of worship. There are 
about 100 members and a Sunday school of which S. S. Russell is 
superintendent. Among- the pastors succeeding Rev. Mr. Davis were 
Revs. James Davis, Kinney, James Going, Draper (sixteen years), Sam- 
uel Culver, Willam Corbin, Orin Munger, and others. The present 
pastor is Rev. Lazarus Golden, who was installed in April, 1891. 

The First Wesleyan Methodist Church of Ontario was organized by 
Rev. George Pegler in March, 1857, with these members: William and 
Mary Pye, John and Elizabeth Clark, John and Elizabeth Pye, Robert 
Norgate, Henry Alton, Thomas Barnsdale, Thomas and Ann Smith, 
George Smith, Aaron W. Graham, Francis Eaton, Matilda Cooper, 
Seth Easton, Sarah and Eliza King, O. B. and Caroline Turner, and 
William Brandish. The first trustees were John Clark, O. B. Turner, 
and Seth Easton, and the first class leader was William Pye. In 1865 
their present frame edifice was built in Ontario village, and was dedi- 
cated May 15, 1869, by Rev. Adam Crooks. The Sunday school was 
organized with the church with John Cooper as superintendent. The 
church was remodeled a few years since and connected with it is a 
frame parsonage. There are about 100 members under the pastoral 
care of Rev. F. J. Wilson. The superintendent of the Sunday school 
is Flynn Whitcomb. 

St. Mary's of the Lake Roman Catholic church of Ontario was or- 
ganized by Rev. P. C. McGrath in August, 1869, with about forty 
families. In 1870 the present edifice was erected in Ontario village, 
and is valued at $4,000. Rev. Father McGrath became the first pastor, 
and remained in that capacity many years. The present incumbent is 
Rev. Joseph Maguin, of Webster. 

The Free Advent Christian church was legally, organized by Revs. 
R. C. Brown and James E. Wells, December 23, 1874, with the follow- 
ing members : Levi L. Allen, James Woodhams, Willard T. Bishop, 
Sarah Briggs, Roxa Decker, Amelia E. Decker, John Freeh, Rebecca 
Hutson, Melvin and Melvina A. Howe, Sylvester Howe, Mrs. George 
Near, Charles and Helen Prentiss, Laura Truax, George Wilson, and 
Jacob Wemesfelder. The first trustees were William Birdsall, Heze- 
kiah Hill, and Willard T. Bishop. The first pastor was Rev. James 



328 LANDMARKS OF 

E. Wells. In 1875 a frame church was creeled, mainly through the 
efforts and liberality of Hezekiah Hill; it was dedicated on December, 
;;, L875, by Rev. Miles Grant. In 1878 Rev. Milton Miles became 
pastor and served until October 1, 1879; on the 20th of the preceding 
January the society was reorganized, but soon after that year it dis- 
banded and the property reverted to Mr. Hill, who sold it in L884 to 
the baptist society for $1,000. A Sunday school was organized January 
3d, 187(1, with Henry E. Van Derveer as superintendent. 

ddie Presbyterian church of Ontario Center was organized by Rev. Mr. 
bliss in L832. The Congregational form of government was adopted, 
which was afterward changed to Presbyterian, and the first meetings 
were held in a school house in Ontario village. The constituent mem- 
bers were Mr. and Mrs. Sutphin, Mr. and Mrs. Curtis, Mr. and Mrs. 
Mack, and Mr. Decker. In 1 S42 the present stone edfice in Ontario 
Center was built and dedicated. The earlier pastors were Revs. Bliss, 
Merritt, judson, Eddy, Burbank, Manley, Halcomb, Young - , Bosworth, 
and others. The present pastor is Rev. H. G. C. Halloek and J. C. 
Ilowk is superintendent of the Sunday school. The society has about 
seventy-five members. 

The first Methodist Episcopal church of Ontario was organized as a 
class about 1812, at the dwelling of Zebedee Hodges, where many of 
the earlier meetings were held. In 1836 a stone edifice, 36x46 feet, 
was built two and one-half miles north of Ontario Center. This was 
torn down in L865, and in 1866 the corner stone of the present structure 
was laid by Rev. I. II. Kellogg. It is of brick and was dedicated in 
August, 1867. In May, L872, this church became a separate charge- 
prior to that it was connected with the Walworth circuit. The society 
has about eight}- members under the pastorship of Rev. Joseph S. 
Duxbury. II. S. Stanford is superintendent of the Sunday school. 

The Second Methodist Episcopal church of Webster, locally known 
as the " Boston Church " from the fact that it is situated in a locality 
called New boston, was organized in the summer of 1838 by Rev. Mr. 
Osborne with about nine members. In 1849 the present frame edifice 
was built near tin- county line in the northwest part of the town. It 
was dedicatad by Rev. John 1 )ennis, and is valued at ,si ,000. The society 
has about fifty memb rs and a Sunday school of sixty scholars. The 
first name on the record as pastor is Rev. L. 1!. Chase, who presided 
this and the church in Webster from L869 to L872; in L872— 3 Rev. 
P. W. Chandler was pastor of this and the First M. E. church previ- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 329 

ously mentioned, since which time the two have constituted one charge. 
The present pastor is Rev. Joseph S. Duxbury. The two societies 
own jointly a frame parsonage at Lakeside, the value of which is 
$1,200. 

The First Free Methodist Church of Ontario was organized December 
9, L866, with eleven members, viz.: George and Adelaide Willard, 
Horace and Eliza T. Moore, Barton and Mary Vandewarker, Bennett 
H. and Hannah Tarber, Richard and Adelia Ridley, and Hannah E. 
Tarber. The first Board of Trustees consisted of George Willard, 
Charles E. Heuston, and Willard Rogers. It was incorporated January 
5, 1867, and the first pastor was Rev. J. Olney in 1866-67. The society 
now has forty-five members, under the pastoral care of Rev. J. E. 
Tiffany. The first and present church edifice was built of wood in 1867 
at a cost of $1,200; it will seat 200 persons, and is situated about three 
miles west of Ontario Center. At its organization the church was in 
the Bushnell Basin circuit ; it is now in the Webster and Ontario charge. 



CHAPTER XXII. 
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF MACEDON. 

Macedon, the southwest corner town in Wayne county, was formed 
from the western part of Palmyra on the 29th of January, 1823. It has 
an area of 23,040 acres, and is divided into seventy-two parallelogram 
lots containing 320 acres each. The surface, which is rolling and 
irregular, is drained by Ganargwa (Mud) and Spring Creeks, the former 
flowing easterly through the southeast part of Macedon and the village 
corporation, and affording excellent mill sites. Spring Creek also flows 
easterly through the north part of the town, and both streams pass into 
the town of Palmyra north of Palmyra village. West of Macedon 
village, extending to the county line, is an extensive swamp covering 
560 acres, some of which has been reclaimed into comparatively good 
farming land. 

The soil is generally well adapted to agricultural purposes. North of 
the Erie Canal it is principally a gravelly and clayey loam, while south 
of that waterway it is largely a sandy formation. Fertile and generally 

42 



330 LANDMARKS OF 

susceptible of easy cultivation, it produces abundant crops of grain, 

potatoes, hay, and fruit, which constitute the chief products. In late 
years fruit-growing has received considerable attention and proves 
fairly successful. Peppermint is also grown in considerable quantities. 

The town was originally covered with a heavy growth of timber, con- 
sisting of beech, oak, whitewood, and maple, nearly all of which has 
been cut down and converted into lumber and firewood. The lumber 
Imsiness, while it continued, supplied work for several local saw mills, 
but these have all either gone down or been removed. As an example 
of the great height attained by some of the trees of this section, it is 
remembered that a stately maple, long since leveled by the wind, once 
towered erect on the summit of Ramsdell hill and from many miles 
around was distinctly visible, a beacon for the pioneer. 

The first town meeting for the town of Macedon convened at the 
house of Lydia Porter on February 11, 1823, at which the following 
officers were chosen: Abraham Spear, supervisor; John Lapham, town 
clerk; Asa B. Smith, William B. Capron, Calvin Bradish, assessors; 
George Crane, Ira Lapham, Isaac Durfee, highway commissioners; 
Isaac Durfee and George Crane, overseers of the poor; Stephen Spear, 
collector; Jonathan Ramsdell, Charles Bradish, Thomas C. Hance, 
commissioners of common schools; William P. Richardson, Bernard 
Beal, Alexis Packard, inspectors of common schools; Otis Southworth, 
Bernard Cook, Ira Hill, constables. It was voted that ''three per 
cent, be paid for collecting taxes." At the annual town meeting held 
at the dwelling of Abner Hillon the first Tuesday in April following, 
these same officers were regularly elected. 

The supervisors of this town have been as follows: 

Abraham Spear, 1823-25, Nathan Lapham, 1850, 
Charles Bradish, 1826, Evert Bogardus, 1851-52, 
A. Spear, 1821 28, A tievbtein is:,:;, and A. 1'. Ran- 
George Cram-, 1829 31, dall was appointed and served 
A. Spear, 1832-33, until is.". I. 
John Lapham, 18:! I. Stephen L. Ramsdell, is.",.""), 
Charles Bradish, is:!.",. G. C, Everett was chosen at a 
Isaac Durfee, 1836-37, special town meeting in 1856, 
C. Bradish, 1838-40, and at a regular meeting Pur- 
Thomas Barnes, L841 13, dy M. Willitts, 
Allen C. Purdy, 1844 15 Lemuel Durfee, 1857, 
J. Lapham, 1846 17, Joab S. Biddlecom, 1858 60, 
Abial I). Gage, 1848, Thomas W. Mead, lsiil 63, 
Samuel Everett, L849, Robert H. Jones, 1864-65, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 331 

Marvin A. Eddy, 1866, Charles B. Herendeen, 1877-79, 

Walter W. Brace, 1867, Hiram C. Durfee, 1880-81, 

H. H. Hoag, 1868-69, Daniel S. Shourds, L882, 

Lyman' Bickford, 1870-72, George W. Kirkpatrick, 1883-84, 

W. W. Mumford, is?:;, Isaac Dean, 1885-87, 

L. Bickford, 1874, Henry J. Breese, 1888-89, 

W. W. Mumford, 1875, William B. Billings, 1890-93, 

Jeremiah Thistlethwaite, 1876, Frank W. Hawes, 1894. 

The town officers for 1894 are: Frank W. Hawes, supervisor; George 
Bough ton, town clerk; Charles T. Jennings, W. F. Woods, Albert H. 
Breese, J. E. Baker, justices of the peace; Charles R. Whitehead, as- 
sessor; George Krauss, collector; Isaac R. Hoag, highway commissioner ; 
Edson J. Corser, overseer of the poor. 

In 1858 there were in Macedon 18,674 acres improved land 1/249 male 
and 1,185 female inhabitants, 453 dwellings, 493 families, 366 free- 
holders, 14 school districts, 815 school children, 909 horses, 1,329 work- 
ing oxen and calves, 953 cows, 10,288 sheep, and 1,924 swine. The as- 
sessed valuation of real estate was $951,179, and of personal property 
$121,670. During that year there were produced 25,787 bushels win- 
ter and 110,900 bushels spring wheat, 3,163 tons hay, 16,777 bushels 
potatoes, 27,949 bushels apples, 77,662 pounds butter, 9,900 pounds 
cheese, and 32 yards domestic cloths. 

In 1890 the town had a population of 2,564 or 307 less than in 1880. 
In 1893 its real estate was assessed at $1,044,134 (equalized $990,308); 
personal property, $148,125; village and mill property, $215,280 
(equalized $206,121); railroads and telegraphs, $584,504 (equalized 
$547,142). Total assessed valuation, $1,992,043 (equalized $1,891,696). 
Schedule of taxes, 1893: Contingent fund, $1,015.71; town poor fund, 
$400; special tax, $75; school tax, $1,730.78; county tax, $4,141.09; 
State tax, $2,281.97; State insane tax, $588,70; dog tax, $249. Total 
tax levied, $10,839.19; rate per cent., .00544124. The town has two 
election districts and in !8 ( .)3 polled 416 votes. 

The earliest settlements in this town were made in the vicinity of 
Macedon village along the Palmyra-Pittsford road, the pioneers being 
principally from New England. Practically the town's development 
dates from the commencement of the Erie Canal, which traverses 
Macedon from east to west through nearly its central part. New 
comers after the completion of that great waterway in 1825 thence- 
forward came in easier and more rapidly. The construction of the 
main line of the New York Central Railroad, running almost parallel 



332 LANDMARKS OF 

with the canal, lent a new impetus to the town's business interests and 
ever afterwards assured it a commercial importance that has been 
steadly maintained and improved. A third commercial improvement 
was inaugurated in 1883 in the construction of the West Shore Rail- 
road, which in 1885 passed under control of the first named corpora- 
tion as lessees. Both of these railroads run through the central part of 
the town just north of Macedon village. 

The first settler in Macedon was Webb Harwood, who came with his 
family from Massachusetts in 1789, making the journey with an ox 
team and wagon in forty-six days. He settled in the east part of the 
town, cleared a small plat, built a rude log cabin, and lived there many 
years. Mr. Harwood died in 1824, and the family finally went west. 
Ebenezer Reed, also from Massachusetts, probably arrived in the same 
year, and lived neighbor to Harwood. 

Israel Delano was a settler of 1790; he located in the south part of 
the town and soon afterward died, and is said to have been the first 
white man to die in Macedon. Darius Comstock reared a family here 
and subsequently went to Michigan. His daughter Hannah was born 
in 1703, and was the first female white child born in town. Paul Reed 
was another pioneer of about this period. 

Abraham Spear settled with his family in Macedon in 1791, purchas- 
ing 500 acres of land in the east part of the town. He died soon after- 
ward, and his farm passed to his sons, Abraham, jr., Ebenezer and 
Isaac. The first of these three became the first supervisor of the town 
and was otherwise prominent in local affairs. Jonathan Warner, Abner 
Hill, Constant Southard, Barnabas Brown, Jacob Gannett, and David 
White were also early settlers. Mr. Gannett, in 1801, built the first 
grist mill in town on Ganargwa Creek. A son was born to him in 1791, 
who was the first white child born in Macedon. 

William Porter, who settled in the west part of the town on a farm 
subsequently owned by Hon. John Lapham, owned the first tavern in 
Macedon prior to 1810, and continued as its landlord until his death in 
L825. This was a two-story frame structure and in a remodeled form 
was long used as a residence. In 1812 Ebenezer Spear, above men- 
tioned, opened a second hotel, but a few years later it was changed to 
a dwelling and is still used for that purpose. 

Hon. John Lapham came to Palmyra with his father in 1796; after 
his marriage in L818 to Saloma, daughter of William and Lydia Porter, 
he removed to Macedon, and lived here until his death July 4, 1867. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 333 

He was several times elected supervisor and in 18,47 was chosen mem- 
ber of Assembly from Wayne county. He had nine children, of whom 
Stephen W. still resides in town. Mrs. Lapham died in Macedon vil- 
lage several years ago. Two other settlers of this period were Ber- 
nard Beal, one of the first school inspectors, and Henry Wilber. Mr. 
Beal was the father of Ira and De Witt Beal, who lived on the home- 
stead. Emery Beal still lives in the town. 

Among the new comers of 1792 were John Bradish and his family, 
consisting of his wife and sons Calvin, Luther and Charles. Luther 
was elected lieutenant-governor of this State, and died in New York 
city ; Charles and Calvin moved to Michigan and died there. 

Bartimeus, Cyrus, and John Packard, three brothers, after a journey 
of six weeks with ox teams, arrived here February 22, 1792. Barnabas 
Packard, their father, had preceded them and bought 640 acres of land 
upon which the sons located, paying 18^ cents per acre. Cyrus died 
in Perinton. Bartimeus died September 10, 1854, on the homestead 
now occupied by his grandson. John died in Michigan. F. C. John- 
son, great-grandson of the latter, is ex-postmaster and a merchant in 
Macedon village. 

In 1793 David Warner came to Macedon, returned east to winter, 
came again the next spring, and soon afterward married. Nahum 
Warner, his son, died here a few years since. Deacon Noah Porter 
settled on a part of the farm recently occupied by ex- Sheriff William 
P. Nottingham. Other settlers of about this time were Bernard Bates, 
and Barnett and Stephen Peters. Thomas Bussey settled east of 
Macedon Center in 1794. Of his large family Mrs. Perry (aftewards 
Mrs. Gannett) and Mrs. Lapham died in town some years since. 

An early and perhaps the earliest physician was Dr. Gain Robinson, 
who settled near the east line of the town on the farm now owned by a 
son of David Aldrich. In 1821 Dr. Plunkett Richardson located on 
the Durfee farm and practiced medicine until his death in 1833. In 
1826 Dr. Benjamin W. Dean became a physician at the Center. 

Abraham Lapham came to this town with his family in 1795, and 
settled on the farm lately owned by Zachariah Van Duzer. The first 
person baptized in Macedon was the wife of Joseph Finkham, a pioneer, 
the ceremony being performed in 1797 by an Irish missionary. Mr. 
Finkham paid two shillings an acre for fifty acres, on which farm he 
died. 

Among the early settlers of 1795 were Benjamin and Jonathan Wood, 



SU LANDMARKS OF 

Nathan and John Comstock, the father of Hector Turner, and N. Dick- 
inson. William F. Dickinson, a son of the latter, died in Macedon vil- 
lage several years ago. 

In L796 Deacon Palmer settled on a large farm in the northeast part 
of the town and died there. A son now resides in the town. Ephraim 
Green located where his son Almon afterwards lived. A son of the 
latter was a clerk in the State Legislature several years, and another 
is now station agent at West Walworth. 

George Crane, Bartlett Robinson (a mechanic and pioneer builder), 
Brice Aldrich, and Ethan Lapham were settlers of 1800. Lewis and 
Morgan Robinson, sons of Bartlett, also settled permanently in town, 
and Mrs. Arnold Bristol, a daughter of Brice Aldrich, is still living 
here. Robert Teadman came from Rhode Island in L810 and bought 
140 acres now owned by Mrs. George Frey. 

The first blacksmith in town was Walter Walker, who opened a shop 
about 1805, on or near the place now owned by the heirs of Abel Run- 
van. Mr. Walker was soon succeeded by Daniel Kimball. 

One of the pioneer orchards was set out about 1795 by Abraham 
Lapham; another covering seven acres was set at an early day by 
Nathan Comstock, on the farm now owned by Martin Weedrick. This 
latter orchard during many years bore the only grafted fruit in the 
town. Mr. Lapham built the first frame house in Macedon prior to 
L800. It was repaired, removed, and again repaired and now stands 
on John H. Murphy's farm. 

Prominent among other early comers are the names of Ebenezer 
Still (a Revolutionary soldier), Asa Aldridge, Alexander Purdy, Dur- 
fee Osband, Walter Lawrence (whose son Walter resides on the home- 
stead), William Willits, Nathaniel Brailey, Artemas Ward, and Levi 
Camborn. 

Thomas C. Hance came to Macedon from Maryland in 1817, and in 
the same year opened the first store in town. He continued business 
until ls\!;>, when he purchased a farm near the Center, where he lived 
until his death, April 19. 1888, at the great age of L06 years. During 
the latter part of his life he resided with his son Abraham. Another 
pioneer merchant was Israel Richardson. 

Among the oldest frame dwellings now tenanted are those occupied 
bv the families of f. W. Arnold, Bartimeus Packard, and Israel Delano. 
On the exterior these residences have never been changed. The house 
of Monroe Carman is another old remodeled structure, as is also the 



WAYNE COUNTY. 335 

one occupied by James Duggan, wherein occurred the death of Jona- 
than Ramsdell, the "Quaker preacher. " Probably the oldest barn in 
the town is the one standing on the Bartimeus Packard place, which 
was erected in 1799. 

In Part II of this work mention is made of many other pioneers and 
prominent citizens of the town ; to these may be added the following 
names of others who are more or less conspicuous in later generations: 
William and Cyrus Packard, sons of Philander Packard ; John G. Mead, 
son of Richard; B. S. Durfee, son of the late Stephen Durfee; William 
B. Billings, ex-supervisor; Charles T. Jennings, justice of the peace; 
Frank B. Hicks, ex-postmaster and merchant at the Center; George 
Marshall, son of John C. ; the Hance brothers, sons of Abraham, who 
died in December, 1893 ; Gideon Baker, a typical representative of the 
olden time; A. H. Briggs, justice of the peace; James Harbou, Joseph 
AY. Bentley, DeWitt C. Lapham, Thomas Bussey, Thomas Blaker, and 
Isaac Tallman, son of Darius, a true descendant of pioneer days. 

The Durfee family was prominent in the early settlement of this town 
and among its representatives is Hiram C. Durfee. Charles B. Heren- 
deen, ex-supervisor, is a son of Charles B., sr. , and grandson of Durfee 
Herendeen, whose father, Welcome, purchased 160 acres of land in 
Macedon in 1811, and died thereon in 1837. Welcome Herendeen mar- 
. ried a daughter of Gideon Durfee. George Everett resided on the farm 
settled by his father, and died in Palmyra a few years since. Other 
prominent men who have long made this town their home are Joab 
Biddlecom, Silas N. Gallup, Lyman Bickford, Samuel Everett, Z. A. 
Van Duzer, Menzo and Samuel Smith, Gideon Smith, Daniel S. 
Shourds (nurserymen), David Cramer, Edwin Robinson, John Lane, 
Gilbert Budd, the Downing brothers (maltsters in Palmyra), Thomas 
Lampson, and Frank Allyn. These men, each in his own way, have 
contributed materially to the growth and welfare of the town. 

The volunteers from the town of Macedon who participated in the war 
of the Rebellion numbered 167. Each and every one did valiant ser- 
vice in that sanguinary conflict, and the present generations proudly hon- 
ors their deeds of heroism. But few of the old veterans still remain 
among us, death having claimed many of their number since their terms 
of active service expired. 

Deacon Noah Porter, as early 1800, donated to the town the first plat 
for a burial place, situated about one mile east of Macedon Center, on 
land now owned by Edwin Robinson. It contains the undisturbed re- 



336 LANDMARKS OF 

mains of many of the earlier pioneers and for ten yearsormore was the 
principal cemetery in Macedon. The Friends' burying ground at 
Maeedon was opened prior to 1820, and is still in use. 

The progress of education within the limits of this town is doubtless 
the best evidence of the unusual intelligence and refinement manifested 
by the present generation of inhabitants. It was prior.to 1800 that the 
first school house was erected, a frame structure half a mile below the 
west lock, on the north side of the canal, in the corporation of Macedon 
village. Soon afterward it was removed by Deacon Noah Porter and 
made over into a residence. 

In 1803 another frame school building was erected on property now 
owned by David Glossenger, but after a usefulness of three decades, it 
was torn down. John Brandish was the first teacher in that house. 

In 1871 a graded school was established in Macedon village under the 
principalship of Prof. William Goodenough, in a building erected for a 
Union Free School. The present Union school house was built of brick 
in 1887-88, at a cost of $8,000. It is of one story and the school main- 
tains an academic department. The present Board of Education (1894) 
consists of Eli H. Gallup, president; William S. Eddy, secretary; Ira 
L. Purdy, Isaac Dean, and Carl C. Herendeen. George W. Boughton 
is treasurer. Four teachers are employed and George H. Cullihgs is 
principal. The school district is free from debt. 

On the northwest corner of Macedon Center there stood in early 
days a small public hostelry known as the Hollister House, a name sub- 
sequently changed to the Macedon Center House. After the opening 
of the canal this tavern was no longer prosperous, but it continued to 
entertain travelers and dispense liquor for several years afterward. 
William Barker about this time formed a plan to open a Friends' boarding 
school, but did not carry them oat; yet the suggestion developed into 
the purchase on April 24, L841, of John Gidersleeve of the old tavern 
property at a cost of $1,150, the purchasers being Jonathan Ramsdell, 
Daniel T. Burton, and Durfee Osband. On the 11th of April, 1842, 
through Durfee ( >sband, then member of Assembly, the Macedon Acad- 
emy was legally incorporated, and on September 13, Messrs. Ramsdell, 
Burton, and ( )sband deeded the property to the following trustees named 
in the charter: Thomas C. Hance, Thomas Barnes, Philander Packard, 
Ira Odell, William C. Johnston, Evert Bogardus, Henry Tillou, John 
Johnston, [ames Cunningham, Israel Woolsey,. Joshua Delong, John C. 
Marshall, John Van Vliet, Walter Johnson, and Caleb Van Duzer. On 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



337 



May 24, 1843, a strip of land two rods wide, west of the tavern lot, 
was bought by James T. Hoag, but afterwads a part of this was sold. 
In 1841, school was first opened in the old tavern with Eaton B. North- 
rop, principal, and Stephen Ramsdell and Austin Mandeville, assistants. 
Mr. Northrop died October 17, 1843, aged twenty-eight 'years. Sep- 
tember 14, 1842, it was resolved to build an extension for the academy 
proper, and use the old tavern for a boarding house. The contract was 
let to Evert Bogardus. The present building was erected in 1853, and 




if; '«■<•' 

,!aiii | - ,5 55^ " r«"^i- 

•■MACEOON1.GENTR& house- 





the first session opened in it November 7, of that year, with 160 students. 
In 1859 the old academy was sold to Dr. Esten, removed to the site of 
William Barker's residence, and burned September 6, of the same year. 
In 1863 a commercial department was established in the academy. The 
boarding house (the old tavern) was destroyed by fire the next morning 
after the close of the fall term in November, 1873. The academy was 
founded by adherents of the doctrine of the Society of Friends, and for 
more than half a century has wielded a powerful influence in guiding 
the morals and elevating the standard of education in this section of 
Western New York. Plain and unpretentious in its outward appear- 
ance, its curriculum governed by strict rules sometimes locally termed 
" blue laws, " fostered by the Board of Regents of the State, it has 
ever maintained an enviable prestige and flourished while many similar 
43 



338 



LANDMARKS OF 



institutions succumbed to the changing status of state and society 
The presidents of the Board of Trustees have been as follows: 



Ira Odell, 1842, 
Durfee Osband. 1845, 
Philander Packard, 1846, 
Thomas Barnes, L848, 
J. C. Marshall, 1849, 



J. M. Howland, 1852, 
T. J. Mead, 1856, 
L. Whitcomb, 1857, 
William Bloodgood, 1863, 
Stephen Durfee, 18G4, 



Principals of the academy 



1841-42, 


Eaton B. Northrup, 


1868-69, 


1842-43, 


Eaton B. Northrup, 


1869-70, 


1843-44, 


Stephen Wood, 


1870-71, 


1844-45, 


Stephen Wood, 


1871-72, 


1845^6, 


Stephen Wood, 


1872-73, 


1846-47, 


John W. Stebbins, 


1873-74, 


1847-48, 


John W. Stebbins, 


1874-75, 


1848-49, 


Hiram Wheeler, 


1875 76, 


1849-50, 


Samuel Centre, 


1876-77. 


1850-51, 


Samuel Centre, 


1877-78, 


1851-52, 


Samuel Centre, 


1878-79, 


1852-53, 


Samuel Centre, 


1879-80, 


is:,:; 54, 


William M. McLaughlin, 


1880-81, 


1854-55, 


Willism M. McLaughlin, 


1881-82, 


L855 56, 


William M. McLaughlin, 


1882-83, 


1856-57, 


Charles S. Halsey, 


1883-84, 


1857-58, 


Thomas McC. Ballantine, 


1884-85, 


1858-59, 


George H. Whitney, 


1885-86, 


1859-60, 


Brain erd Kellogg, 


1886-87, 


1860-61, 


Edwin B. Harvey, 


1887 -88, 


1861-62 


Edwin B, Harvey, 


1888-89, 


1862-63, 


Charles S. Halsey, 


1889-90, 


1863-64, 


Charles S. Halsey, 


1890-91, 


1864-65, 


Charles S. Halsey, 


1891-92, 


1865-66 


Gardner Fuller, 


1892 93, 


1866-67 


Gardner Fuller, 


1893-94, 


1867-68, 


James S. Lemon, 





A. L. Hance, 1872, 
J. G. Mead, 1875, 
Isaac Baker, 1876, 
H. H. Hoag, 1883, 
Burton S. Durfee, 1888 94. 



H. George Miller, 
H. George Miller, 
George S. Andrews, 
Richard H. Dennis, 
Henrietta W. Downing, 
Andrew J. Nellis, 
J. Edmund Massee, 
J. Edmund Massee, 
V. A. Crandall, 
Byron C. Mathews, 
D. I). Van Allen, 
Frederick A. Hyde, 
Charles H. Boynton, 
Charles H. Boynton, 
Fred A. White, 
Margaret J agger, 
Lewis H. Clark, 
Lewis H. Clark, 
Lewis H. Clark, 
Lewis H. Clark, 
Lewis H. Clark, 
Lewis H. Clark, 
Lewis H. Clark, jr., 
Cyrus S. Palmer. 
Edwin W. Stevens, 
J. Carson Benedict. 



The Board of Trustees for L894- 'J 5 are 



Joseph W. Bentley, 
William B. Billings, 
Benjamin C. Blaker, 
Thomas R. Blaker, 
1 lurton S. Durfee (president), 



I >arwin Eldridge, 
Frank B. Hicks (secretary), 
James Harbou, 
Myron L. Hoag, 
Charles T. Jennings (treas- 
urer), 

Honorary Members: Humphrey H, Hoag, Guidon T. Smith. 
Executive Commitee: Burton S. Durfee, Frank B. Hicks, Myron L 



Dewitt C. Lapham, 
George Mansfield, 
Cyrus Packard, 
Isaac P. 1 loag, 
Charles H. Parker. 



1 loag. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 339 

Faculty: J. Carson Benedict, principal, Latin, psychology, mathematics, physics, 
and chemistry. Francis May Matteson, preceptress, German, drawing, ai 
history, and higher English. Nellie V. Blaker, assistant, physiology, history, 
English, and civics. Mrs. Frances K. Mandeville, music. 

Alumni Association (organized in 1884): Beal M. Smith, president; Lizzie J. 
Blaker, vice-president; Mina C. Packard, secretary; Beal M. Smith, Lizzie J. Blaker, 
Charles B. Herendeen, Mina C. Packard, executive committee. 

The town of Macedon has thirteen school districts, attended during 
the year 1892-93 by 595 children, and taught by fifteen teachers. The 
valuation of school buildings and sites aggregates $16,250; assessed 
valuation of the districts $1,945,000; public money received from the 
State $1,937.02; amount raised by local tax $2,473.40. 

The Macedon Historical and Geographical Society was organized at 
the house of William C. Packard on February 1, 1894, with about twen- 
ty-five members, and with the following officers: Frank B. Hicks, pres- 
ident; Miss Ada E. Hance, vice-president; Miss Mina C. Packard, sec- 
retary; Charles B. Herendeen, treasurer; Miss Nellie V. Blaker, libra- 
rian. Its object is to collect and preserve local history. 

The first grist mill in town was built by Jacob Gannett in 1801, on 
his premises on Ganargwa Creek half a mile west of Macedon village. 
It had one run of stone. The mill race was constructed about 1825 as 
a feeder for the canal, and a few years later, about 1832, a Mr. Patter- 
son obtained the right of use of this raceway and bought and removed 
the Gannett mill to its present site in the village. Subsequent proprie- 
tors were Allen Purdy and John Willits, Ese Wilber, George Wilber, 
Russell Allen, Caldron White, and Mr. Allen again. In 1877 J. S. 
Biddlecom purchased the property and later transferred a one-half in- 
terest to his grandson, Bayard Biddlecom, making the firm J. S. Biddle- 
com & Co., who are the present proprietors. The building has been 
materially repaired, a full roller process substituted for the stones, and 
a saw mill added about 1878. 

The frame grist mill near the Walworth town line, north of Walworth 
Station, is owned by the widow of John Craggs. It is operated by both 
steam and water power. 

Macedon Village. — This village, situated a little southeast from the 
center of the town, was incorporated in November, 1856, and comprises 
within its limits one square mile. The charter, relative to municipal 
officers, was amended May 4, 1868. The original proprietors of the 
land were Enoch Gannett, and Abiatha Powers, who paid 18f- cents per 
acre, and who in 1828 sold to William Willits, Alexander Purdy, and 



340 LANDMARKS OF 

John Lapham, from whom the first village lots were purchased in 1830. 
When the three last named became owners of the real estate here, the 
present limits contained only two one-story frame houses, one of which, 
that owned by Enoch Gannett, has been repaired and is now occupied 
as a residence by William Van Wincklen. 

As early as 1815, a carding and cloth-dressing- mill was erected near 
the site of the Biddlecom flouring- mill by Daniel Lapham and Mr. 
Gannett, and continued in operation in 1818, It was the first industry 
in the place and at one period did an extensive business. Gannett and 
Lapham also built two log houses here about 1815. 

In 1829 Purdy and Williams erected a store building which is now, 
in a repaired form, used as a harness shop. John Robson opened a 
blacksmith shop in 1831, and in 1832 Michael Ellsworth built the first 
tavern. This was afterwards enlarged and was burned in 1882, and on 
its site the present frame hotel was erected. 

In 1831 a small furnace situated at the four corners a mile west of 
the village was removed to the corporation, enlarged and operated on 
the site of the present foundry. At the four corners also the post-office 
was established about 1831, but it soon came to the village with Alex- 
ander Purdy as postmaster. The present incumbent is John P. Kaiser. 

Among the merchants who formerly carried on trade here were Wil- 
liam Willits, Alexander Purdy, Richmond & Lampson, Hawkins & 
Brace, Brace & Eddy, Eddy & Underhill, Leonard L. Cramer, William 
R. Van Wincklen, N. B. Packard & Co., C. B. Herendeen, Ira L. 
Purdy, Ausman & Ripley, John Little, Mrs. B. F. Wheeler, John 
McCann, George Gifford, Isaac Cramer and David Cramer. A dry 
goods store was built by John Lapham in 1834, and for some time 
occupied by Albert White; repaired and remodeled, it occupies the 
same site and is owned by Charles J. Servoss. 

The present creamery of W. D. Herendeen was formerly occupied 
by him as a plaster mill. The cider mill and mint distillery operated 
by Charles H. Plumb, was originally used as a tannery, which had 
various proprietors, the last one being Wallace Mumford. In Novem- 
ber, 1889, Mr. Plumb purchased the property and doubled the capacit)^ 
of the cider mill and in 1893 added a peppermint distiller}-. 

The firm of Bickford & Huffman, formed in October, 1842, are the 
pioneer builders of fertilizer grain drills in America. During the first 
ten or twelve years they did a country jobbing and repair business, 
making plows, and later seme few steam engines, and some mowers 



WAYNE COUNTY. 341 

and reapers. The first grain drills were made in L8'49, about twenty in 
number, and were almost entirely hand made. Their introduction 
upon the market was very successful, and opened an era of prosperity 
which culminated in 1860. At the close of that year the firm occupied 
a leading" position as manufacturers in their line. The grain drill trade 
being confined exclusively to the Southern States, the breaking out of 
the war of the Rebellion in 1861 caused a complete suspension in trade, 
and the loss of a large share of the firm's capital. With trade thus 
destroyed, the company with a little capital saved from the wreck en- 
gaged in other lines of manufacture, and carried on their business until 
1866 and '67, when the demand for grain drills again revived in the 
South, but with many obstacles that had not been present before. The 
demand was at first greatly limited by the greatly reduced number of 
buyers, and second by the lessened ability of the buyers to pay for the 
goods purchased. During these years a movement was made to secure 
a portion of the trade in the Northern States, and with limited means 
and capital the firm was fairly successful. In 1870 Mr. Huffman died, 
leaving his interest to his widow, who continued the business with Mr. 
Lyman Bickford as partner, acting as manager. In November, 1885, 
Mr. Bickford disposed of his interest in the business to his partner, 
the former Mrs. Huffman, the present Mrs. Kirkpatrick, who thus be- 
came the sole owner of the plant and business, with G. W. Kirkpatrick 
as general manager. The new management found the business lack- 
ing a sufficiently systematized organization, and operated without 
definite data of the cost of manufacture, sales, collections, or any other 
department ; and while this change was being effected, vast improve- . 
ments were made in the construction of the drills, which still occupy 
front rank in their line in the world. In January, 1893, the business 
was incorporated into a stock company, under the style of Bickford & 
Huffman Company, which with a business thoroughly systematized, 
with grain drills combining the latest improvements patented, with a 
largely extended trade, domestic and foreign, a well equipped plant, 
with an energetic management, bows to no superiors in the world in 
their line of manufacture. Officers, G. W. Kirkpatrick, president ; H. 
M. Kirkpatrick, vice president ; W. P. Thistlethwaite, secretary and 
treasurer. 

The village of Macedon now contains a newspaper and printing office, 
one general store, a grist and saw mill, two dry goods stores, one boot 
and shoe store, a meat market, three harness shops, a lawyer, three 



342 LANDMARKS OF 

physicians, a grain drill manufactory and foundry, a jewelry store, one 
drug store, a cider mill and mint distillery, one hotel, a butter factory, 
a canal grocery, a lumber yard, an undertaker, two coal and two produce 
dealers, a union school, three churches, and the usual other shops and 
artisans. The village has stations on both the New York Central and 
West Shore railroads. 

The first charter election tor the village was held December 31, L856, 
when the following officers were chosen : James Rice, jr., president ; 
Daniel Langdon, Henry Huffman, John Lapham, J. J. Acker, trustees ; 
William E. Willits, treasurer; 11. E. Ripley, clerk. The presidents 
have been : 

I 1 . M. Willits, is:,;, In, i.. Purdy, L873, 

C. E. Langdon, 1858, Lyman Bickford, 1874 78, 

M. A. Eddy, 1859, W. L. Acker, L879, 

W. L. Acker, I860, Jesse Halsey, L880 81, 

G. B. Arnold, L861, L. L. Cramer, 18*2 s::, 

Lyman Bickford, 1862, [saac Dean, 1884, 

Alexandei Arthur, 1863 64, George W. Korkpatrick, 1885, 

Anse] Perkins. L865, C. C. Cramer, 1886, 

H. B. Johnson, lsfiG, C. C. Herendeen, 1887, 

Jeremiah Thistlethwaite, 186 1 ; I). C. Brundage, 1888 90, 

S. X. Gallup, 1868, Isaac Dean, 1891, 

H. P. Underbill. L869, D. C. Brundage, L892, 

Henry Huffman, 1870, IL M. Little, L898-94. 

S. N. Gallup, 1871-72, 

The offieers for ISii-l are as follows : IL. M. Little, president ; H. J. 
ese, E. J. Corser, John Simmons, trustees; C. J. Servoss, clerk ; 
Pred C. Johnson, treasurer; David Courter, collector; E. J. Corser, 
overseer of the poor ; William Nettleship, street commissioner; John 
Simmons and H. J. Breese, assessors. According to the census of L890 
the village had a population of 533. 

Macedon Center. — -Regarded from an imaginative standpoint this is 
the pleasantest village in this town, and being the scat of Macedon 
Academy it is probably as widely known asany other place of itssize in 
Wayne county. At a very early day Asa Aldridge settled on the two 
east corners; Ebenezer Still on the northwest corner, and Artemas Ward 
west of tin- village ; but a suggestion that this might become a point of 
considerable importance found no response in their ideas of enterprise 
and duringtheir holdings they declined to sell lots for building purposes. 
Mr. Ward is regarded as the first permanent settler on the site of the 
village. In 1825 Ward and Still died and Aldridge sold his property to 



WAYNE COUNTY. 848 

John Johnson. At the request of Durfee Osband in L826, Benjamin T. 
Hoxsie came hither from Massachusetts to open a store, which he built 
on the southwest corner lot, where he continued business many • 
In 1840 his old building was converted into a dwelling. This may be 
considered the substantial beginning of Macedon Center, although it 
had previously been a stopping place for travelers and boasted a hot I. 
the Hollister House, afterwards the old Macedon House. One of the 
early landlords was Levi Camborn, a blacksmith, who was granted a 
license for one year to sell wine. His successors probably also dispensed 
liquor, for it is remembered that arum pole, the last one in this section, 
was raised in front of this tavern on the site of the present temperance 
monument. When the tidal wave of total abstinence swept over this 
State in the latter part of the thirties, the agitation seemed to center in 
this vicinity, and many were the meetings held to discuss the objection- 
able traffic. These discussions warmed enthusiasm into action and the 
movement culminated in 1845 in the erection of a marble obelisk nine, 
feet high, which was procured from Vermont by Ira Lapham. It came 
by canal and was dedicated to the cause of temperance on July 4, of that 
year, the oration being delivered by Hon. William C. Bliss, of Roches- 
ter. The stone bears the inscription, " Total Abstinence — 1845." 

The first physician to locate here was Dr. Benjamin W. Dean. A 
man named Post followed Hoxie as a merchant, and among the later 
traders here were a Mr. Lamb (who built the store now occupied by 
Frank B. Hicks), Evert Bogardus, William Bloodgood, Elias Hicks 
(father of Frank B.), from 1808 to 1873, Charles Rowe one year, John 
N. Brownell (afterwards county sheriff), and Frank B. Hicks since 
1883. Opposite the academy was once a stationery store and Ira Odell 
later had a tailorshop in the same building. The village now has the 
academy, three churches, a general store, a wagon and blacksmith 
shop, and a population of about 150. 

The post-office was established here between 1830 and L835, probably 
in the building now occupied by Rachel Arnold and Judith Post. One 
of the earliest postmasters was Ira Odell, who served more than twenty 
years, and was succeeded by Monroe Norton. Elias Hicks had the 
office from 1866 to 1873. The present incumbent is Lewis II. Dick. 

West Macedon, located on the canal in the western part of the town, 
enjoys the distinction of having had a post-office which by some 
means got into the presidential class, and which is also said to have 
been the first money-order office in Wayne county. It was established 



344 LANDMARKS OF 

in 1856 with Echabod W. Briggs postmaster, who continued in the office 
until shortly before his death not many years ago, when the office was 
discontinued. The place has lost nearly all of its former importance as 
a business point, and is now merely a rural hamlet. 

Walworth station is situated on the New York Central Railroad in 
Maeedon about four miles south from Walworth village in the town of 
Walworth. 

The Baptist Church of Maeedon was organized in 1800 as the First 
Baptist Church of Palmyra, with nineteen constituent members, 
namely: William Rogers, Lemuel and Ruth Spear, Noah and Ruth 
Potter, Benjamin Wood, James and Hannah Fuller, Bartimeus Packard, 
James Rogers, Abram Spear, William Jones, Elizabeth Jones, Polly 
Baker, M. Wood, and Joseph Case. Until 1800 meetings were held at 
Webb Harwood's, but in that year a frame church edifice was built. 
One of the first pastors was Rev. Jeremiah Irons, from 1804 to 1820. 
During the pastorate of Rev. Paul S. Prichard, in 1834-35, the church 
divided, one portion retaining the name and organizing the present 
Baptist society of Palmyra, and the other forming the Maeedon Baptist 
Church and holding the property. The first pastor of this latter divis- 
ion was Rev. Peter Turk, under whom the edifice (then standing on 
the Ranney farm, three miles east of Maeedon village) was taken 
down, removed to the present site, rebuilt and rededicated. Dining 
the pastorate of Rev. D. D. Lovell it was remodeled and repaired at a 
cost of $3,500, and again dedicated in March, 1874. The society now 
has about sixty members, with Rev. J. M. Bates, pastor. The frame 
parsonage was becjueathed to the church by one of its prominent 
members. 

St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church of Maeedon was organized by 
Rev. William Casey in 1850, with some 200 communicants. The pres- 
ent frame edifice was erected that fall and consecrated Jul}- 4, 1857, by 
Bishop John Tirnon, of Buffalo. In 1875 a transept, a sanctuary for 
the altar, and a vestry were added and the whole reconsecrated Sep- 
tember 26th of that year by Bishop Bernard J. M. McQuaid, of Roch- 
ester. The parish now numbers about 500 souls. Rev. Father Casey 
was in charge from Palmyra until September 1, L883, when the present 
pastor, Rev. M. A. F. Holmes, became the first resident priest. The 
parsonage was purchased of Ceorge P. Lapham in September, 1883, 
for $3,000. 

The Church of the Good Shepherd (Universalist) of Maeedon, was 



WAYNE COUNTY. 345 

legally organized b)^ Rev. Harvey Boughten, on March 8, 1874, with 
thirty-five members. The church edifice was finished and dedicated in 
May, 1873, and Rev. Mr. Boughton was installed the first pastor and 
remained until 1884; he was succeeded by Revs. C. L. Waite, H. K. 
White, R. W. McLaughlin, and the present incumbent, C. L. Paddock. 
The present church building was remodeled and rededicated in March, 
1889, and a pipe organ costing $2,500 placed therein. The edifice is 
of brick and frame, and is valued at $10,000, and connected is a frame 
parsonage worth $2,000. The society has eighty-six members. A 
Sunday school was inaugurated in 1873 with Henry B. Underhill su- 
perintendent. The present incumbent is Lyman Bickford. 

The Society of Friends held meetings at Macedon Center as early as 
1800, but when their original house of worship was built can not be 
determined. It is known that it was a two-story structure with a 
gallery on three sides, and as the number of members gradually de-_ 
creased it was decided to reduce its towering proportions. About this 
time (1827) the Orthodox branch withdrew. While chipping from the 
lower ends of the posts the building suddenly collapsed and it was then 
rebuilt in its present form on the northeast corner. This is known as 
the Hicksite branch. The Orthodox members, soon after their with- 
drawal, erected \he old house locally called the Orthodox house, which 
was replaced by the present edifice in 1868, in which the first service 
was held November 22, of that year. The old house was sold to J. N. 
Brownell, removed by him to the north side of the street, and is now 
used by Ansel Clark as a barn. 

The Methodist Episcopal Church of Macedon Center existed as a 
class at quite an early date, and among the first class leaders were 
Abraham Aldrich and Levi Camborn. It appears upon the minutes of 
the quarterly conference held near Canandaigua October 24, 1812, and 
is afterwards noticed on the records until 1833, between which date and 
1844 it drops out of recorded mention. Prior to 1859 Walworth and 
Macedon stood together several years, but at that time a change was 
effected and Macedon and Perinton were united. The first house of 
worship was built some time previous to 1825, on the premises now 
owned by J. W. Colburn. In 1847 a new edifice was erected on a new 
site donated to the society by Durfee Osband, and this was remodeled 
into the present structure in 1831, at a total cost of about $2,000. The 
parsonage was purchased in 1863 for $1,500. The original house of 
worship was purchased by S. V. R. Mallory, removed October 24, 1850, 

44 



346 LANDMARKS OF 

and became a part of the dwelling- now occupied by Mrs. Henry 
Tillou. The present pastor is Rev. A. B. Norton. John G. Mead has 
been recording steward of the society since 1805, succeeding Dnrfee 
Osband. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF SAVANNAH. 

Savannah, the southeast corner town in Wayne county, was formed 
from Galen on November, 24, 1825. It comprises the eastern part 
of lot 27 of the Military Tract, and has an area of 21,908 acres, which 
was originally surveyed into lots of 600 acres each. It is bounded on 
the north by Butler, on the east by Cayuga county, on the south by 
Seneca county, and on the west by Galen. The name Savannah is 
derived from the Latin, Sabanum, and from the Spanish, Savana or 
Sabana, and means, according to Webster, an extensive open plain or 
meadow, or a plain destitute of trees, and covered with grass. From 
the following brief description it will be seen that the town was appro- 
priately named. 

In the southern, central, and northern portions the surface is broken 
into ridges of drift sand, which generally trend north and south. In 
the southwest part is an extensive swamp, covering nearly 1,900 acres. 
It is thickly covered with a coarse grass, which was successfully utilized 
in 1867 in the manufacture of paper by the two paper mills then con- 
ducted at Clyde. Efforts have been made to reclaim this immense 
tract by a system of drainage, but the undertaking was evidently too 
great for the means obtainable. At one time it was proposed to turn 
the course of Crusoe Creek to the northeast, but commercial interests 
at Oswego interfered and the scheme was abandoned. A second plan 
was to blast out the bed of Seneca River, thus lowering it enough to 
drain the surface; this also was never carried out. A resident some 
years since spent several thousand dollars endeavoring to reclaim a 
small portion, but as soon as the work was suspended it went back to 
its original condition. The soil is a rich black muck, and a few feet 
below the surface lies a stratum of valuable marl and shell. In wet 



WAYNE COUNTY. 347 

seasons the whole is covered with shallow water and presents a con- 
tinuous inland lake. Flowing- northeasterly from Galen through the 
north end of this swamp is Marsh Creek, which empties into a small 
body of water north of vSavannah village, called Crusoe Lake. Through 
this lake from the town of Butler flows Crusoe Creek, which forms a 
junction with Seneca River, a little north of the railroad. The con- 
siderable body of elevated land thus surrounded, lying between the 
swamp and Seneca River, is locally termed Crusoe Island ; it is nearly 
six miles long and four miles wide, and extends southward to the Ctyde 
River in Seneca county, but more than one-half of its area lies within 
the limits of this town. Extensive low swampy lands border Crusoe 
Creek and Seneca River and form the northwestern portion of the 
famous Montezuma marshes. Seneca River forms the eastern boundary 
line of the town and county for nearly five miles. Excepting the large 
open marsh in the southwestern part, the town was originally covered 
with heavy timber, nearly all of which long ago disappeared. The soil 
of the high lands is a sandy and gravelly loam. The whole is very 
fertile, particularly the portions bordering on the marshes. It is gen- 
erally susceptible of easy cultivation, and produces excellent crops of 
hay, grain, fruit, etc. Agriculture forms the chief industry, and fruit 
growing is given considerable attention. In 1858 the town produced 
15,925 bushels of winter and 113,854 bushels of spring wheat, 1,901 
tons of hay, 14,376 bushels of potatoes, 14,907 bushels of apples, 69,- 
216 pounds of butter, 2,290 pounds of cheese, and 1,366 yards of do- 
mestic cloths. Of domestic animals Savannah then contained 675 
horses, 1,348 oxen and calves, 761 cows, 4,947 sheep, and 1,335 swine. 

Probably no town in Wayne county ever acquired the degree of 
prominence among sportsmen that was obtained by Savannah in years 
gone by. It even yet maintains a respectable reputation in this direc- 
tion, and fishing and duck hunting have always attracted the most atten- 
tion ; on the marshes along Seneca River grows a species of wild oats 
which in the fall attracts numerous blackbirds, many of which fall vic- 
tims to the sportman's gun. 

The highest elevation of land in the town is Fort Hill, so named from 
an ancient earthwork discovered upon its extreme summit. It is sup- 
posed to have been a work of defense, but aside from this its history is 
buried in oblivion. It is situated near Seneca River south of the rail- 
road. The old Jesuit " Relations " notice a mission as existing on this 
hill about 1657. It was established by Father Rene Menard. 



348 LANDMARKS OF 

The development of the town in its earlier settlement was slow, yet 
it has enjoyed a steady growth and kept pace with other similar subdivi- 
sions of the county. The extensive marshes have ever menaced the 
health and comfort of the inhabitants. The pioneers were a sturdy 
class of people from New England and the eastern part of this State, 
and imparted to the community their sterling- characteristics, indomit- 
able energy, and native perseverance. They subdued a gloomy wilder- 
ness and built attractive homes, many of which have passed to their 
children and grandchildren. The latter have inherited the noble traits 
of their ancestors, and ably maintain the moral status so thoroughly im- 
planted by the generation that has passed away. Their pleasant homes 
and comfortable surroundings seldom manifest a sign of the primitive 
conditions of frontier life. 

Unlike all the other southern towns in Wayne county, Savannah was 
not destined to enjoy the immediate benefits of the Erie Canal, forthat 
waterway approached it only through the extreme southwest corner; 
but the advent of the New York Central Railroad in 1854 gave an im- 
petus to the settlement and caused the village of Savannah to sp'ring up 
and become incorporated. Prior to this not even a hamlet worthy the 
name existed within its borders. The completion of the West Shore 
Railroad in 1884 afforded still better transportation facilities. These 
railroads run parallel through the southern central part of the town and 
have stations at Savannah village. 

Before settlers began to arrive the Galen Salt Works were established 
on lot 37 near Seneca River. The original patent of this lot was vested 
in Dr. James Young, of the Revolution. A well was sunk 400 feet deep, 
which produced strong brine; another well was put down which emit- 
ted inflammable gas. But the manufacture of salt here was unsuccess- 
ful and the business was finally abandoned. In 1808 the works were 
apparently prosperous, but in 1811 they had ceased operations entirely, 
and Prentice Palmer moved in from Butler to take care of them. The 
owners opened a highwajr in the town which led from their works to 
Great Sodus Bay. This was known as the Galen road, and extended 
westward to Clyde. The first thoroughfare in this vicinity, however, 
was an old military trail called the State road, which ran west to the 
block house (Clyde), but this was impassable when settlers began to ar- 
rive. The construction of the Montezuma turnpike gave a decided im- 
petus to immigration. About 1835 a mail route was established from 
Auburn via Montezuma, through Savannah and Butler toWolcott, with 



WAYNE COUNTY. 349 

a post-office at Crusoe Lake called "Crusoe." When the New York 
Central Railroad was completed this route was discontinued and the 
post-office moved to Savannah village. The eastern plank road was con- 
structed at an early day from Clyde to Port Byron byway of the old salt 
works and Howland's Island, the latter points being- connected by a 
bridge, which after a few years was neglected and finally went down. 
This road was graded to the river, but planked eastward from Clyde 
only to the highway leading north from the depot. Other thoroughfares 
were surveyed and opened from time to time, and all are kept in excel- 
lent condition. 

The first town meeting was held at the Crusoe House, one-half mile 
east of Crusoe Lake, in April, 1825, and David Cushman was elected the 
first supervisor. The absence of the early town records renders it im. 
possible to give the other officers chosen at this meeting or of the sub- 
sequent supervisors until 1845. The supervisors since then have been 
as follows : 

Sylvanus Thompson, 1845. R. M. Evens, 1862-63. 

Nelson Payn, 1846. William G. Soule, 1864-65. 

Chauncey T. Ives, 1847-48. William R. Stultz, 1866-71. 

Nelson Payn, 1849. Charles Wood, 1872-74, 

Benajah Abrams, 1850. John A. Munson, 1875-78. 

Charles D. Haddon, 1851-52. Amnion S. Farnum, 1879-83. 

Ebenezer Fitch, 1853. Alonzo D. Wood, 1884-86. 

Frank Knapp, 1854. John A. Munson, 1887-89. 

Benajah Abrams, 1855. - E. L. Adams, 1890-92. 

James M. Servis, 1856-61. Addison P. Smith, 1893-94. 

The town officers for 1894 are: Addison P. Smith, supervisor; Charles 
C. Taylor, town clerk; John H. Bixby, W. C. Soule, Charles Reed, H. 
C. Rising, justices of the peace; Ebenezer Harrington, highway com- 
missioner; John L. Spoor aud Gustavus Stuck, overseers of the poor; 
E. M. Clark, George Anderson, H O. Bagley, assessors; Fred M. Had- 
don, collector. 

The Wayne County Gazetteer and Directory (1866) states that Elias 
Converse and Joseph Mosher made the first settlements in Savannah in 
1812, but according to information furnished by H. H. Wheeler, of 
South Butler, and printed in a subsequent publication, it is evident that 
settlers were living within the borders of this town as early as 1808. In 
that year Eli Wheeler visited this region, and in 1810 located on a farm 
of 200 acres in Butler. Stephen Titus was living in Savannah, three 
miles east of Harrington's Corners, in 1808, and Noah Starr and Eph- 



350 LANDMARKS OF 

raim Burch were residents of that neighborhood inl810. Silas Winans 

located one-half mile east of Harrington's as early as 1812. 

In 1811 Prentice Palmer moved hither from Butler to care for the then 
idle establishment of the old Galen Salt Works. He was originally from 
Massachusetts, and in 1815 he removed to the town line one-half mile 
west of South Butler. For man)- years he was justice of the peace, con- 
stable, and collector. 

Daniel Harrington, the grandfather of the late resident of that name, 
located at the junction of the Muskeeto Point and Galen roads prior to 
L815, and from him the place was long known as Harrington's Corners. 
His sons were John, Nehemiah, Theophilus, Ira, and Peter. The same 
year Noah and Horace Peck (Brothers), Aaron Hall, and Peter Blasdell 
settled on the south side of the State road in the northwest part of the 
town. 

The first settlers between Harrington's Corners and the old Galen 
Salt Works were Michael Weatherwax and Job Cushman in 1818. David, 
son of the latter, married Poll}- Ann, the eldest daughter of Prentice 
Palmer, and died in town; his widow married John Gorham, and their 
daughter became the wife of George Wilson, who settled on the Cush- 
man homestead. Orrin Wellman, whose father, Paul, was a Revolu- 
tionary soldier, married Hannah, another daughter of Mr. Palmer, and 
resided on lot 39 under a lease from Jacob Winchell. This property for 
many years was celebrated in the annals of litigation. About L820 
Charles Clapp settled on a farm south of Mr. Weatherwax, and Howell 
Bidwell, his brother-in law, on the place subsequently occupied by By- 
ron G. Clark. Horace Bidwell, a brother of Howell, located therewith 
him and married Rhoda, youngest daughter of Paul Wellman. 

Joseph Mosher and George Yredenburgh settled on the road from 
Weatherwax 's to Crusoe Creek in 1812. From a landing place at the 
junction of this road and the creek there was prosecuted for many years 
a small commercial business in row boats. Mr. Mosher became well 
known for his numerous swarms of bees. 

Settlements on Crusoe Island, in the southern part of the town, com- 
menced about as early as those already mentioned. Smith Ward came 
in by water from Montezuma to May's Point, and thence to a locality 
on the Montezuma turnpike since known as Penstock. In 1818 Nehe- 
miah Bunyea settled near the north end of the island and erected a 
dwelling on the site of the old Soule homestead; in 1819 George Vre- 
denburgh and Elias Converse (father-in-law of Bunyea) moved over. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 851 

Mr. Vredenburgh afterward married Sally, youngest daughter of Mr. 
Converse, and to them a child was born, being respectively the first 
marriage and the first birth in town. Mr. Bunyea finally moved to the 
Kingsbury farm and built thereon the first barn on the island; he event- 
ually went to Montezuma, where he erected for Dr. Clark and Jethro 
Wood the two conspicuous dwellings, long since landmarks, and for the 
Montezuma Turnpike Company the first bridges across the Cayuga and 
Canandaigua outlets. His father-in-law, Dr. William May, from whom 
May's Point was named, was the first physician at Montezuma. 

Titus Lockwood, a one-legged Revolutionary soldier, settled on the 
State road in the extreme northwest corner of the town in 1819; about 
1825 he sold to John M. Cobb. Jerry Mead came in from Cayuga county 
about 1819, settled south of Lockwood, and died a few years later. His 
successor was John Caywood, who came from Galen and who died on 
the place, aged 102 years. 

In 1820 Leonard Ferris, with his father, Caleb, and mother, Judah, 
and Richard R)^an, his brother-in-law, settled in the northern part of 
the town, and Amos Winnegar on the farm adjoining that of Silas Winan. 
Henry Winnegar, a brother of Amos, located about 1830 on the place 
afterward occupied by his son James R. In 1822 Philip Cook located 
west of Crusoe Lake and about the same year Henry O'Neil settled near 
by. In 1827 James Stiles came in, at which time Medad Blasdell, son 
of Peter, sr., and Samuel Gilbert were residents. The latter was suc- 
ceeded by Hubbard Hamlin, and he by his son-in-law, Mansfield B. 
Winnegar. Ashley Hogan, Russell Palmer (brother of Prentice), and 
Luther Chapin became settlers between 1823 and 1825. Russell Pal- 
mer was active in town affairs and served as supervisor, justice of the 
peace, etc. Mr. Chapin was elected to the Legislature in 1828. 

On a road leading from the turnpike across the island to Crusoe Creek 
Henry Taylor built a house in 1824, near where the Central depot now 
stands. He died in October, 1893. About the same year George F. 
Torry, Channcey Ives, and Garry Burnham settled in the neighborhood. 

In the northwest part of the town Edward Bivins and Benjamin Hall, 
brothers-in-law, settled in 1818; about 1819 Richard Rice started an 
ashery in Savannah on the old State road at a point then called " In- 
dian Camp." Thomas Hall, from Saratoga county, the father of Joshua, 
Benjamin, Elias, Stephen and Peter, was an early settler. Another 
Thomas Hall, a Baptist preacher from Junius, Seneca county, held the 
first religious services in the town. He was father in-law of Richard 



352 LANDMARKS OF 

Rice, and the successors to his homestead were John Sedore, William 
Robinson, John Gorham, and William Reed. A Mr. Stackus erected a 
log house on the west side of Fort Hill at an early day and got out quan- 
tities of oak staves and heading for market. Royal Torrrey, father of 
George F., built the celebrated Crusoe House in 1824; it stood north of 
Crusoe Creek and one-half mile' east of Crusoe Lake, on the Savannah 
and South Butler road and for many years was the only tavern in the 
town. In it were held the earlier town meetings and the public gath- 
ings. When the railroad was completed in 1854 it ceased its career of 
usefulness. Mr. Torrey built the first saw mill in town in 1824, a mile 
east of his hotel. 

To the foregoing list of early settlers may be added the names of 
Benjamin Seeley, John Green, Abner and Ezra Brockway, Henry 
Myers, Sampson McBane, Alexander and Martin Lamb, and John 
Brockway. 

Prominent among those now living are Albert Williams, Jacob and 
Abner Wurtz, George, George A., and Ebenezer Farrand (sons of B. 
C, who died in May. 1894), Benjamin F. Gage, John H. and Charles 
G. Wood, Richard S. and John T. Crandall, James B. Wiley (ex-super- 
intendent of the poor), John B. and Henry Carris, Rev. Philip Swift 
(brother of the late Rev. Nathan M. ), George Safford (for many years the 
conductor of the only Cheddar cheese factory in the county, and which is 
now used for an evaporator), Simeon Titus (contractor), Rev. D. D. 
Davis, Jacob S., George W. , and Frank Taylor (sons of Henry), Wel- 
ling C. and Ernest C. Soule (sons of William G.), Herbert C. Soule 
(son of Rowland), George Lockwood, Ebenezer Harrington, Aaron F. 
and Andrew S. Hall, O'Connell Ferris, James M. Hadden, John A. 
Munson (ex-supervisor, ex-assemblyman, and son of Archibald), Ensign 
L. Adams, Amnion S. Farnuim (clerk of the board of supervisors), 
Horace W. and Addison R. Smith, Hutchings E. Newton (proprietor 
of the Newton House), Adelbert Hungcrford, Arthur W. Evans, Dr. 
W. H. Sweeting, D. J. Gotten, Adam and Sylvester Secor, H. Owen 
Bagley, Norman and George D. Springstead, Jeduthan E. Tallman, E. 
M. Clark, and Benjamin South wick. 

Moses Cook, a son of the pioneer, Peter, died here in September, 
L891. Rev. Nathan R. Swift, born in 1821, settled on a farm in Savan- 
nah soon after L841, and died there in December, L890. He was one 
of the founders and president of Adrian College, of which he was long 
treasurer and for twenty-five years a trustee. F. M. Johnson, a native 



WAYNE COUNTY. 353 

of this town, died here in 1891. Dr. W. H. Smith, father of Horace 
W. and Addison P., and for twenty-five years a practitioner in .Savan- 
nah village, died in California in 1891; Sylvester A. Farnum, father of 
Hon. A. S., died here in February, 1892. 

In 1858 Savannah had 951 males and 811 female inhabitants, 343 
dwellings, 349 families, 212 freeholders, and 11,251 acres improved 
land. The real estate was assessed at $455,362 and the personal prop- 
erty at $8,000. In 1890 the population was 1,788, or sevent3^-nine less 
than in 1880. In 1893 the real estate was assessed at $623,690 (equal- 
ized $636,500); village and mill property $127,679 (equalized $115,- 
824); railroads and telegraphs $257,259 (equalized $233,120); personal 
property $246,425. Schedule of taxes 1893: Contingent fund, $1,- 
222,19; poor fund, $300; roads and bridges, $550; school tax, $1,074.16; 
county tax, $2,570.06; State tax, $1,416.24; State insane, $365.36; dog 
tax, $74. Total tax levied, $8,135.88; rate per cent., .00710134. The 
town has two election districts and in 1893 polled 367 votes. 

During the Rebellion the town contributed 158 volunteers to the 
Union forces. Its obligations in that long conflict were cheerfully and 
promptly met, and its citizens may well feel proud of Savannah's ex- 
cellent war record. 

The first school house in Savannah was erected on the site of the 
present Evans Cemetery as early as 1816, and the first teacher therein 
was Loren Brown, who received five dollars per month. On what was 
then Big Hill, where now stands an old orchard, a log school house 
was built in 1822; the first teachers in it were Maria Westcott and 
Austin Roe. In Savannah village a union school was established sev- 
eral years since by the consolidation of two districts, and a brick school 
house erected at a cost of $5,000. In 1892 this was replaced by the 
present frame structure at an expense of $8,000; this was opened in 
February, 1893. It has four departments, a library of 500 volumes, 
and employs five teachers, the present principal being Howard N. Tol- 
man. Although nominal^ a graded institution, it affords all the privi- 
leges of a High school and is governed accordingly. It was placed 
under the Board of Regents of the State mainly through the efforts of 
C. G. Plumb, M. D., now of Red Creek. The trustees elected in 
August, 1893, were D. J. Cotten, president; J. A. Munson, secretary; 
and E. M. Clark. The town has twelve school districts with a school 
house in each, employing seventeen teachers, during the year 1892-93. 
The number of children attending these schools is 458. The school 

45 



354 LANDMARKS OF 

buildings and sites are valued at $16,7(30; assessed valuation of districts 
$1,248,646; money received from the vState, $2,133.23; amount raised 
by local tax, $11,217.99. 

The first saw mill has previously been mentioned. Following that 
came another on Crusoe Creek, near the plank road crossing, which 
was erected by Kendrick Bixby. It was operated by steam, and about 
1850 was sold to Othniel Palmer, son of Prentice, in whose possession 
it burned. A. Wise built a steam saw mill near the west town line, 
with which he converted a fine grove of hemlock on the farm of Charles 
A. Rose into lumber. Archibald Munson built another saw mill near 
Fort Hill and sawed up a large quantity of oak, hickory, chestnut, and 
whitewood timber. Gideon Ramsdell erected one near the site of the 
old Galen Salt Works some twenty-five years since, which facilitated 
his extensive lumber operations for the railroad. A saw mill near 
South Butler was the last one of the kind in town. It was built by 
Samuel B. Tucker and O. H. Wheeler in 1839, and finally passed into 
the possession of Bradway & Crofoot, who conducted it several years. 
They also carried on a large business in manufacturing shingles and 
cooperage. Capt. William B. Dodge built and conducted at the depot 
in Savannah village a flouring mill, cider mill, saw mill, and wheel- 
barrow manufactory; these were operated about three years, when they 
burned. Hiram Dieffendorf, about 1864, erected a large barrel, stave 
and heading manufactory near the depot, which was destroyed by fire 
in the fall of 1866; it was rebuilt and soon burned again. 

Hill & Munson's flouring mill west of the depot, was built by Hill & 
Bradley in 1889. In February, 1890, John A. Munson purchased Mr. 
Bradley's interest. This contains the full roller process, and is the only 
grist mill in town. Mr. Munson also carries on the coal, grain, and 
lumber business that was established by his father, Archibald, in 1858, 
and which was conducted by the latter until his death in December, 
is;:;. 

Savannah Village. — This is the only village, post-office, or railroad 
station in the town, and its corporate limits include nearly the whole of 
military lots 64- and 65, of township 27. These lots contain 600 acres 
each, and were set apart and reserved for the support of the gospel. 
When the railroad was completed and the depot built in 1854 this place 
comprised only Michael Curry's grocery store and Henry Taylor's resi- 
dence. In 1867 it was legally incorporated and the first officers elected 
were: Board of Trustees, Hiram Dieffendorf (president), Peter J. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 855 

Powell, Nicholas C. Vaught, and Patrick McCullum ; police justice, 
Joseph Renyon ; assessors, William R. Stults, John Evans, Horace 
Wadsworth; collector, Hezekiah Stults; clerk and treasurer/ Edward 
Luce ; street commissioner and police constable, M, Quackenbush. 
The succeeding presidents have been: 

W. E. Smith, 1868, Charles Wood, 1876. 

Peter J. Powell, 1869-70, Records inaccessible, 1877 to 1885, 

Charles Wood, 1871, A. Gregg, 1886, 

Cyrus Andrews, 1872, C. B. Jepson, 1887-88, 

Delos Betz, 1873, Ammon S. Farnum, 1889-91, 

Andrew J. Holdridge, 1874, A. S. Hall, 1892-93, 

Charles H. Hamlin, 1875, A. S. Farnum, 1894. 

The village officers for 1894 are: A. S. Farnum, (president), Horace 
W. Smith, Ensign L. Adams, Charles B. Jepson, trustees ; O. Clate 
Silver, clerk; E. M. Crandall, collector; Hiram Ellis, police justice; 
William H. Fitch, police constable ; L. C. Sherman, treasurer; J. Wy- 
man Joslyn, street commissioner; Dr. William H. Phelps, Andrew J. 
Holdridge, John A. Munson, assessors. 

Archibald Munson settled on a farm here in 1825 and erected the sec- 
ond house on the site of the village; Henry Taylor, previously men- 
tioned, preceded him in 1824. The first regular store was opened by 
John Evans in 1854 near the railroad ; in 1855 he went into partnership 
with R. W. Evans and moved to a larger building erected by Winans 
Winnegar, where business was afterward prosecuted by R. W. Evans 
alone, William R. Stults, and W. G. Smith. The Savannah Hotel was 
built by Archibald Munson in 1858 and opened by Bela Smith and A J. 
Squires, lessees, February 20, 1859. This subsequently had several 
landlords. The first blacksmith shop was built and kept by Joseph 
Remer in 1854. Putnam & Co. 's barrel factory was started by them in 
1893. In 1888 A. J. Conroe began the manufacture of a Chinese laun- 
dry bluing; in October, 1893, the business was sold to C. H. Betts, of 
Wolcott, who organized the present Consolidated Bluing Company. A 
few years since the manufacturing of flag salt, a proprietary medicine, 
was commenced ; this was developed into quite an extensive business 
under the direction of Dr. W. H. Sweeting. Besides these the village con- 
tains six general stores, one hardware store, a jewelry store, two hotels 
and liveries, two newspapers and printing offices, a meat market, two 
coal, lumber, and produce dealers, one millinery store, a grist mill, two 
churches, a graded school, three physicians, the usual shops, etc., and 
a population of 505. 



356 LANDMARKS OP 

The Savannah Fire Company No. 1, was organized July 26, 1887, and 
reorganized February 6, 1893. It is equipped with a hand engine, hose 
cart, ladders, hose, etc. The officers for 1894 are: Michael McGinniss, 
president; George W. Cooper, vice-president; O. Clate Silver, secretary; 
Horace W. Smith, treasurer; W. C. Soule, chief engineer; D. B. Remer 
and Addison P. Smith, foremen. 

May's Point, in the south part of the town, contains a store and a half 
dozen dwellings. A half mile north is the jewelry establishment of 
William Farrand. 

Churches. — The Presbyterian church, of Savannah, was organized by 
Revs. Wilson and Young, from Lyons, in 1864, in the district school 
house, with seventeen constituent members. The first pastor was Rev. 
George W. Warner and the first elders and deacons -were Moses Treat 
and John North. Their house of worship was built at a cost of about 
$5,000, and was dedicated August 18, 1864, by Rev. Horace Eaton, 
D.D., of Palmyra. The first superintendent of the Sunday school was 
Archibald Munson, and the last pastor of the church was Rev. E. B. 
Fisher. The society finally grew weaker in members and influence, and 
is now virtually disbanded. The edifice though still owned in the name 
of the board of trustees, was converted into a cold storage in 1893. 

The Methodist Episcopal church, of Savannah, was organized about 
L861 and their frame edifice was completed and dedicated in November, 
L870. This church owes its foundation largely to Archibald Munson, 
who contributed $1,000 towards the lot and building, and who was other- 
wise influential in sustaining and promoting its interests. The society's 
parsonage was erected in 1883-84 at a cost of about $1,500. The pres- 
ent pastor is Rev. G. E. Campbell. 

St. Patrick's church (Roman Catholic), of Savannah was built in 1875- 
76, and cost about $2, 500. Fulfilling the wishes of Mrs. Michael C. Curry 
the lot on which it stands was donated to the parish by her daughter, 
Mrs. Andrew McDade, of Rochester. The church is in charge of the 
resident priest in Clyde and is served from there. It owes its founda- 
tion to the Rev. P. W. O'Connell, D.D., assisted by Edward Flinn. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 357 



CHAPTER XXIV. 
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF ARCADIA. 

Arcadia 1 was set off from the western part of Lyons on the loth of 
February, 1825. It originally comprised a portion of the old district of 
Soclus (which see), from which the town of Lyons was formed March 
1, 1811. It lies immediately west of the southern center of Wayne 
county, and is bounded on the north by Sodus, on the east by Lyons, 
-£>n the south by Ontario county, and on the west by the counties of On- 
tario and the towns of Palmyra and Marion. The town has an area of 
30,914 acres, and lies wholly within the bounds of the old Pultney 
estate, of which Capt. Charles Williamson was the local agent or pat- 
entee. 

The surface is diversified by drift ridges, basins, and valleys, and 
was originally covered with a heavy growth of timber. The soil is very 
fertile and easily cultivated, being mainly a sandy or gravelly loam ad- 
mixed with more or less clay. Gypsum exists in the southwest and 
marl near the center. Outside of Newark village the chief industry is 
agriculture, in which the town has ever maintained a foremost position. 
Wheat, oats, corn, barley, hay, apples, small fruits, tobacco, potatoes, 
vegetables, peppermint, etc., are grown extensively and with profit. 
In the production of peppermint and the shipment of oil the town is 
one of the most important in the United States. 

The principal stream is Ganargwa Creek, which flows easterly 
through the town and receives a few small tributaries. Trout Run, 
flowing northward through Marbletown and a corner of Newark vil- 
lage, courses thence easterly into Lyons. In 1799 the Legislature 
passed an act making Ganargwa (Mud) Creek a navigable stream, and 
dams could not be constructed without locks. This afforded the earli- 
est communications with eastern markets, and until the completion of 

1 According to Pausanias, an eminent Greek geographer and historian, the word 
Arcadia is derived from the eponymous hero Areas, the son of Calisto, and in Greece 
is applied to the largest county in the Peloponnesus. Why or by whom the name 
was given to this town has never been definitely determined. 



358 LANDMARKS OF 

the Erie Canal in 1825 was the principal route of transportation. The 
opening of the canal had a marked influence upon the development and 
subsequent growth of this section, and especially imparted to Newark 
a decided impetus. 

In 1854 the direct line of the New York Central Railroad was com- 
pleted and opened, and assured to the town a future that has more than 
fulfilled expectations. In 1852 the Sodus Point and Southern (now the 
Sodus branch of the Northern Central) Railroad was incorporated, a 
route was surveyed, and grading was commenced, but in 1857 the work 
was suspended. In 1870 the work was revived, the road was com- 
pleted, and the first train passed over it July 4, 1872. It has stations 
at Newark, Fairville, and Zurich. To aid in the construction of this the 
town was bonded September 1, 1870, for $122,000, of which sum $114,- 
400 remained unpaid January 1, 1804. The railroad commissioners are 
Clark Phillips, J. G. Pitts, and Peter R. Sleight. The West Shore (orig- 
inally the New York, West Shore and Buffalo) Railroad was completed 
and formally opened January 1, 1885. 

The first road leading to Phelps was laid out from Newark south- 
ward to the outlet, and the earliest effort to improve the highways was 
the building of bridges across the Ganargwa. In 1804 a bridge was 
erected at the "Excelsior" mills of Howell & Reeves, and others fol- 
lowed until the construction of the plank road over the flat, which was 
done by subscription, the prime movers being Messrs. Bartle, Miller, 
and Blackmar. It was known as the Newark and Sodus road, and Mr. 
Bartle was president of the company. Travel avoided it, however, to 
escape the toll and the road was given to the town. In 1825 forty-nine 
road districts were formed and as many overseers were chosen. 

The first town meeting was held at William Popple's coffee house in 
Newark on April 5, 1825, and the following officers were elected: 
James P. Bartle, supervisor; Theodore Partridge, town clerk; Heze- 
kiah Dunham, Joseph Luce, Andrew Finch, assessors; Hiram Sover- 
hill and Joseph Mills, overseers of the poor; Henry Cronise, Edmund 
T. Aldrich, Durfee Sherman, commissioners of highways; Hiram So- 
verhill, William Terry, James McCain, constables; Caleb P. Lippett, 
Artemus Doane, John L. Kipp, commissioners of common schools; 
George W. Scott, Artemus Doane, Joseph A. Miller, inspectors of com- 
mon schools; Samuel Soverhill, pound master. The keeping of the 
town poor, being sold to the highest bidder, was awarded to Abraham 
Loper for $199; the next year it was given to Peter Foster for $14:!, 





^y^ux^y- 



WAYNE COUNTY 



359 



and in 1827 to Mr. Loper again for $114. May 25, 1825, Rufus A. Roys 
was chosen marshal to enumerate the legal voters, and on November 
7, Truman Hart received 357 votes for senator and Ambrose Hall, 333 
and A. Kipp 341 for members of assembly. The following- have served 
as supervisors : 



James P. Bartle, 1825-27, 
George W. Scott, 1828, 
John L. Cuyler, 1829-30, 
Joseph A. Miller, 1831-32, 
Edmund B. Bill, 1833, 
Esbon Blackmar, 1834, 
James P. Bartle, 1835, 
James Miller, jr., 1836-37, 
James P. Bartle, 1838, 
Silas Peirson, 1839, 
Vincent G. Barney, 1840, 
Joseph A. Miller, 1841, 
Ezra Pratt, 1842, 
Abraham Fairchild, 1843, 
Perry G. Price, 1844, 
George H. Middleton, 1845, 
George C. Mills, 1846, 
George W. Scott, 1847, 
George Howland, 1848, 
James S. Crosby, 1849, 
Clark Mason, 1850, 
Ezra Pratt, 1851, 
Esbon Blackmar, 1852, 
James D. Ford, 1853, 
Albert F. Cressey, 1854, 



James D. Ford, 1855-59, 

Elon St. John, 1860-62, 

Artemas W. Hyde, 1863-65, 

Elon St. John, 1866, 

Henry Cronise, jr., 1867, 

George H. Price, 1868, 

Tie vote between James W. Ford 

and Silas S. Peirson, 1869, 
Oliver Crothers, 1870, 
Charles W. Stuart, 1871-72, 
Jacob Lusk, 1873. 
Edwin K. Burnham, 1874, 
James H. Miller, 1875-76, 
George H. Price, 1877-79, 
James Jones, 1880, 
J. Dupha Reeves, 1881-82, 
E. K. Burnham, 1883-84, 
W. H. Nicholoy, 1885, 
Henry J. Peirson, 1886-87, 
Carlos A. Stebbins, 1888, 
J. Dupha, Reeves, 1889-94, 
Henry J. Peirson resigned in the 
fall of 1887 and E. K. Burnham 
was appointed to fill the unex- 
pired term. 



The town officers for 1894 are : J. Dupha Reeves, supervisor; T. 
Davis Prescott, clerk ; Clarence Conklin, B. C. Williams, R. F. Randall, 
and Dr. J. W. Barnes, justices of the peace; Emor E. Burleigh, Richard 
Van Dusen, and Charles O. Smith, assessors; William H. H. Hebbins, 
collector; Christopher C. Lusk, overseer of the poor ; Charles J. Schwartz, 
highway commissioner; Harvey E. Shurtleff, Oliver A. Eggleston, and 
Hanson A. Gardner, constables; Godfrey Geuthner, game constable. 

More than one hundred years have passed since the first white settle- 
ment was made within the present limits of Arcadia. Time and toil 
have transformed a primitive wilderness into productive fields and pleas- 
ant homes. The rude log cabins have long since been superseded b)^ 
spacious residences, and the little church and school house have given 



360 LANDMARKS OF 

place to more commodious institutions. Of the pioneers none remains 
to recount the hardships and privations of frontier life, but a few of 
their children and man)' of their grandchildren still link the past to the 
present and tell the tales of the early fireside, incidents ever dear to the 
heart of the long-time citizen. 

The first settlers were Joseph Winters and Benjamin Franklin, who 
located near the Ganargwa in the west part of Arcadia in 1791. Win- 
ters was a surveyor, and was useful in running the earlier lot lines 
and roads. He settled on the farm subsequently owned by Demos- 
thenes Smith, while Franklin took up his residence near the Palmyra 
border. A child of the latter died in 1792, being the first white 
death in town. Arnold Franklin either came with the two just men- 
tioned or very soon afterward, and located at Jessup's Corners. His 
improvement was finally purchased by Hiram Soverhill. In 1793 
George Culver, son of Moses, came hither and was followed two years 
later by the Long Island colony detailed in the chapter devoted to 
Palmyra. 

December 16, 1709, Samuel Soverhill took from Captain Williamson 
a deed for 140 acres of land, which has ever since been known as the 
Soverhill homestead, and for which he paid $589.50 in wheat delivered 
at Geneva at fifty cents per bushel. The farm lot was surveyed Octo- 
ber 25, 1790. Mr. Soverhill came on foot from New Jersey, and the 
same year built a log house on his purchase. The next spring he 
brought his wife and three children hither on horseback. Being a 
blacksmith he built a small shop and made axes, scythes, and other 
edged tools and plows. About 1812 he built a dam and a saw mill on 
the creek and manufactured lumber until water failed and timber be- 
came scarce. He built the first barn in the neighborhood and probably 
in the town ; it stood on the site of the orchard lot, from which it was 
moved and finally demolished. The frame was hewed and the oak 
shingles were four feet in length. Mr. Soverhill died in 1819 and 
his wife in 18GG, both on the old homestead. Their son, Hiram 
Soverhill, born October 17, 1800, was the first white male child born in 
the town, and is still living here. Joel Soverhill, another son, occupies 
the original farm. 

During these years wild beasts were a constant menace to the early 
settlers. Little stock was kept, and these were closely guarded. Upon 
the fiat a part)- of Indians came annually and pitched their rude brush- 
tents, and here they hunted and fished, and, visiting the settlers, de- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 361 

maiided bread. They were fed by the settlers' wives, who feared to 
offend them. As settlement increased, game and fish grew scarce, 
and they left for more promising localities. 

Simeon Burnett, a bachelor and a hat maker, lived near Soverhill, 
and after erecting a log house sold out and removed. Ira, Eben, and 
Phineas Austin, brothers, settled on adjoining farms which their father 
had purchased for them, and upon which they were succeeded by J. 
and G. G. Austin. Henry Cronise and Henry Lambright came here 
from Maryland with a number of slaves. The former settled north of 
the creek, and the latter south. Henry Cronise is said to have owned 
the first reaper in town. A man named Beatty joined Cronise on the 
west. John D. Robinson bought 600 acres on Ganargwa Creek and 
divided the tract among his sons, Peter, John, and Harry. The latter 
finally sold to the Crosbys, who' failed to make their payments, and 
gave way to Paul Reeves, who was succeeded by his son, Jacob H. 
John Robinson died here and a part of his farm passed to Joel Sover- 
hill. Peter Robinson sold to Aaron Vandercarr. Pliny Foster settled 
near Soverhill, but finally removed to Newark and died there, being 
succeeded by his son, Bailey D. Foster. Samuel Fairchild, a stone 
mason, and Silas Paine were also early comers. The latter was a noted 
fisherman and had a son named Hunter, who was thrown from a wagon 
and instantly killed. A daughter of Silas Payne became the wife of 
James Miller and inherited the farm at her father's death. It then 
passed to Milo Galloway, to David Jewell, to Artemus W. Hyde, and 
to Miles Hyde. 

Artemus W. H3^de was a doctor by profession, but a tavern keeper 
by practice, and built and opened an inn at Hydeville, a place that 
took his name. He followed this business during his life, making his 
hostelry a favorite resort. He bought farms around him and became 
a large land owner. The settlement has acquired considerable noto- 
riety as the birthplace of modern spiritualism. John Fox, with his 
wife and five children, rented a house and shop here and followed his 
trade of blacksmith. The parents were reputed honest, industrious 
people. On the night of March 31, 1849, two daughters, Margaret and 
Catherine, and their niece, Elizabeth Fish, claimed they heard mys- 
terious rappings, and a system of communication devised by the mother 
led to the revelation that one John Bell had killed a peddler and buried 
his body in the cellar. People gathered in large numbers and discussed 
the rappings, which were continued; and the girls, emboldened by 

46 



362 LANDMARKS OF 

their success, removed to Rochester in May and gave public exhibi- 
tions. These were widely reported and took the name of the celebrated 
" Rochester rappings." 

Other early settlers were Nathaniel Reeves, father of Samuel and 
Harmon; Thomas Crandall, who introduced grain cradles into the 
town; Caleb Tibbetts and John and Joseph Tibbetts; Joseph Riggs; 
two Dutchmen named Rettman and Vaninwagen ; James M. Stever, 
near Fairville, who also had an ashery, and finally sold to John Nichols, 
a carpenter; Elisha Avery, who was succeeded by Newton Clark; and 
John Chambers, Nathaniel Avery, and Jesse Owen. 

John Welcher came from New Jersey in 1798 and located north of 
Jessup's Corners. He had fifty acres, and eventually became a wealthy 
farmer. Ezekiel Cronise came in the same year, on foot, carrying a 
rifle that passed into the possession of J. S. Cronise, of Newark. 
Joseph Fellows was an early settler in the neighborhood, as were also 
Benjamin Johnson, Ezra Pratt, Thomas Rogers, Jacob Van Etten, and 
a Mr. Howard. 

Among the pioneers south of the Ganargwa were Lewis Jessup, Will- 
iam Stansell, Rev. Wesley Benton, Enoch De Kay (a miller), and 
Jeremiah Lusk. Silas Peirson located near Simon Burnett. He came 
from Long Island and was a carpenter by trade. He was the father of' 
Henry R. Peirson and the grandfather of Silas S. 

Other settlers south of the creek were Elder Roe, a Baptist preacher; 
Gaines Howell; Jacob Hill, who built a cobblestone house; John Nor- 
ris; Jonathan Fairchild, a brother-in-law of Joel Hall; Abraham Rush; 
B. Roberts; O. Tobias; Mr. Daniels, the father of Clark and James; 
Luke Van Dusen; Ezra H. and C. C. Chadwick; M. Trowbridge, who 
died almost a centenarian; Messrs. Phillips, Robinson, W. Ridley,Aldrich, 
A. and E. D. Frisbie, Abraham Garlock (father of Peter), Daniel 
Smith, Alanson and William Fisk (on lot 57), Lyman Husted (a black- 
smith on lot 87), Sackett L. Husted, Samuel Gilky, John Starks, Will- 
iam Tinney, Preston R. Parker, Chester Burke, the Wolfroms, the 
Van Valkenburgs, Simeon Bryan, Joseph and Caleb Tibbetts (whose 
property finally passed to Carlos A. Stebbins), and Luther Sanford and 
son. 

John Phillips came to Arcadia from Rensselaer county, N. Y., in 
May, ls:5f), and died December 0, 1860. Clark Phillips, his son, was 
born August 5, 1817, removed to this town with his parents, and be- 
came a prominent citizen. He was county superintendent of the poor, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 363 

postmaster at Newark, and commissioner during- the construction of 
the Sodus Point and Southern Railroad, of which he became a director 
in 1871. 

Joseph Caldwell purchased four hundred acres of timber land, built a 
saw mill, and manufactured large quantities of lumber. John Halstead 
also had a saw mill and carried on a store. H. J. Mesick, an early 
settler, built another on Whipspool brook, and was also a very extensive 
farmer. A Mr. Aldrich operated a machine shop and near by Warren 
S. Bartle had a furnace. These were pioneer industries conducted in 
the vicinity of Marbletown, where Mr. Stansell also had an early saw 
mill. 

In 1803 Paul Reeves and Gilbert Howell built a saw mill on Ganargwa 
Creek in the west part of the town, and in 1804 they erected a grist mill 
on the site of a subsequent structure. James Bennett very early had a 
saw mill at Hydeville, and for a time a small grist mill was operated 
there. Henry Hyde also had a saw mill at that place. In 1830 there 
were four distilleries located along the Ganargw r a and operated respect- 
ively by Harrison, Luce, Sherman and Mansfield. 

Luther Finley became one of the earliest mail carriers in this section. 
He began by carrying the mails from Newark to Phelps, and ever since 
the New York Central Railroad was opened he has continued the busi- 
ness between the Newark post-office and station and Arcadia. He owned 
and ran the first omnibus in the village. 

Prominent among other citizens of the town are recalled the names 
of Henry R. Peirson, Marvin I. Greenwood, Hon. E. K. Burnham, 
Fletcher Williams, Joel H. Prescott (formerly a merchant), Lewis J. 
Bryant, Moses F. Hamm, J. Dupha Reeves, Byron Thomas (ex-county 
clerk), Richard P. Groat (ex-sheriff and ex-member of assembly), Robert 
Turnbull (a Scotchman who died in September, 1889), William C. Peir- 
son (who died July 26, 1889), Samuel Bloomer (who died in March, 
1889), John S. Cronise (a retired hardware merchant), J. P. Garlock 
(on a portion of the old Bryant homestead), William H. Hyde, Orrin 
Blackmar, Uriah Hutchings (who died in 1890), John Dillenbeck, 
Andrew C. Bartle, M. E. Burnham (a merchant who died in November, 
1891), D. P. Smith (on the farm his father settled in 1836), and many 
others mentioned a little further on and in Part II of this volume. 

In 1858 the town had 24,539 acres of improved land, real estate 
assessed at $1,421,601, personal property at $101,728; there were 2,832 
male and 2,684 female inhabitants, 987 dwellings, 1,102 families, 796 



:iii| LANDMARKS OF 

freeholders, 24 school districts and 1,993 school children, 1,453 horses, 
1,735 oxen and calves, L, 493 cows, L0,821 sheep, and 2,788 swine. The 
productions were 44,032 bushels winter and 180,099 bushels spring 

wheat, t,580 tons hay. 23,870 bushels potatoes, 38,424 bushels apples, 
140,054 pounds butter, 5,331 pounds cheese, and 803 yards domestic 
cloths. 

In 1890 the town had a population of 6,310, or COS less than in 1880. 
In L893 the assessed value of land aggregated $1,235,83!) (equalized 
$1,249,346); village and mill property, $878,889 (equalized $899,868); 
railroads and telegraphs, $594,230 (equalized $582,020) ; personal prop- 
erty, $-230,510. Schedule of taxes, 1893: Contingent fund. $3,530.71 ; 
town poor fund, $2,300; roads and bridges, $1,(500; special town tax, 
$8,108; school tax, $2,709.76; county tax, $6, 183.42; State tax, $3,572.- 
72; State insane tax, $921.69; dog tax, $:S54. Total tax levy, $29,988,- 
08; rate per cent., .01020187. August 11, 1890, the town was divided 
into six election districts, which have since been reduced to four, and in 
L893 a total of 1,132 votes was polled. 

During the War of the Rebellion the town sent to the front more than 
440 of her brave and loyal citizens to fight the nation's battles. All did 
valiant service, serving with credit to their town and regiments, which 
are properly noticed in a preceding chapter. 

There are several burial places in the town, the most important of 
which are those at Newark village. The original plat of the Newark 
cemetery was donated for the purpose by Rev. Roger Benton, the father 
of John W. In it lie many of the earlier pioneers. The Willow Lawn 
Cemetery was opened about 1847 and improved under the supervision 
of Stephen Culver. 

At Jessup's Corners the first school house in town was built as early 
as 1806, and in it a Air. Olmstead, Martin Root, Jonathan Scott, and 
Eliza Romeyn were early teachers. Samuel Soverhill donated a site 
upon which a log school building was erected in 1810. It contained a 
fireplace in each end, and among its earliest teachers were Dennis 
Clark, Henry Parks (who served in the war of 1812), Jesse Owen, Eliza 
Romeyn, Hiram Soverhill, and Ahiel Guthrie. The latter continued 
five years and at one time had 106 scholars on his roll. The settlers 
desired a place to hold religious services, and this school house was en- 
larged by an addition twenty feet in length, making it 60x24. Those 
concerned in the extension were Samuel Soverhill, Pliny Poster, Lewis 
Jessup, Joseph Bennett, and Paul Reeves. The interior of the 



WAYNE COUNTY. 365 

chtirchly school house was provided with a pulpit of whitewood boards 
arranged to form a semi-circle. Above this clerical stockade only the 
head of the preacher was visible. Elders Roe and Pomeroy officiated. 
Elder Roe was accustomed to discourse three to four hours. The sing- 
ing of that pioneer choir was as attractive as the sermon was tedious. 
It was led by Adonijah H. Fairchild. Samuel Soverbill sang bass, 
Isaac Soverhill tenor, and Susan Soverhill counter. Finally the "Id 
frame was removed and in 1836 a cobble-stone school house was 
erected. 

The first school house in Newark was built on a site donated for the 
purpose by Jacob Lusk. It was finally sold and converted into a shop. 
The second one was erected on the east side of Miller street by Joseph 
Miller, sr. , and was known as Marvin Hall. It was two stories high, 
the lower story being used for a school and church and the upper part 
for a Masonic lodge room. A third house was a stone building on the 
corner of Church and Charles streets, and in this Cornelius Horton 
was a teacher in 1832. The same year Philander Dawley taught in a 
school house in East Newark (then Lockville), and in 1837 he had a 
school in the basement of the Baptist church; from 1839 to 1843 he 
taught in the old stone school house, in which the enrollment reached 
over 300 scholars. At one time there were five select schools in session 
in Newark. 

In 1844 Newark village had within its limits four common school dis- 
tricts and buildings, viz. : One building near the New York Central 
Railroad station, one facing South street on a part of the M. E. Briggs 
lot, one in the east part of the village, and one on the northeast corner 
of the present Union School lot, being respectively Districts No. 24, 9 
18, and 8. In 1845 the formation of a union school district was agitated 
and in 1847 a consolidation was effected, but hard fighting on the part 
of the opponents obtained a reversal of the proceedings. The agitation 
was continued, however, until May 3, 1849, when the four districts 
were again consolidated as Union School District No. 8. At this time 
Dr. Joseph A. Burrows was town superintendent of schools; the four 
districts contained 472 scholars between the ages of five and sixteen, 
taxable property aggregating $189,032, and school houses and sites 
valued at $1,300. The first officers were George H. Middleton, George 
C. Mills, and Ruel Taylor, trustees; Daniel Kenyon, clerk; Henry 
Lusk, collector; who were chosen at the first meeting of the new dis- 
trict held at the Universalist church on May 3, 1849, of which Clark 



366 LANDMARKS OF 

Mason was chairman and Joel H. Prescott clerk pro tent. It was de- 
cided to purchase a four-acre lot lying between Miller and Church 
streets and to levy a tax of $2,000 to pay for the same, but the oppo- 
nents of consolidation soon afterward rescinded these and other resolu- 
tions, and in 1850, by agreement, the new town superintendent, George 
W. Thompson, dissolved Union District No. 8, and old Districts Nos. 8 
and 9 were permanently united under the same designation. August 
10, 1850, these officers were chosen: vStephen Aldrich, William Tabor, 
and Rockwell Stone, trustees; Frederick A. Rew, clerk; John C. Ban- 
nister, collector. 

In 1850-51 a two-story school house was erected, the building com- 
mittee being the trustees and G. H. Middleton, Eliab T. Grant, Benja- 
min F. Wright, Stephen Culver. John Daggett, and Ruel Taylor. It 
was opened December 3, 1851. March 23, 1857, it became a Union free 
school under the laws of 1853, the first trustees being Joel H. Prescott, 
Stephen Culver and Ruel Taylor. February 5, 1863, a reorganization 
was effected under the name of the Newark Union Free wSchool and 
Academy, thus placing the institution under the Regents of the Uni- 
versity of the State of New York. From 1870 until 1890 the project 
of building a new and larger school house was agitated with periodical 
regularity, but nothing materialized except numerous repairs to the old 
structure. October 7, 1890, the trustees were authorized by popular 
vote to erect a new structure and to levy a tax on the district of $30,- 
000, against which they were to issue bonds payable within ten years. 
March 4, 1891, the contract was let to Charles Schuman for $20,912, to 
whom the old school house was sold for $1,200. The total cost of the 
new building was $3\J,450.47. The corner-stone was laid June 11, 1891, 
and the edifice was formally dedicated on the 17th of December follow- 
ing. It is a handsome brick structure with stone foundation, and was 
erected on the site of the old one under the supervision of trustees A. 
D. Soverhill, M. F. Hamm and C. P. H. Vary. 

The first principal was George Franklin, who was engaged December 
8, 1851, remaining till 1854. His successors have been C. M. Chitten- 
den, C. P. Head, F. D.Hodgson, H. Vosburgh, B. C. Rude, E. V. De 
Graff, J. Dorman Steele, Jacob Wilson, O. B. Seagravc. W. 1. Norton, 
C. A. Peake, Dr. W. S. Aumock, \V. G. Bassett, P. I. Bugbee, and 
John W. Robinson. The Board of Education for 1894-5 consists of P. 
Davis Prescott, president; Dr. A. A. Young, secretary; and C. P. H. 
Vary; James P. Ballou, treasurer; George F. Palmer, collector. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 367 

Prior to the Rebellion a brick building- was commenced on Asylum 
hill which was intended for a Baptist Collegiate Institute, but funds 
failed, work was suspended, and about a dozen years later it was pur- 
chased and finished by the German Methodists for a Lutheran Acad- 
emy. From September 3, 1873, to June 26, 1876, it was used as a col- 
lege, but want of students and lack of funds caused the mortgage to 
foreclose and it became the property of George Wagner of Rochester. 
It remained idle until selected by the State for the present custodial 
asylum, of which it forms the center or main building. 

The town has twenty-three school districts with a school house in 
each, which in 1892-93 were taught by thirty-six teachers and attended 
by 1,412 scholars; value of school buildings and sites, $50,225; assessed 
valuation of the districts, $3,034,000; public money received from the 
State, $5,289.53; raised by local tax, $11,208.96. 

Newark Village lies in the southern central part of the town imme- 
diately south of the New York Central Railroad. Through it also runs 
the West Shore and Northern Central Railroads and the Erie Canal, the 
construction of the latter giving rise to the place. It is ninety-seven 
miles from Buffalo and 329 miles from New York, and is a consolida- 
tion of the villages of Miller's Basin (changed to Newark) and Lock- 
ville (changed to East Newark, or Arcadia post-office). The site was 
originally owned by Jacob, Isaac, and Philip Lusk, sons of Jeremiah, and 
the vicinity of East Newark seems to have been regarded as the fu- 
ture village. John Spoor settled there prior to 1800, when he was 
succeeded by Nicholas Stansell, the pioneer of Lyons, who died in 1819, 
and was followed as proprietor by his son William. Mr. Stansell erected 
a saw mill and dam, a second saw mill, and a raceway. Lewis J. Ben- 
ton and his father also built a saw mill here, and Roderick Price earty 
engaged in merchandising and shipping grain. He put up a grist mill 
and did a large business, and for his mills John Drum burned the first 
kiln of brick in town. The Legislature authorized Mr. Price to tap the 
canal at the middle lock for water power. He sold to Lamer eaux and 
Grant. 

In May, 1820, Joseph Miller took a contract to construct one and one- 
fourth miles of the canal, and purchasing 100 acres of Jacob Lusk he 
had a plat surveyed into village lots by Hiram Tibbetts. Streets were 
laid out, the present public square was set aside, and lots were offered 
for sale at $30 and upwards. On lot 28 Mr. Miller built a warehouse, 
and across the street on the same side of the canal James P. Bartle 



368 LANDMARKS OF 

erected and opened a store under the firm name of Bartle, Morton & Co. 
Benjamin H. Kipp put of houses on lots L5 and -l', and Vincent G. Bar- 
ney built and opened a tavern on the site of Perkins & Peirson's bank. 
Dr. Richard P. Williams moved in and erected a house on the east side 
of Main street, afterward the residence of Dr. Charles G. Pomeroy. 
I )rs. Button and Terry were also early physicians. The first lawyer 
was George W. Scott, a bachelor, in 1825. The first marriage in the 
village was that of Joseph Miller, jr., and Louisa Fletcher, and Allen 
Miller was the first child born in the place. For this couple Joseph 
Miller, jr. , built a house on the west side of Main street opposite his own . 

The first tavern was that of Vincent G. Barney, which stood on the 
corner of Canal and Main streets. It was two stories high and was 
subsequently called the Eagle Hotel, and among its other early landlords 
were Jacob Wright and a Mr. Hutchinson. North of the canal was a 
tavern kept by Caleb Tibbetts, among whose successors were Messrs. 
Terry, Porter, James Kent, Andrew Vanderhoof, Hiram Rockefellow, 
and Colwell, in whose possession it burned. A Mr. Langley had another 
near the east canal bridge that was burned in 1828 and rebuilt. There 
was also the Temperance House, which was kept by Dr. Nichols. The 
Newark Hotel was built by Joseph Chipps, and next to it stands the 
Gillson House. At East Newark (then Loekville) a tavern was erected 
and in 1827 kept by Abner Bannister. 

Besides Bartle, Morton & Co., previously mentioned, Philip Lusk 
was an early merchant; he also had an ashery on the old school house 
lot, and in a building erected for a chair factory Rockwell Stone 
made potash and kept a store, being succeeded by Albert F. Cressy, 
who was the first hardware merchant. James Blakely was the second 
hardware dealer, and later came the firm of Cronise & Co. Esbon and 
Ransom Blackmar were early store keepers and also did an extensive 
business shipping grain. Bartle, Morton & Co. were succeeded by 
James G. Ford and E. T. Grant. The first meat vendor was a Mr. 
Filkins, the first jeweler a Mr. Hotchkiss, and the first milliner Mrs. 
Electa Partridge. Luther Hutchinson opened the first livery stable in 
1827 and ran a line of stages and carried the mail to Geneva. The first 
blacksmith was James T. Kipp, and another early one was Roger Ben- 
ton, a Methodist preacher, whose smithy stood near the subsequent 
residence of his son John W. John P. Groat was a blacksmith at what 
was called Groat's Corners, near Philip Lusk's store. One of the 
earliest carpenters was Peter P. Coher. John Daggett early began 



WAYNE COUNTY. 369 

manufacturing carding machines in a little shop standing south of the 
M. E. Church, on Main street. He sold out, built a furnace, and 
prosecuted a large business. During the war he went South, returned, 
and died, and his furnace was converted into an agricultural imple- 
ment works, by Samuel R. Tracey. Another furnace was early con- 
ducted by the sons of Philip Lusk, a little west of Newark Hotel. J. 
B. Gardenier, a carpenter by trade, purchased early the old Eagle 
furnace on Union street, a livery stable, and the Newark Hotel of Mr. 
Chipps, the builder. He carried on quite an extensive business, but 
finally sold out and bought several canal boats, and in 1880 the Union 
Hotel. He died in April,- 1801. Vaughn & Mandeville built a furnace 
and machine shop at Groat's Corners, and were succeeded by Wilber & 
Son, and they by Joseph Wilber. 

The advertisers in the Newark ^Egis of December 1, 1839, were L. 
L. Rose & Co., W. K. Powers, Alfred Scribner, Doane & Partridge, 
Hudson & Button (assignees), dry goods and groceries; A. S. Lovejoy, 
watches and jewelry; Roger, Danieldson & Co., drugs, dry goods, and 
groceries; A. F. Cressy, hardware; Milo Galloway, manufacturer of 
water-wheels; Mills & Barse, steam saw mill; Miss Ruth Parsons, 
millinery and mantua making; C. L. Norton, dentist; Miles & Sickles, 
tailors; Newark House, S. Nichols, proprietor; Ford & Grant, dry 
dry goods, groceries, crockery, and hardware; E, Miles, jr., dry goods, 
clothing, and furs, also "black, blue, drab, diagonal, rib, block, fancy 
stripe, zigzag, snakeskin, and thunder and lightning cassimers from 
$1.50 to $5;" B. Greene & Co., cabinet and chair factory and steam 
saw mill; M. H. Tuttle, drugs; Samuel R. Tracey, carriage shop; 
Maline Miller, boot, shoe, and leather store; Mrs. Fanning, millinery 
and dressmaking; Ballard & Shaver, boots and shoes ; H. L. Fisk, in- 
surance; A. W. Marsh, physician and surgeon; S. G. & H. Rogers, 
grist mill; Drs. Coventry & Lewis, medicine and surgery; Eleazer 
Mighells, carding and . cloth dressing ; Middleton & Culver, lawyers ; 
William Payne, livery; Bartle & Bronnon, lumber; Erastus O. Pond, 
machine shop and furnace; Mr. Peck, "Newark Select School"; P. 
Dawley, "Arcadia village school under his tuition." 

Added to the foregoing the following are known to have been in 
business prior to 1845: W. Kenyon, O. H. Allerton, E. B. Doane & Co., 
Gray, Bill & Co., A. G. Danieldson, A. T. & H. Blackmar, J. S. 
Crosby, D. B. Blakely, J. G. Soverhill, A. Anson, Willis Brownell 
(blacksmith), Dr. C. S. Button, Dr. E. H. Rockwood, and Dr. Philip 

47 



370 LANDMARKS OF 

L. Jones. The first brick building was erected by Esbon Blackmar in 
L836 and finally became the residence of Orrin Blackmar. The first 
brick block was built about the same time by Eleazer Mighells and 
John Church. About 1847 the park was graded and planted to shade 
trees. 

March 9, 1824, a library was organized "at Barnes's Hotel" with 
James P. Bartle, Joseph A. Miller, Richard P. William, John S. Keep, 
Cyrus S. Button, Artemus Doane, and Joseph Miller, as trustees. A 
respectable collection of books was secured and circulated for several 
years, and when the society dissolved they were transferred to the 
Union school library. 

At East Newark there were two tanneries, long since abandoned, 
and a shoe shop and tannery formerly operated by Brown, Doolittle & 
Baldwin. Gibson & Jessup had an agricultural machine shop that was 
burned in 1837 and rebuilt. Their specialty was threshing machines. 
Of the earlier merchants were Jesse Owen & Co., L. L. Rose & Co., 
and L. N. Straw. The locks on the canal at this point early gave the 
place the name of Lockville. Grorge H. Price has a dry clock there. 

The opening of the New York Central Railroad, with a station on 
the northernmost limits of Newark village, nearly a mile from the busi- 
ness center, developed settlement in that locality and led to several 
business interests. Hotels were erected by Gideon Lewis and Thomas 
Langdon and a third is kept by Sylvester Sandford. A feed mill was 
built in 1890 by C. A. Stebbins and is now operated by the Reeves 
Milling Company, of which J. Dupha Reeves is general manager. 
The firm also operate a flouring mill a mile northeast of the station on 
the site of the pioneer mill erected by Mr. Reeves's grandfather, Paul 
Reeves. The latter sold out in 1814, built a mill in Williamson, and 
died there. Stores are kept by J. A. Sanford and P. G. Lewis, a 
warehouse by C. H. Perkins & Co., and a large vinegar establishment 
by the Duffy, Mountfort & Greene Cider Company. The depot here 
was burned in January, 1894, and rebuilt. 

James P. Bartle was the first postmaster in Newark, and had his 
office on the corner of Main and Canal streets. His successors were 
Dr. Williams, E. T. Grant, Theodore Menson, Daniel Rusk, R. Lord, 
Hiram Clark, Elias W. Ford, Joel H. Prescott, Clark Phillips, W. L. 
Willctt, A. D. Smith, W. H. Nicholoy, and Mitchell Chadwick, the 
present incumbent. March 15, 1893, a free delivery system was estab- 
lished, and js the only one in Wayne county. Two mail carriers are 



WAYNE COUNTY. 371 

employed. The posmaster at Arcadia (East Newark) is William Tl. 
Spragaie, who succeeded John Dillenbeck. It is said that the estab- 
lishment of the Arcadia office was due to the representation that an 
" impassable hill " existed between that part of the village and Newark 
post-office. 

Among- the several handsome brick or stone blocks in Newark are 
the wStever block, erected in 1875; the Blackmar and Herrick blocks, 
built in 1878; the Frey block, in 1877; the Stuerwald block, in 1883; 
the Sherman Opera House and block, which was formally opened in 
November, 1885; and the Brewer block, erected in 1893. 

Newark village was incorporated July 21, 1853, but the first election 
was not held until January 24, 1854, at the Newark Hotel, then kept by 
Andrew Vanderhoof, at which seventy-seven votes were polled and the 
following officers chosen; John P. Sahlor, James W. Perrington, James 
D. Ford, John Daggett, and George H. Middleton, trustees; Stephen 
Culver, clerk; Fletcher Williams, treasurer; Henry Lusk, collector; 
David Lamereaux, Charles Ten Brook, and Albert F. Cressey, assessors ; 
John Haight, Hiram Betts, and Samuel R. Tracy, street commission- 
ers. The first charter election was held March 8, 1854, and the follow- 
ing were elected: John Daggett, George H. Middleton, John P. 
Sahlor, James D. Ford, and Jesse Owen, trustees; Stephen Culver, 
clerk; Fletcher Williams, treasurer; Peter, Kipp, collector; David 
Lamereaux, Jolon Taylor, and E. Darwin Smith, assessors; John 
Haight, Benjamin F. Wright, and Thomas Palmer street commission- 
ers ; Willis Brownell and Lawrence Hackett, poundmasters. The village 
was divided into three wards and street districts, and March 23, 1855, 
suitable ordinances were adopted. In 1868 a lock-up was built, in 1887 
the corporate limits were enlarged, and in 1893 a number of sewers 
were constructed as an extension of the system. The presidents of 
the village have been : 

John Daggett, 1854-56, Harrison Van Auken, 1869. 

H. L. Mundy, 1857, Oliver Crothers, 1870, 

Joel H. Prescott, 1858, Charles W. Stuart, 1871, 

Durfee A. Sherman, 1859, Richard H. Palmer, 1872, 

James G. Granger, 1860. Jacob Lusk, 1873, 

I. K. Chipps, 1861, David F. Wilcox, 1874, 

John W. Benton, 1862-63, Oliver Crothers, 1875, 

A. O. Lamereaux, 1864, John E. Stuart, 1876, 

John S. Cronise, 1865-66, David F. Wilcox, 1877-78, 

Meade Allerton, 1867, Charles S. White, 1879, 

A. C. Bartle, 1868, Charles W. Stuart, 1880, 



3?'2 LANDMARKS OF 

Wilbur F. Nutten, 1881, Moses F. Hamm, 1887, 

James H. Miller, 1882, Newell E. Landon, 1888, 

Frederick M. Allerton, 1883, Hanson A. Gardner, 1889-91. 

Henry J. Peirson, 1884, Thomas Whittleton, 1892, 

Emor E. Burleigh, 1885, Augustus A. Young, 1893, 

John Stuerwald, 1886, John E. Stuart, 1894. 

The village officers for 1804 are: John E. Stuart, president; William 
T. Peirson, Nathaniel Cook, J. B. McDermott, Alois Seigrist, William 
H. Keller, and C. A. Tator, trustees; E. Fred Cowles, clerk; P. R. 
Sleight, treasurer; M. W. Plass, collector; H. R. Drake, Thomas K. 
Langdon and A. H. Vanderbilt, assessors; George Wright and William 
J. Lawrence, street commissioners; Henry L. Rupert, attorney; Will- 
iam Jenkins, chief of police. 

August 8, 1835, twenty men were appointed to form a fire company 
and man the fire engine owned by the town, but nine of these declined 
to serve, and on September 14 nine more were chosen. Junel, 1859, 
Newark Engine Company No. 1 was organized with fifty members, 
and with these officers: Clark Mason, foreman; Ira Pratt, assistant 
foreman; Joel H. Prescott, treasurer; A. I. Bristol, secretary; Arcadia 
Fire Company, No. 2, was formed at the same date with William E. 
Olds, foreman; William G. Daggett, assistant foreman; Myron Owen, 
secretary; T. F. Horton, treasurer; and forty-three firemen. John 
Matteson was appointed fire warden. March 29, 1859, two fire engines 
had been purchased at a cost of $350 each, and Messrs. Sherman and 
Kemper were appointed a committee to purchase hose, hooks, and 
ladders as accompanying apparatus. The village appropriated $300 
for engine houses and E. T. Grant and Morton Kemper were appointed v 
a building committee; they obtained a five years' lease of Ganargwa 
Hall. June IT, 18G2, a hook and ladder company was formed with 
thirty members and with Gideon L. Bennett as foreman. In 18G2 and 
1st,:; incendiary fires endangered property to such an extent that the 
village offered a reward of $500 for the apprehension of the criminals. 
Jul}' 2, 1879, two Babcock extinguishers were purchased for $050, and 
in L886 Excelsior Hook and Ladder Company, No. 1, was organized 
with fourteen members. In January, L888, the N. Y. C. Hook and 
Ladder Company was formed. 

In 1864 Joel H. Prescott was chief engineer of the fire department 
with James D. Ford and John L. Mills as assistants. Among Mr. 
Prescott's successors have been Charles H. Perkins in 1868, John S. 
Cronise in IS72, Edwin K. Burns in 1874, J. Stuerwald in 1875, M. J. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 373 

Flynn in 1888, Thomas J. Jenkins in 1889, E. M. Hooper in L890, Will- 
iam T. Peirson in 1891, and E. B. Elliot in 1892. The present chief is 
P. E. Nellis; George Crater, first assistant; William G. Schufelt, sec- 
ond assistant. The department now consists of Protective Extin- 
guisher Company No. 1, Deluge Hose Compan} 7 No. 1, Excelsior Hook 
and Ladder Company, No. 1, and New York Central Hose Company 
No. 1. 

January 22, 1886, the first steps were inaugurated to construct a vil- 
lage water supply system, but the matter was held in abeyance until 
April 18, 1887, when a franchise was granted an out of town company, 
which erected a stand pipe on Asylum hill and placed the present 
works in operation in January, 1888. April 18, 1887, a franchise was 
nlso granted to construct and maintain an electric light plant, but this 
was subsequently revoked and another granted to the Newark Electric 
Light and Power Company, Ltd., on December 21. May 23, 1889, a 
permanent contract was signed for the maintenance of forty arc street 
lamps, which number has since been increased to fifty-two. H. A. 
Gardner is the local superintendent of both concerns. 

The First National Bank of Newark is derived from the old Bank of 
Newark, an individual enterprise, originating at Palmyra as the Palmyra 
Bank. It was moved to Newark by Fletcher Williams, the veteran 
banker, and with himself as president, and Lambert McCain as cashier, 
business was commenced in the store of Rockwell Stone, north of the 
canal. The building now in use, on the west side of Main street, was 
leased for a time, and on expiration of the lease was purchased The 
bank was organized in March, 1864, with the following Board of Direc- 
tors: Fletcher Williams, A. Ford Williams, Joseph A. Miller, EliabT. 
Grant, jr. , Samuel S. Morley, and Anna D. Williams. Fletcher Williams 
was chosen president and has ever since served in that capacity. A. 
Ford Williams was cashier till June 6, 1865, when he was succeeded by 
E. T. Grant, jr., who resigned April 1, 1869, and was followed by Byron 
Thomas. Mr. Thomas subsequently resigned and was in turn succeeded 
by E. T. Grant, the present cashier. Mrs. Sarah H. Williams is vice- 
president and Miss Lillian Eggleston is assistant cashier. The capital 
is $50,000. The present directors are: Fletcher Williams Mrs. Sarah 
H. Williams, Joel H. Prescott, Byron Thomas and E. T. Grant. 

Peirson & Perkins's private bank was started by S. S. Peirson, and E. 
P. Soverhill in October, 1866. In December, 1S67, the latter sold his 
interest to Henry R. Peirson and five years later C. H. Perkins relin- 



374 LANDMARKS OF 

quished his law practice and bought out the last named partners. 
Besides a general hanking business the firm deals extensively in produce, 
etc. 

Vary & Sleight started their private bank in 1887 and have occupied 
the present quarters since 180'.'. 

The New York State Custodial Asylum for Feeble-Minded Women. — 
The history of the Custodial Asylum dates from 1878, when, as a result 
of the efforts of the State Board of Charities "to establish a custodial 
institution for unteachable idiots and feeble-minded persons," the Leg- 
islature made provisions to open a department for feeble-minded gins 
and young women, under the direction and control of the Trustees of 
the New York Asylum for Idiots at Syracuse. The institution was 
opened September 3, 1878, as a branch of the New York Asylum for 
Idiots, with two inmates, the late C. C. Warner as superintendent, and 
his wife as matron. The sum of $18,000 was appropriated for the pur- 
pose, and before November a building had been rented and twenty-seven 
inmates received. This building forms the middle one of the present 
group facing the north, and was originally built for a theological insti- 
tute. In 1881 the usefulness of the asylum had become so marked and 
well recognized by State and county officials that a committee was ap- 
pointed, consisting of the comptroller, superintendent of public instruc- 
tion, and trustees of the Idiot Asylum, to determine whether the prop- 
erty should be purchased or the lease continued. They recommended 
that the institution be permanently established. In 1881 Hon. S. S. 
Peirson and in 1885 Hon. E. K. Burnham represented the district in the 
Assembly, and it is due to their untiring efforts that a bill was passed 
May 14, 1885, incorporating and permanently establishing the New York 
State Custodial Asylum at its present commanding location in the village 
of Newark. Ever since the institution was first projected Mr. Burnham 
has been one of its most ardent supporters and benefactors. 

The first board of trustees appointed by Governor David B. Hill 
consisted of Hon. David Decker, of Elmira; Rev. M. S. Hard, then of 
Canandaigua; Darwin Colvin, M.D., of Clyde; Mrs. Lucy W. Butler, 
of Syracuse: Mrs. Lucien Yeomans,of Walworth; Mrs. E. C. Perkins, of 
Newark; Charles G. Pomeroy, M. D., of Newark; S. N. Gallup, of 
Macedon; and S. S. Peirson, of Newark. 

The new board met at the asylum June 5, 1885, and organized with 
S. S. Peirson, president; Rev. M. S. Hard, secretary; and S.N. Gallup, 
treasurer. . C. C. Warner and his wife were retained as superintendent 




& 9?.' (oLi^It 



€Z>'m 



WAYNE COUNTY 375 

and matron. They resigned in March, 1886, and were succeeded by 
Mr. and Mrs. W. Landon Willett, who gave place to the present effi- 
cient incumbents, Mr. and Mrs. C. W. Winspear, July 5, 1893. Mrs. 
Yeomans declined the appointment as trustee and Mrs. Helen B. Case, 
of Rochester, was appointed to the position. In 1887 Dr. Pomeroy 
died and his place was filled by Hon. E. K. Burnham. In 1886 the 
east dormitory and boiler house were erected and steam fixtures put 
in the main and east buildings. In 1888 the laundry was built, and in 
1889 the west dormitory was completed. Charles Schuman & Co. were 
the contractors and builders of all these structures and S. N. Keener 
the architect, except the laundry. The chapel was finished and dedi- 
cated June 10, 1890, at which time there were 310 inmates. The hos- 
pital building, conveniently and pleasantly located at a little distance 
from the principal group, was completed and occupied February 15, 
1893, and the Legislature of that year appropriated $45,000 for main- 
tenance, $10,000 for the erection of a cottage dormitory (the foundation 
of which has been laid), and $3,000 for the disposal of sewerage. 
The location of the Custodial Asylum is one of the most sightly and 
healthful in Western New York. It commands an extensive view of 
the surrounding country. The grounds, comprising a little more than 
forty acres, are beautifully laid out under the supervision of C. H, 
Perkins, and are planted with trees, shrubs, and flowers. They also 
contain a well cultivated garden, which furnishes many of the vege- 
tables used in the institution, and connected with the latter is a pro- 
ductive greenhouse. Throughout, the buildings are well furnished, 
comfortably heated and ventilated, and scrupulously clean. Most of 
the work and the making of wearing apparel are performed by the 
inmates. 

According to the last annual report of the trustees, transmitted to 
the Legislature January 17, 1894, the entire property of the Custodial 
Asylum was valued at $154,445.99. The daily average population 
during the year ending September 30, 1893, was 340; on that date the 
whole number of inmates was 326; cost of maintenance, $46,475.72. 
The present officers are as follows: Trustees, 

Darwin Colvin, M.D., Clyde, Silas N. Gallup, Macedon, 

Mrs. Eliza C. Perkins, Newark, Hon. Charles McLouth, Palmyra, 

Hon. E, K. Burnham, Newark, Mrs. Gertrude A. Moss, Rochester, 

Hon. Silas S. Peirson, Newark, Hon. Daniel Candee, Syracuse. 
Mrs. Lucy W. Butler, Syracuse, 



:'.7<i LANDMARKS OF 

Officers cif the Board, — Hon. Silas S. Peirson, president; Hon. E. K. Rurnham, 
secretary; Mrs. Eliza C. Perkins, treasurer. 

Executive Committee. — Dr. Darwin Colvin, Hon. S. S. Peirson, Mrs* E. C. Perkins, 
Hon. E. K. Burnham, Hon. Charles McLouth. 

Resident Officers. — C. W. Winspear, superintendent; Mrs. Gertrude E. Winspear, 
matron; M. Alice Brownell, M.D., physician; Miss Kate J. Rahill, assistant matron; 
Miss Alice M. Burnett, teacher; Miss Gertrude Hoxie and Miss Amelia Sauter, 
supervis< >rs. 

The Wayne County Preserving Company was founded by Ezra A. 
Edgett in 1856. Mr. Edgett was born in Freehold, N. Y. , November 
1, 1828, and moved with his parents in 1835 to Camden, N. Y., where 
he married Harriet Marvin in L856, when he came to Newark, where 
he died in January, 1889. He was the pioneer in the canning business 
in the State, and was very successful. The works were burned in IS] -J, 
but were rebuilt and are owned by Mrs. Edgett and Hon. E. K. Bttrn- 
ham. Besides this there are in the village the Reed Manufacturing 
Company, capitalized at $30,000; the foundry and machine shop of 
Thomas L. Hamer; the lumber and planing establishment of C. Conk- 
lin and Stephen N. Keener and D. I. Garrison (Keener & Garrison) ; the 
nurseries of Charles W. Stuart & Co. (started in 1852), and Jackson & 
Peirson; the granite and marble works of Lynn Brothers, and others. 

The population of Newark village in 1844 was about 1,800; in 1858 it 
numbered 2,042; in L875 about 3,000; in 1880, 2,450; and in 1890, 2,824. 
It is one of the most progressive villages of Western New York, 
and in many respects ranks foremost among those of Wayne county. . A 
spirit of enterprise and social advancement is manifest on every hand, 
while the many attractive residences, handsome blocks, excellent 
churches and schools, and flourishing industries attest general activity 
and substantial prosperity. 

Fairville is a post village north of the center of the town, five miles 
from Newark and about a mile northwest from the station of the same 
name on the Sodus Point & Southern Railroad. The original owner of 
the site was Joseph P. Crandall, who built and opened a tavern there 
many years ago. His son was a physician, and an earlier practitioner 
was Dr. Nicholas. James Bennett operated a tannery for sometime, 
and G E. Robinson early kept a store, while P. Fleck had a wagon 
shop. The place contains two churches, a school house, one or two 
stores, a hotel, blacksmith shop, mint still, and about 1 liO inhabitants. 
The postmaster is Henry Brier. 

Zurich -is, a postal hamlet and station on the Sodus Point & Southern 




O^tz o/ tDedtadt 



WAYNE COUNTY. 377 

Railroad in the northeast corner of the town. The postmaster is John 
McNamara, who succeeded C. S. Schufeldt. 

Marbletown is a rural hamlet in the southeast part of Arcadia, on 
Trout Run, and formerly contained a church, which was moved to 
Newark. 

Hydeville, a small settlement lying northwest of Newark, is chiefly 
noted as the birthplace of what became the Rochester rappings and 
spiritualism, as heretofore mentioned. It is now merely a cluster of 
houses. 

Churches. — The present town of Arcadia originally comprised a part 
of the old Seneca Circuit of Methodism, which dates back to 1796, but 
the first ministers that traversed our limits probably came in 1801, their 
names being James and Josiah Wilkinson. Smith Weeks and John 
Billings were the circuit riders of 1802-3, and Roger Benton (the black- 
smith) and Sylvester Hill performed these duties in 1804-5. In 1805 
Mr. Benton's health failed and in 1806 he settled permanently in Newark, 
in which year the Lyons circuit was formed and his house became and 
continued a regular appointment until 1815, when the first M. E. church 
in town was erected on his farm on the site of the present Newark 
cemetery, the frame being raised October 1, of that year, under the 
circuit pastorship of Rev. Daniel Barnes. The edifice was dedicated 
June 22, 1816, and the builders were: Roger Benton, Jeremiah Lusk, 
the families of Luce and Stansell, Ezra Lambright, Henry Cronise, and 
Messrs. Winters and Aldrich. The structure was used for about twelve 
years, when it was converted into a dwelling and a second building 
erected near the center of the village, among its builders being Roger 
Benton, JohnL. Kipp, Joseph Miller, Henry Cronise, Minor Trowbridge, 
L. Bostwick, William Stansell, Pinkham Crommett, and Oliver Morley. 
In 1854, under the pastorship of Rev. J. K. Tuttle, the nucleus of the 
present church was built on Main street and dedicated. At this time 
Henry Cronise, Peter P. Kechor, Oliver Morley, John W. Benton, and 
L. J. Benton were trustees. The edifice was remodeled and rededicated 
February 1, 1888, by Charles N. Sims, D.D., LL.D., chancellor of 
Syracuse University. The first parsonage was built on Mr. Benton's 
farm in 1824. The society now has about 375 members under the pas- 
toral charge of Rev. J. E. Allen. 

The First Presbyterian Church, of Newark, was constituted at the 
village school house on the 20th of April, 1825, by Revs. Francis 
Pomeroy and H. P. Strong, with sixty-three numbers, of whom thirty- 

48 



378 LANDMARKS OF 

seven were from the Presbyterian Church at East Palmyra. Peter 
Cook and John G. Kanouse were the first elders. In November, L826, 
•the first pastor, Rev. Alfred Campbell, was installed and served until 
September, 1828, when Rev. Peter Kanouse took charge. Among his 
successors prior to 1850 were Revs. James Boyle, Henry Snyder, J. K. 
Ware, George W. Elliott, David Gushing, and G. R. H. Shumway 
(for twenty-five 3^ears). The present pastor, Rev. A. Parke Burgess, 

D. D., assumed charge in March, 1874. The first church edifice, a 
wooden structure, was erected on the site of the present building in 
L827; and to extinguish the indebtedness incurred by its construction 
Elder Pliny Foster mortgaged his farm for $500. In 1852 this edifice 
was replaced by another foundation, on which new walls were slowly 
reared until June, 1853, when a conflagration reduced them to ashes. 
Rebuilding was immediately commenced and the present structure was 
completed at a cost of about $18,000, the basement being first occupied 
January 1, 1854. In 1875 it was enlarged at an expense of $12,000. A 
Sunday school was organized by members of this denomination in 
Newark as early as 1814. The society has about 450 members. 

The Christian Church of Newark was organized at Marbletown in 
1834, and reorganized June 4, 1836, from which date until 1845, Elders 

E. M. Galloway and Benjamin Bailey served as pastors. They were 
followed by Revs. J. C. Burgdurf, S. D. Burdzell, A. S. Langdon, W, 
T. Canton, G. H. Hibbard, J. C. Burgdurf again, S. B. Bowdish, L. 
Coffin, Irving Bullock, O. T. Wyman, D. W. Moore, and the present 
incumbent, Rev. J. W. Wilson, who is also superintendent of the Sun- 
day school. The Marbletown society finally disbanded, and in 1864 
their edifice was taken down and the material brought to Newark. 
where it was used in the construction of the German Methodist Church 
on Miller street. A new church society was organized in Newark vil- 
lage and a house of worship built on the south side of Miller street at a 
cost of aboiit $5,000. The present membership numbers about seventy- 
five. 

The Baptist Church of East Newark was organized as the Lockville 
Baptist Church in July, 1834, with twenty-four members. The first 
pastor was Rev. Moses Rowley. In 1836 a site was purchased, upon 
which a brick edifice was erected at a cost of $2,500. When the name 
of that part of Newark village became Arcadia the name of the church 
was changed to correspond, and in December, 1864, when many of its 
members united with a new society located at the more populous cen- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 379 

ter, the first named title was adopted. The division left sixty-three 
members; in 18G9 the number was eighty. The pastors succeeding 
Rev. Mr. Rowley were Revs. John Dudley, R. P. Lamb, Joseph Spoor, 
David Bellamy, L. O. Grinnell, William Roney, vSidney Wilder, and 
Joseph B. Vrooman, under whom the division occurred. The society 
eventually went down and the property was sold to the Dutch Reform 
Church. 

The First Universalist Society of Newark was organized August 7, 
1837, with forty-nine members. The same year a brick edifice was 
erected at a cost of $5,000. The church was legally organized in May, 
1842, by D. K. Lee, with twenty-one members, and the house of wor- 
ship was used until January, 1871, when it was sold. That year the 
present structure was built at an expense of $15,000, and dedicated 
March 13, 1872, the first pastor officiating being Rev. George B. Stock- 
ing. The pastors of the old church were Revs. Kneeland Townsend, 
Henry Roberts, D. K. Lee, E. W. Locke, J. J. Austin, D. C. Tomlin- 
son, C. A. Skinner, S. L. Rorapaugh, A. Kelsey, R. Fiske, L. C. 
Brown, C. Fleuhrer, and W. B. Randolph. The society has about 
sixty members under the pastoral care of Rev. James P. Curtis. 

The Reformed Dutch Church of East Newark was organized prior to 
1844, at which time Rev. William Turner was pastor, and in which 
year it numbered thirty members. The society finally weakened and 
disbanded, but a few years since was reorganized under the same name 
as a missionary field belonging to the Classis of Rochester and in 
charge of the Board of Missions of the Reformed Dutch Church of 
America. The old brick Baptist Church was purchased, and in it both 
English and Holland services are held regularly. Rev. Jacob Dyk is 
pastor : elect. The society has about 100 members. 

The German Evangelical Association Church of Newark was organ- 
ized with twenty-seven members in 1845 by Rev. Philip Miller. Their 
house of worship was erected on Miller street in 1864 and consecrated 
by Rev. M. Fitzinger. The first pastor was Rev. M. Miller, and among 
his earlier successors were Revs. Jacob Siegrist, Jacob L. Jacoby, M. 
Lane, August Holzworth, and Charles Wissman. The present pastor 
is Rev. Fred Lahmeyer and the society's membership numbers about 
100. 

St. Mark's Protestant Episcopal Church of Newark was legally 
organized at the house of Esbon Blackmaron July 22, 1851, by Rev. Dr. 
Bissell, of Geneva. The first officers were Thomas Davis and Ebe- 



380 LANDMARKS OF 

nezer Cress}-, wardens; Esbon Blackmar, Fletcher Williams, George 
Perkins, David Mandeville, John Daggett, Clark Mason, A. W. Marsh, 
and Joel H. Prescott, vestrymen. Episcopal services had been held in 
Newark as early as 1830 by Rev. T. F. Ward well, of Lyons, and the 
organization was made possible by the confirmation of a class by Bishop 
De Lancey in the old M. E. Church. August 15, 1851, a contract was 
let to George Perkins for a church edifice to cost $1,725, exclusive of 
the spire, which was to be built by Fletcher Williams for $200. The 
building and lot cost $3,174.27, the bell $300, and the organ, the gift 
of the Ladies' Society, $450. The church was consecrated by Bishop 
De Lancey on December 28, 1852; the building committee consisted of 
Esbon Blackmar, Fletcher Williams, and Joel H. Prescott. Rev. 
Charles W. Hayes was installed the first rector September 19, 1852, 
organized a Sunday school October 3, with Joel H. Prescott as super- 
intendent, and continued in charge until 1854, when Rev. Charles W. 
Homer assumed charge. Under him the first Christmas tree in Newark 
was uncovered at the rectory in 1855. Among his successors were 
Revs. William O. Gorham, John H. Rowling, P. T. Babbitt, W. J. 
Pigott, and John Leach. In 1876 a rectory was purchased for $3,000. 
The parish has about eighty members with Rev. L. D. Van Dyke, D. 
D., as rector. 

The Roman Catholic Church of Newark was established with about 
forty members in 1855, mainly through the efforts of Rev. Father Pur- 
cell, who was followed by Fathers Clark, Lee, Charles, S. M. Rimmels, 
and others. A frame edifice was built in 1855. The present pastor is 
Rev. D. W. Kavanaugh, of Lyons. 

The First Baptist Church of Newark was first a removal and after- 
ward a reorganization r>i the society of this denomination in East 
Newark, previously detailed. The removal occurred in 1864, and in 
1865 a church edifice was built at a cost of several thousand dollars. It 
stands on the south side of Miller street and was originally designated 
"Hope Chapel." In December, 1874, the society was reorganized 
under its present name, the first officers being Josiah Failing, Clark 
Phillips, Marvin I. Greenwood, Jesse G. Pitts, William Fisk, and T. 
Hunt, trustees; Clark Phillips, president; M. I. Greenwood, secretary; 
William Fisk, treasurer. A parsonage was purchased for $1,700, and 
the pastor at the time of reorganization was Rev. V. Wilson. The 
society has about 190 members under the pastoral charge of Rev. F. 
W. Kneeland. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 381 

The German Lutheran Church of East Newark was organized March 
27, 1872. The original membership numbered twenty-seven, and the 
first meetings were held in the Baptist Church by Rev. C. C. Manz, a 
missionary, once in two weeks. The society has thirty five or forty 
members with Rev. Robert T. Vosberg as pastor. The Sunday school 
has an average attendance of forty scholars. 

The Presbyterian Church of Fairville was constituted with eighteen 
persons March 31, 1860. Rev. Mr. Gushing, of Newark, had preached 
here in the school house and later in the M. E. Church, and was fol- 
lowed in 1859 by Rev. Mr. Holcomb. July 20, 1860, John Aiken ex- 
ecuted a deed of the present lot to Elon St. John, John Bockoven, 
William H. Van Inwagen, Franklin Koffman, and Charles E. Crandall, 
trustees, for $200. The building committee consisted of Elon St. John, 
John Bockoven, Marvin Lee, William H. Van Inwagen, and Charles 
E. Crandall. The contract was let August 24, 1861, to Elon St. John, 
for $2,500, and the corner stone was laid by Rev. Mr. Holcomb on 
October 2, 1861. The edifice was dedicated October 16, 1862, by Rev. 
Charles Hawley, of Auburn. January 1, 1866, the church was legally 
oganized by the Presbytery of Lyons with eighteen members, and with 
William H. Smith and Henry West as ruling elders. The first pastor 
was Rev. Mr. Young, the present incumbent being Rev. J. W. Low- 
den. The society has about seventy members. 

The Methodist Episcopal Church of Fairville was organized at a 
comparatively early date, and a house of worship erected in 1857. The 
society has about seventy-five members and a Sunday school with an 
average attendance of fifty scholars. The pastor is Rev. Joseph Max- 
well. 



382 LANDMARKS OF 



CHAPTER XXV. 

HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF MARION. 

This town was formed from Williamson on the 18th of April, 1825, 
and originally was called " Winchester, " which name was changed to 
Marion April 15, 1826. An interior township, nearly square, it lies 
west from the center of Wayne county, and is bounded on the north by 
Williamson, on the east by Sodus and Arcadia, on the south by Pal- 
myra, and on the west by Walworth. Its area embraces 17,:591 acres. 

Marion is one of the best farming towns in Wayne county. The sur- 
face is broken into a succession of drift hills and ridges, intervened with 
fruitful valleys, the whole being well adapted to agriculture. The soil 
is a gravelly loam and drift, and in the northern part is largely under- 
laid with a limestone formation. Drainage is afforded almost entirely 
by Red Creek, which has its source near the north boundary, flows 
southerly a little east of the center of the town, and passes into Pal- 
myra, emptying in the Ganargwa near East Palmyra village. This stream 
affords some good mill sites and has a number of small tributaries. 
Near the village of Marion is a sulphur spring, which produces a con- 
stant supply of water possessing valuable medicinal properties, but it 
has never been much utilized for medical treatment. 

In common with adjacent divisions of Wayne county this town was 
originally covered with heavy timber which long gave profitable em- 
ployment to the early settlers. Much of it was burned for the ashes, 
but a considerable portion was converted into lumber, which brought 
into existence a number of saw mills. All of these long ago disappeared. 
The pioneers, as soon as land was cleared, devoted their efforts to raising 
wheat and other grain, and until late years this branch of farming pre- 
dominated. The growing of fruit, especially of apples, was also given 
early attention, and during the last decade the culture of raspberries 
has been extensively developed. A large number of the farms of the 
present day support substantial dry-houses or evaporators. 

The primitive log cabins of the first settlers were long since super- 
seded by modern dwellings, which the present generation surround 



WAYNE COUNTY. 383 

with the comforts and luxuries of this age. Some of these are still oc- 
cupied as homesteads, but the inevitable changes of time have placed 
many in the hands of later comers. The older settlers, with few excep- 
tions, have passed away; but scattered here and there over the town 
are worthy descendants of those sturdy pioneers who endured the hard- 
ships of frontier life, subdued the wilderness, established homes, 
churches, and schools, and reared large families in the observances of 
the laws of modern civilization. 

Tradition says that early settlers here sought the hills in preference 
to the more fertile valleys, and in consequence the first roads ran from 
summit to summit without any definite course, except to avoid as far 
as possible the wet low lands. The first highway through the town was 
the old Geneva and Canandaigua road, which passed through Palmyra 
and Marion to the upper corners ; this was what is now the thoroughfare 
that runs northeasterly to East Williamson. The second road was an 
enlargement of the Indian trail, or the " old post route," leading from 
Canandaigua to Pultneyville, and continued northward from the Sodus 
road from Marion upper corners. The Sodus road was laid out by Capt. 
Charles Williamson in 1794. Considerable labor was expended in im- 
proving these and other early highways, and in this direction the town 
has constantly kept pace with the advancement in road making. 

The town has never enjoyed the privileges of a railroad within its 
borders. Its inhabitants have always depended upon the more primi- 
tive means of transportation by teams, yet its productive soil, excellent 
educational facilities and many natural advantages have placed it in 
the front rank of interior civil divisions of the Empire State. Mails, 
passengers, freight, etc., are still conveyed by stage, principally be- 
tween Marion village and Palmyra. The nearest railroad stations are 
East Palmyra on the New York Central on the south and Williamstown 
on the R. W. and O. on the north. 

The first annual town meeting of the town of Marion (then Winches- 
ter) was held, pursuant to an act passed by the Legislature in 1824, at 
the house of Daniel Wilcox, April 14, 1826, and the following officers 
were elected: Seth Eddy, supervisor; Samuel Moore, town clerk: 
Isaac R. Sanford, David Eddy, Thomas Lakey, assessors: Samuel Ball, 
collector; Samuel Dellano and Joseph Caldwell, overseers of the poor; 
Reuben Adams, jr., Peter Eddy, Benjamin Mason, highway commis- 
sioners; Samuel Ball and Jeremiah Angell, constables; Joseph Cald- 
well, Thomas Lakey, Samuel Moore, commissioners of common schools ; 



384 



LANDMARKS OF 



[esse Mason, Homer Adams, James Smith, inspectorsof public schools; 
Gideon Sherman, ponndkeeper. The town then had thirty-live road 
districts and a pathmaster was subsequently appointed for each. Sam- 
uel Moore was town clerk until 1832, when he was succeeded by Elisha 
R. Wright. In 1850 a bounty of one shilling- each was offered for all 
crows killed in town. The supervisors of Marion have been as fol- 
lows: 



Seth Eddy, 1826, 
Jesse Mason, 1827, 
Isaac R. Sanford, 1828, 
Elias Durfee, 1829-33, 
William R. Sanford, 1834, 
Elias Durfee, 1835, 
Marvin Rich, 1836, 
Elias Durfee, 1837-38, 
Seth Eddy, 1839-40, 
Onion Archer, 1841-45, 
Peter Boyce, 1846-47, 
Nelson D. Young, 1848-49, 
Oscar Howell, 1850-51, 
Nelson D. Young, 1852-53, 
Isaac A. Clark, 1854, 
Elias Durfee, 1855-59, 



Pardon Durfee, 1860-61, 
Ira Lakey, 1862-63, 
( h-ville Lewis, 1864-65, 
Nelson D. Young, 1866-69, 
Dwight Smith, 1870-72, 
Charles Tremain, 1873, 
Dwight Smith, 1874-75, 
Nelson D. Young, 1876-78, 
Henry R. Taber, 1879, 
Chester F. Sweezy, 1880-82, 
Henry R. Taber, 1883-86, 
Seth B. Dean, 1887-88, 
Henry R. Taber, 1889-92, 
Henry C. Allen, 1893, 
Henry R. Taber, 1894. 



The town officers for 1894 are as follows: Henry R. Taber, super- 
visor; Richard B. McOmber, town clerk; Myron J. Mersen, J. Smith 
Crane, Jefferson Sherman, Harmon S. Potter, justices of the peace; 
Sidney F. Durfee, Charles S. Pratt, George H. Lookup, Charles L. Tas- 
sell, overseers of the poor; Isaac A. Johnson, commissioner of high- 
ways; Horace A. Warner, collector. 

The first settlement in this town was commenced by Henry Lovell 
in 1795. He located on a farm now the south and west portions of 
Marion village, and his log house stood on the lot more recently owned 
by Buckley Newton. Mr. Lovell was a typical hunter and is said to 
have killed thirty deer in one day. A child born to him in 1705 lived 
but a few weeks; this was the first birth and the first death in town, 
and his only neighbors at the time were Daniel Powell and wife, who 
buried the babe on a knoll back of Lovell's house. Betsey Lovell, a 
daughter of Henry, was the second white child born in the town. Mr. 
Lovell finally removed to the west. 

Daniel Powell, wife and eight children, came to Palmyra from Mass- 
achusetts in 1794 and removed to Marion in 1795. He was a wealth}- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 385 

man for those days, endowed with extraordinary strength and endu- 
rance, and eventually cleared over 500 acres in this town and William- 
son. In Marion he took up a farm of 126 acres, which he partially 
cleared, and sold it in 1816 to David Harding. 

In 1705 David Sweezey came here with his family from New Jersey, 
making the entire trip in light boats, which were carried from stream 
to stream where necessary. He settled on a large farm in the south 
part of the town, upon which he lived until his death. After being 
owned by his heirs and others it ultimately came into the possession of 
D. F. Luce. Another settler of this year was Samuel C. Caldwell, also 
from New Jersey, who came hither by ox team and wagon. At his 
death a son succeeded him on the homestead. 

Elizabeth Howell and David Sherman were married in the winter of 
1794-95, and this was the first marriage celebrated in the town. Miss 
Howell came to Marion in the family of David Sweezey. Mr. Sher- 
man, a native of Rhode Island, came from Washington county, N.Y. , 
to East Palmyra in 1791, but in the fall of that year returned east on 
foot. The next winter he moved to East Palmyra with two yoke of 
oxen, and early in 1796 came thence to this town, settling on 100 acres 
of the Caldwell farm. This he soon sold to Samuel O. Caldwell. He 
purchased and cleared another farm, upon which he died and upon 
which he was succeeded by his son, Zepheniah, and the father of 
Jefferson Sherman. 

Samuel O. Caldwell is reputed to have drawn the first load of goods 
from Canandaigua to Pultneyville for Capt. Charles Williamson, to 
whom he was introduced as " a man who could drive two yoke of oxen 
and a sled over logs two feet high." The trip was made in August in 
six days, with the above named outfit. In 1795 nearly every settler in 
this region was down with the fever and ague, and it is stated that Mr. 
Caldwell went to mill near Geneva for them all. He subsequently 
moved thither two families from Rhode Island and another from New 
Jersey with his ox teams. 

Deacon Joseph Caldwell was born in Marion September 24, 1799, and 
died August 31, 1875. In 1829 he married Sarah Smith and had born 
to him three children, of whom the only son, Samuel G., was a graduate 
of Union College and of the Albany Law School, and became a banker 
in Omaha, Neb. Amanda M., one of the daughters, married John S. 
Rich, who settled in Marion village in 1851. Mr. Rich was assistant 
census marshal in 1860, deputy marshal for the northern district of New 
49 



386 LANDMARKS OF 

York for several years, a special agent of the treasury department, and 
a life long Democrat. Deacon Caldwell was a graduate of the Univer- 
sity of North Carolina, deacon in the Congregational church over fifty 
years, a Republican in politics, and a leading agriculturist of the town 
and county. 

Robert Springer, a Rhode Islander, came to this town about 1796, 
cleared a small plot, returned East, and the next year brought his 
family to his frontier home. His sons were Isaac, Richard, Robert, jr., 
Samuel, and Israel. 

William B. Cogswell, another Rhode Islander, settled early in Marion 
and few years later took up a farm subsequently occupied by his son. 
Reuben Adams and son, Reuben, were also settlers of this period. 

Among the comers during the years 1797, 1798, 1799, and later, were 
Luke Phelps and Harris Cooley, from Massachusetts; David and Will- 
iam Harding, from Rhode Island; Micajah Harding, Seth, William and 
David Eddy, John Harkness, from Massachusetts; Zadoc Huggins, Seth 
Harris, from Rhode Island; John Case, Jesse Harding, David Mason, 
Gideon Sherman, Zebina Crane, and Judge Marvin Rich. Luke Phelps 
was the first supervisor of the town of Williamson, and his sons, Jared 
and Ezra, became prominent in local affairs. Ezra was a surveyor and 
ran many of the original lot lines, laid out most of the early roads, and 
was for some time highway commissioner. His son, Deacon Ezra 
Phelps, succeeded him on the homestead. David and William Harding 
both died in town. Micajah Harding, prominent in civil and religious 
affairs, raised a company of sharpshooters and served in the war of 
1812. The three Eddys settled on what is called the Eddy ridge. 
Seth Eddy was the first supervisor of Marion, the first deacon of the 
Baptist church, and captain of a company of drafted men in the war of 
1812. David Eddy became side judge. The children of John Hark- 
ness were: Seth E., Roswell, Leverett, William, and Mrs. S. Miller. 
Zadoc Huggins taught the first singing school, and John Case, a 
Methodist, was the first preacher in town. Seth Harris met his death 
by drowning in the lake. David Mason had three sons, John, Benja- 
min, and Jesse. The latter was endowed with exceptional ability. 
Zebina Crane, the father of Mrs. Daniel Dean, and the grandfather of 
Zebina Crane, died here in 1820. Judge Marvin Rich was a very 
prominent citizen and subsecpicntly moved to Rochester. 

Prior to 1812 the following, among others, settled in Marion: Stephen 
Sanford, from Rhode Island; Harvey Riley, father of Peleg, Hiram, 



WAYNE COUNTY. :;*; 

and Rescom Riley, and Mrs. Van Ostram ; William and Thomas Corry, 
Rhode Islanders, from whom Corry Corners was named, where both of 
them died; Stephen Vaughn, Julius Hutchinson, Joel Hall, William 
Hadsell, and Abraham and Darius Pratt. Joel Hall and his sons, Joel, 
jr., and Amasa, at that time married men, were the first comers to the 
Hall settlement. Joel Hall, sr. , was endowed with unusual strength 
and performed feats almost marvelous. He was the grandfather of 
Warren, Joseph, Amasa, jr., and Lead Hall, residents of Marion, Wal- 
worth, and Williamson. 

In the winter of 1825 Richard Sweet built a canal boat at Marion 
village, and in the spring drew it on ox sleds to Palmyra and launched 
it ; the trip occupied two days. 

Among other early settlers of Marion were Eliphalet Dean, father of 
Daniel ; Elias Durfee, who built and operated a furnace for several 
years; Eponitas Ketchum, Thomas Clark, who died on his homestead ; 
John Smith, from New Jersey; James Center, who sold his farm to M. 
L. Rogers in 1835; Philip Potter, a Rhode Islander, who died here 
aged 92 ; and Thomas Young, who was succeeded on the homestead by 
his son, Nelson D. 

Marion Heslor, a native of this town and long a prominent business 
man here, died in February, 1888. Delos Hutchins, equally as well 
known, died in April following. James McDowell, also a prominent 
citizen, died in September, 1892, aged forty-eight years. Earl Wilcox 
was the eldest son of William and Ruth Wilcox, and was born in Pal- 
myra March 30, 1794. He settled in Marion in 1827 and died here in 
March, 1874, being at that time the oldest native of the town of Pal- 
myra. He married Jane Stewart and had ten children, five of whom 
survive him. 

Hon. Jefferson Sherman was born in this town October 20, 1835, and 
died on the homestead August 31, 1894. He was a very prominent 
man, held several local offices of responsibility, and represented the 
Second Assembly District of Wayne county in the State Legislature of 
1879 and 1880. 

Prominent among other citizens, sons of whom are descendants of 
the pioneers already mentioned, are recalled the names of Dwight 
Smith, Peter Boyce, Chester F. Sweezey, Henry R. Tabor (present 
supervisor), Henry C. Allen, Seth B. Dean, Ira Lakey, Orville Lewis, 
Buckley Newton, Allen Knapp, Daniel F. Luce, W. Cogswell, J. A. 
Shaw, John Copping, Z. Howell, A. Turner, W. Lookup, T. M. Clark 



388 LANDMARKS OF 

(ex-county sheriff), Abel Clark (son of F. M.), Philo D. Green, Jere- 
miah Angell, Isaac A. Clark, B. B. Adams, Henry Butler, L. Milliman, 
Amasa Stanton, Everard White, C. H. Curtis, James Tassell, Sidney 
Durfee, John and Jeremiah Clark (brothers of T. M.), R. K. Warner, 
John and William Smith, Thomas S., jr., and Emery Potter, A. B. 
Short, Horace M. Winslow, William C. Austin, H. R. Taber, D. 
Henry Crane, Stephen Reeves, Charles Tremain, Salem W. Sweezey, 
Conway W. Young-, Charles N. Stearns, Eugene H. Brewster, and 
Jacob Baker. Numerous others are mentioned further on and in 
Part II of this volume. 

The first physician in town, and for many years the only practitioner 
here was Dr. Seth Tucker, who located first a little northeast of the 
upper corners in Marion village. He later moved to the farm upon 
which C. H. Curtis subsequently settled. 

The pioneer tavern was opened by a Widow Styles as early as 1800; 
it stood on the lot in Marion village owned by Amasa Stanton. The 
first grist mill was erected by Isaac Phillips in 1807, and Enoch Turner 
opened the first store. The first blacksmith was Harkness Gifford. 

From the first call of troops in the War of the Rebellion to the 
close of that sanguinary conflict the town of Marion promptly and gen- 
erously responded with many of her ablest citizens. A total of 186 
men went from within her borders to fight the nation's battles. Out 
of the depleted number that returned but few remain, and this little 
band of heroic veterans is becoming smaller and smaller as death 
claims them for the muster roll of eternity. 

As previously noted, the first burial was made on the farm of Daniel 
Powell. The second death was that of William Powell in 1800, the 
third that of Anna Powell, and the fourth that of Mrs. Daniel Powell ; 
all were interred in the same plot. The second burying ground was 
opened at the upper corners in 1804; and the third was the present 
cemetery in Marion village, the first person buried therein being Mrs. 
Perry Davis. In 1853 the Marion Cemetery Association was incor- 
porated and this plat was placed under the charge of that organization. 
Five acres of land were subsequently purchased of William F. Burbank 
and added, and about 1880 three and one-half acres were bought of 
William C. Austin. A project is now (1894) on foot to erect a suitable 
soldiers' monument on a lot in the cemetery set aside for the purpose. 
The present (1894) officers are: John S. Rich, president; David Lown, 
secretary; William G. Austin, treasurer; John S. Rich, David Lown, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



389 



William C. 'Austin, and William W. Burbank, executive committee ; 
Presson Peer, Stephen Reeves, Washington Hathaway, Charles San- 
ford, Allen Knapp, and the officers previously named, trustees. 

The first school house in town was a log dwelling which stood in 
Marion village on or near the lot now owned by C. C. Potter; the first 
teacher in it was James Rogers, who was succeeded by Ebenezer 
Ketchum. Then came Asahel Powers, the father of Daniel Powers, 
of Rochester. The first school house erected for the purpose stood on 
the Robinson farm, and was burned in 1814. Morrison Huggins 
opened a select school about 1838, in the upper part of an old stone 
school house in the village. 

March 27, 1839, the old Marion Academy was incorporated and the 
same year a building was erected for its use. The first principal was 
Ornon Archer, who made it a success, but after his retirement the 
school died out and the charter was abandoned in 1851. 

The Marion Collegiate Institute was incorporated July 6, 1855, and 
school opened that year with about ninety students in a room fitted up 
over a hardware store. In 1856 the present commodious brick building- 
was erected by subscription. It is forty-four feet square and three stories 
high, and is supplied with a library and scientific apparatus. The first 
board of trustees consisted of fourteen members, of whom Rev. J. W. 
Osburn was president; Nelson D. Young, treasurer; and A. H. Dow, 
secretary. 

The presidents of the board have been: 



Rev. J. W. Osburn, 1855, 
Rev. Amasa Stanton, 1855, 
Jacob Baker, 1857, 
Charles Tremaine, 1872, 

The principals have been as follows ; 

I. N. Sawyer, 1855, 

S. F. Holt, 1857, 

C. H. Dann, 1857, 

Rev. P. J. Williams, 1859, 

A. S. Russell, M. D.,1861, 

R. T. Spencer, 1862, 

A. S. Russell, M. D., 1863, 

G. H. Miner, 1863, 

Thomas B. Lovell, 1864, 

Rev. E. G. Cheeseman, 1870, 

W. T. Mills, 1872, 



Nelson D. Young, 1873, 
Seth B. Dean, 1884, 
William C. Austin, 1894. 



Rev. W. H. Sloan, 1873, 
J. Burns Frazer, 1874, 
Edson Plaisted, 1877, 

Congden, 1877, 

D. Van Cruyningham, 1878, 
.Charles E. Allen, 1879, 
Herbert E. Mills, Ph. D.,1883, 
F. W. Colgrove, D. D., 1884, 
Merritt H. Richmond, 1889, 
Elmer G. Frail, 1890, 
Fenton C. Rowell, 1893, 
W. C. Tifft, A. M., 1894-5. 



390 LANDMARKS OF 

The Board of Trustees for 1894-94 consists of William C. Austin, 
Marion, president; Stephen Reeves, Marion, recording secretary; Rev. 
Samuel P. Merrill, Rochester, corresponding secretary; Horace M. 
Winslow, Marion, treasurer; Salem W. Sweezey, Marion; Myron H. 
Adams, M. D., Rochester; Eugene A. Brewster, Palmyra; Melville 
M. Eddy, Williamson ; I). Henry Crane, Marion ; Rev. Cyrus W. Mer- 
rill, Johnstown; Charles N. Stearns, Marion; Charles Tremaine, 
Marion; Conway W. Young, Marion. Executive Committee, Eugene 
H. Brewster, Seth B. Dean, and Conway W. Young. 

The alumni since 1854 aggregates 160 graduates. When the present 
school building was completed a debt of about $0,000 hung over it; a 
proposition was made by the trustees of the institute which gave to the 
church that would voluntarily assume the indebtedness the sectarian 
control of the institution forever. The Baptist Church of Marion came 
forward, raised the necessary money, and has since had the spiritual di- 
rection and fostering care. 

The town has thirteen school districts with school houses, which are 
taught by fourteen teachers and attended by about 550 pupils. In 
L892-93, the school buildings and sites were valued at $11,050; assessed 
valuations of districts, $1,349,000; money received from the State, 
$1,747.03; raised by local tax, $3,097.70. 

In 1858 there were in Marion 14,302 acres improved land; real estate 
valued at $488,585, and personal property, $71,012; 985 male and 952 
female inhabitants; 382 dwellings ; 419 families; 366 freeholders; thir- 
teen school districts and 756 school children; 840 horses; 1,084 oxen 
and calves; 974 cows; 3,703 sheep; and 1,032 swine. That year there 
were produced 12,473 bushels winter and 108,745 bushels spring wheat ; 
2,684 tons hay: 15,740 bushels potatoes; 34,035 bushels apples; 90,550 
pounds butter; 18,703 pounds cheese; and 592 yards domestic cloth. 

In 1890 the town had a population of 2,144, or 44 more than in 1880. 
In 1893, its 17,801 acres of land were assessed at $809,024 (equalized 
$681,587); village and mill property, $169,500 (equalized $135,743); 
personal property, $314,228. Schedule of taxes 1893: Contingent fund, 
$663.55; town poor fund, $150; roads and bridges, $250; schools, 
$1,035.29; county tax, $2,477.05; State tax, $1,304.9!); State insane tax, 
$352. I 1 ; dog tax, $86. Total tax, $6,615. 19; rate per cent, .00511713. 
The town has two election districts, and in 1893 polled 410 votes. 

Marion Village.— This is the only village in the town of Marion. 
It is situated south of the center of the town, on the west side of Red 



WAYNE COUNTY 391 

Creek and contains two "centers," locally known as the upper and lower 
corners. Prior to 1810 the upper corners attained the greater impor- 
tance of the two localities, and for several years thereafter it maintained 
an equal competition. At the lower corners the first landed proprietors 
were Daniel Lovell and Timothy Smith, whose successor in 1811 was 
James Galloway. Timothy Smith erected the original of the present 
hotel, one of whose long-time landlords was Samuel Todd, a major in 
the War of 1812. Harris Cooley bought forty acres of land on the west 
side of Main street and cleared it, and in front of the M. E. church he 
stuck for a fence stake the huge willow tree which was cut down in 1880. 
As early as 1800 a widow, Mrs. Styles, opened the first tavern in the 
town and village on the lot owned by Amasa Stanton. It furnished 
whisky to the early settlers; in this connection it is worth while to note 
the fact that no licenses have been granted in the town for nearly fifty 
years. Mrs. Styles was also a doctress and practiced the primitive 
healing art along with her hotel business. The first gristmill, operated 
by water power and having one run of stone, was erected by Isaac 
Phillips in 1807. near the site of the present flouring mill. Rufus 
Amsden early had a carding mill where the canning factory now stands. 
Harkness Gifford carried on blacksmithing where Charles Jagger now 
resides, and Judge Marvin Rich had a cabinet shop on the site of the 
dwelling that was formerly used by Samuel Smith, blacksmith. The 
first store was opened on the Isaac Morrison place by Enoch Turner, 
who also had a tavern. A tavern and a distillery were conducted 
by James Huggins where John Van Hee now lives. These various 
industries flourished around the lower corners at a very early day and 
constitute the foundation of the present thriving village. 

In 1825 there were in operation here a grist mill, saw mill, distillery, 
an ashery, blacksmith shop, post-office, the tavern of Daniel Wilcox, a 
store kept by Archer Galloway, and a school ; there were four houses 
on the west and seven on the east side of Main street. 

The upper corners comprised a blacksmith shop, the cabinet shop of 
Richard Bourne, the office of Dr. Seth Tucker, and about ten houses. 
In 1831 a saw mill was built by James Wright and a Mr. Wing. It was 
called an "ox-mill" from the fact that its power was obtained from a 
tread wheel driven by oxen ; it stood on the site of the present ruins of 
the old Cogswell saw mill. 

Marion village now has two general stores, two hardware stores, two 
drug stores, two groceries, two jewelry stores, two millinery shops, two 



392 LANDMARKS OF 

meat markets, one lawyer, three physicians, a newspaper and printing 
office, one veterinary surgeon, a bakery, four wagon and blacksmith 
shops, one hotel, five churches, the Marion Collegiate Institute, a fine 
public school building, a grist mill, the foundry and machine shop of 
Lewis Smith, a canning factory, a ladder and fruit evaporator manu- 
factory, two undertakers, a mint stiil, and about 900 inhabitants. The 
postmaster is J. E. Richmond. The grist mill was built by James Ran- 
dall, who sold it to the present proprietor. The canning factory was 
started in the old Curtis foundry and fanning mill manufactory in is!i:i 
by the Wayne County Canning Company. H. K. White is the general 
manager. 

Ham, Center, in the northwest part of the town, formerly had a 
post-office, but it was discontinued several years ago. It is now merely 
a pleasant rural hamlet. The place took its name from Joel Hall and 
his son Joel, jr., and Amasa, who settled there in 1810. 

Churches. — The earliest religious services in town were held by 
Rev. John Case, a Methodist. Elder Fairbanks, a Baptist, was proba- 
bly the first of his denomination to preach here. Rev. vSeba Norton 
began preaching in Marion in 1802, coming from Sodus every two 
weeks. 

The first Baptist Church of Marion was organized as the First Baptist 
Church of Williamson, February \M>, 1804, by Rev. Seba Norton, with 
the following constituent members: Reuben and Anna Adams, Luke 
and Elizabeth Phelps, Micajah Harding, Robert and Rebecca Springer, 
Betsey Sherman, Sally Teal, Elder Seba Norton and wife Margaret, 
David and Abby Harding, Ezra and Phebc Phelps, Sally Harding, 
Betsey Adams, David Foster, and Mchitable Adams. The first Lord's 
Supper was celebrated March lo, Iso I, by fifteen communicants, and 
until L829 meetings were held in the Mason school house. In that year 
the society erected the first church edifice in town. It was of wood, 
with galleries on three sides, and stood on the site of the present east 
street about twenty-five rods from the corner. In L850 it was trans- 
formed into a store and is still used and known as the Clark building. 
In L 850 the present church was erected and dedicated November 25. 
This was repaired and remodeled in L867 and rededicated November 
L5, by Rev. T. S. Harrison. The society bought a parsonage at an 
early day which they subsequently sold to Mrs. Case (whose daughter, 
Mrs. Seeley, now owns it), when the present one was built. The pas- 
tor is Rev. J. D. Merrill and the membersnip of the church is about 



WAYNE COUNTY. 393 

L70. The Sunday school of the church has an average attendance of 
I to pupils with H. M. Winslow, superintendent. The property of the 
church is valued at about $12,000. 

The Presbyterian Church of Marion was organized as the Congrega- 
tional Church of Williamson in November, 1808, by Revs. James 
I lotehkiss and Oliver Ayer. In 1825, at the organization of the town, the 
name was changed to the .Congregational Church of Marion. Subse- 
quently it adopted the Presbyterian form of government and its pres- 
ent designation. The names of the eight original members are Luke 
Phelps, Timothy and Ruth Smith, David Swezey, Zadoc and Thankful 
Huggins, and Samuel and Sarah Waters. Luke Phelps was the first 
deacon. Their first house of worship, a frame structure, was erected 
and dedicated in 1831, was repaired in 1850 and again in 1866, and is 
still in use. The first regular pastor was Rev. H. R. Powell in 1820; 
the present incumbent is Rev. Charles Ray. The whole number of 
members since the organization is about 600; the present number is 
seventy-one. Willard Pullman is superintendent of the Sunday school, 
which was organized about 1827 ; its attendance now is from fifty to 
seventy-five. 

The Christian Church of Marion was organized November 1, 1820, 
as the Church of God, by Rev. David Millard and Joseph Badger, with 
forty-one members. In 1832 the first edifice, of stone, 36 by 40 feet, 
was erected at the upper corners, and the first services were held in it by 
Rev. Mr. Farley, September 16. Their present frame church, 40 by 
60 feet, with a stone basement, was built in 1856 and dedicated in 1857 
by Rev. John Ross. The value of the church property is $7,500. The 
first pastor was Oliver True, who officiated until 1828; following him 
have been Revs. Benjamin Farley, Joseph Bailey, E. M. Galloway, W. 
T. Caton, Stephen Mosher, Amasa Stanton (from 1848 to 1866), Irving 
BullocV(till 1879) Mr. Hammond, J. W. Lawton, J. W. Wilson, and E. 
M. Harris since May, 1893. The society has 180 members. Their pres- 
ent parsonage was built in 1892. The Sunday school has about 100 
pupils under Richard B. McOmber, superintendent. 

The First Methodist Episcopal Church of Marion was organized in 
1845 by Rev. Porter McKinster, with twelve members, but the society 
had no pastor or place of worship until 1854. In that year Rev. John 
Dennis reorganized the church. Their frame edifice, 28 by 40 feet, was 
erected in 1855 and dedicated in December; in 1878 it underwent ex- 
tensive repairs, and the property, including a parsonage, is now valued 

50 



394 LANDMARKS OF 

at about $4,500. The society has 100 members under the pastoral care 
of Rev. E. H. King. The Sunday school, organized in 1854, has an 
average attendance of sixty-five scholars. 

The Reformed Church of Marion was formed in 1860 and legally organ- 
ized with fifty-six members in 1870 by Rev. J. W. Warnshuis. In 1872 
the present frame edifice, 40 by 72 feet, was built and dedicated. In 
1871 Rev. J. W. Warnshuis was installed pastor and remained until 
October, 1876. The present pastor is Rev. Peter Ihrman, who is also 
superintendent of the Sunday school. The church has now about 300 
members. Their frame parsonage was purchased of Charles L. Tassell 
at a cost of $1,800. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF WALWORTH. 

Walworth, lying in the middle of the towns which form the extreme 
west border of Wayne county, was organized from Ontario on April 20, 
1829. It is bounded on the north by Ontario, on the east by Marion, 
on the south by Macedon, and on the west by Monroe county, and com- 
prises an area of 20,425 acres. It received its name in honor of Gen. 
Chancellor Walworth. With a surface of high, rolling upland, whose 
ridges run almost parallel north and south, it is one of the most elevated 
and picturesque parts of the county; from several points magnificent 
scenery is visible in all the panoramic splendor of Mother Nature. The 
deep valleys and .lofty hills, composed of a rich sandy loam, are very 
fertile and easily cultivated, and to the industrious husbandman )deld 
abundant crops of grain, hay, potatoes, fruit, etc. There are a number 
of large orchards which, in favorable seasons, produce enormous 
revenue. Drainage is afforded by several rivulets on the north and by 
tributaries of Red Creek on the south. There is no water power in this 
town. 

The land was originally covered with a dense growth of timber con- 
sisting principally of beech, maple, hemlock, ash, and basswood, all of 
which has fallen before the pioneer's axe, and been superseded by broad 
fields of civilized industry. The wild game of early times long ago dis- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 395 

appeared, and the pretty homes of the present generation are surrounded 
only by domestic animals. Instead of the rude log cabins of our fore- 
fathers now stand the handsome residences made possible by their early 
toil and frugality ; the malarial fever and ague which afflicted them so 
terribly, disappeared with the changing conditions of man and climate. 

The town of Walworth has never enjoyed the commercial advantages 
granted to nearly all her sister towns in Wayne county ; yet it has ever 
maintained a degree of prominence that speaks well for the industry 
and enterprise of the inhabitants, and which has. placed it in the front 
rank of the minor civil divisions of this State. Lacking the rapid ship- 
ping facilities afforded by rail and water, its rich soil and industrious 
population tend to offset the absent means of transportation. Its near- 
est railroad stations are Walworth and Macedon on the New York 
Central on the south, and Ontario and Lakeside on R. W. & O. on the 
north, all distant from three to four miles from the bounds of the town. 

It has been impossible to obtain much accurate information concern- 
ing the early town meetings and officers. Many of the names of 
supervisors are noted a little further on, and many others are omitted 
because of the incompleteness of the records. 

The settlement of Walworth began in the southeast part of the town 
at or near what is now Walworth village, and the first settlers were 
Andrew, John, Samuel, and Daniel Millett, brothers, who came hither 
with their families in 1799. Andrew became insane it is said from 
brooding over the belief that the world would soon be without wood 
and liung himself. Daniel subsequently removed to Ohio, where he 
was mistaken for a bear one evening, and shot. The other two brothers 
lived in Walworth until their death. A younger brother, Alexander, 
came in soon after his brothers and settled near them. 

Stephen and Daniel Douglass came from Connecticut in 1811 and 
located at the four corners at Walworth, and from them the place was 
known as "Douglass Corners" until 1825. Stephen erected the first 
frame building in the town in 1805, on the end of a log dwelling, and 
opened it as the pioneer tavern. Five years later the log part was torn 
down and the frame part removed, and on the site he built a larger 
hotel, which he conducted until his death in 1812. The structure is 
now (1894) used by Frederick C. Robie as a barn, its occupation as a 
hotel terminating in 1826. Stephen Douglass, in 1807, also erected the 
first frame barn in town. He was finally drowned in the canal. His 
daughter, Mrs. James Finley, is a resident of Walworth. 



396 LANDMARKS OF 

Capt. Gilbert Hinckley, a Rhode Islander, settled in the eastern part 
of the town in 1803, and in 1836 removed to Ohio. In 1804 Dea. Gideon 
Hackett and Jonathan and James Hill became settlers, as did also John, 
I >avid, and Jerry Chamberlain, from Connecticut. The next year 
Luther Fillmore located at Walworth village and subsequently was 
elected to the Assembly; he died here in 1838. 

Other settlers of this period was Joseph Howe, the first shoemaker, 
and Nathaniel Holmes and Ira Howard, the pioneer carpenters. In 
1806 the settlement was increased by the arrival of Jonathan Miller, his 
wife, daughter, and three sons, and his aged father; and about this 
time Sylvester and Harvey Lee settled at West Walworth. 

Among other early settlers were John, Nathan, and Enos Palmer, 
brothers, who became wealthy; Jonathan Boynton, from Berkshire, 
Mass., subsequently a member of the Legislature; and Stephen Chase, 
Ebenezer Trask, Abner Rawson, Joseph Randolph, Isaac Dawley, 
Simeon Stebbins, Joseph Day, and William Childs, all of whom settled 
in the southern part of the town. Thomas Carpenter, Levi Salisbury, 
David Upton, a Mr. Hurley, Moses Padley, and Daniel Gould (a 
Canadian) located in the central part of Walworth; and John, Asa, 
William, and James Scott, brothers, and Peter Grover, in the western 
part. 

In February, 1807, Charles Finley came in from Connecticut with a 
large family, of whom a child died on the way and a son, Reuben, died 
here some years since. Another son, Lewis, resides in town. The latter 
married May E. Quinby, and their son, Dr. Frank Finley, born here in 
1859, died in Macedon May 6, 1893, after practicing medicine there 
about three years. 

Samuel Strickland, who died in the town some years ago, was born 
in Connecticut in 1790. In 1798 his father removed to Redfield, 
Oswego county, where he was the first settler, and built a saw and 
grist mill on the Salmon River. Samuel came to Walworth in August, 
1807, with his mother, and died here in 1845. He was a member of 
the Free Will Baptist Church and served in the war of 1812 at Sodus 
and on the Niagara frontier. He settled near the center of the town 
as did also Samuel and Jedediah Smith, brothers. Samuel Smith 
opened the first blacksmith shop in Walworth on land now owned by 
Patrick Crowley's two sons, and finally went to Ontario, where he 
manufactured iron from native ore. 

Rowland Sackett, David Tiffany, David Foskett, and James Arnold 




(z^U. 




WAYNE COUNTY. 307 

came into this town in 1808, and Joseph Strickland, a brother of Samuel, 
became a settler in 1809. Capt. N. F. Strickland died in April, 1885. 

About the year 1809 Thomas Kempshall removed hither from Roch- 
ester and in 1815 erected, on the northeast corner at Walworth, the 
first mercantile establishment in the town and village. Six years after- 
ward he returned to Rochester and became a prominent miller. 

James Benton, an idle, worthless fellow, presented himself to the 
settlement about this time and followed the precarious life of a wander- 
ing hunter. In the fall of 1809 he maliciously set fire to the wigwams 
of the Indian village at Ridge. 

Dr. Hurlburt Crittenden came here in 1804 and was the first physi- 
cian in town, Gilmer Chase was a life-long resident of the town, and con- 
spicuous in the Baptist Church. He died January 10, 1892. John 
Craggs, whose widow owns the grist mill south of Walworth, just over 
the line in Macedon, came here early in life and became the owner of 
that mill about 1862. He was a mason and an active member of the 
Baptist Church, died here August 1, 1889. Jacob and Asil Hossilton 
settled in the western part of Walworth in 1812, and William Wylie lo- 
cated at the east village in 1817. Jermain Andrew and J. Jay White 
each served several years as supervisor. Daniel M. Smith, son of George, 
was born in Farmington, N. Y., in 1803, married Elizabeth Herendeen 
in 1824, and settled in Walworth in 1825. They were Quakers, and had 
born to them six children. 

The first death in the town was that of a man named Hopkins in 180G ; 
soon afterward a Mr. Green was killed by a falling tree. 

It is, of course, impracticable to note the arrival of all the settlers of 
this town, but the foregoing covers most of those of early years who 
were prominently instrumental in subduing the wilderness and laying 
the foundations of present prosperity. Among the later generation, 
many of whom are descendants of the sturdy pioneers, may be mentioned 
the names of Hon. T. G. Yeomans (ex-member of Assembly), Daniel 
Hoyt, Albert Yeomans, Lewis and Julian Finley, Orvis Potter (son of 
Horace), Jerome Lawrence, C. P. Patterson, John Baker (a long-time 
postmaster at Walworth), James W. Benton and his son (merchants), 
Hon. Lucien T. Yeomans (member of Assembly in 1873), Frederick C. 
Robie (town clerk), Richard Allison (the present supervisor), George 
L. Lee (merchant), Frank Stoddard, Henry Dean (harness maker), 
John Bennett (long a justice of the peace), and Peter Arnold. Nu- 
merous others who are equally deserving of special mention are noticed 
a little further on and also in Part II of this work. 



398 LANDMARKS OF 

In 1858 the town of Walworth had 15,859 acres of land improved: 

real estate valued at $578,470; and a population of 991 males and 973 
females. There were 390 dwellings and 34-7 freeholders. In 1890 its 
population numbered 2, L95, a decrease since 1880 of 14:5. In 1893 the 
real estate was assessed at $861,239 (equalized $765,522); personal 
property $109,600; village and mill property $109,715 (equalized $121-, 
234). Total valuation $1,080,554 (equalized $996,356); rate per cent. 
.038646. The town has two election districts and in 1893 polled 346 
votes. 

During the war of the Rebellion the town responded nobly and 
promptly to the various calls for troops, and sent to the front a total of 
134 volunteers to fight the nation's battles. Of this number John Mur- 
ray Hoagand Nelson F. Strickland, both of whom enlisted in Co. B, 9th 
Artillery, were promoted captains. 

The first school house in town was built near the site of the pres- 
ent public school building in Walworth village in 1804. It was of logs 
and was replaced in 1812 by the pioneer frame school house, in which 
Louis McLouth was the first and only teacher, for it burned before the 
first term was concluded. The next school house was a brick struct- 
ure erected in 1815, half a mile north of the village, which was soon 
afterward torn down and a frame building was put up west of Wal- 
worth. The Walworth Academy was legally incorporated May 21, 
1841, and a stone building was erected at a cost of $4,000. The first 
principal was Prof. E. B. Walsworth, who opened the school in the fall 
of that year. A new brick structure (the present school house) was 
built in 1857 at an expense of $8,000. It is three stories high and with 
slight repairs is still used for the academy. The old building was con- 
verted into a dwelling and later into a hall, atid is now the meeting- 
place of the local grange. The academy employs two teachers and is 
comparatively well patronized. The present trustees are Hon. T. G. 
Yeomans, Lucien T. Yeomans, Elon Yeomans, Warren Hall, Albert 
Ycomans, Alonzo Crane, Lewis Finley, Jerome Lawrence, and Orvis 
Potter. 

The town now has eleven school districts, taught by as many teach- 
ers, and attended during the school year of 1892-93 by 477 scholars. 
The value of school buildings and sites is $6,950; assessed valuation of 
the districts $1,1 32,000; public money received from the State $1,424. 95 ; 
amount raised by local tax $1,688. Ml. 

Nathan Palmer erected and operated the first saw mill in town about 



WAYNE COUNTY. 399 

is lo. It was situated on the little stream southwest of West Wal- 
worth, and the dam which supplied the power caused such an overflow 
on adjacent lands that the inhabitants, considering themselves wronged, 
assembled one night and tore it down and burned the mill. Mr. Palmer 
began a litigation and recovered damages and costs. 

As early as 1803 the first burying ground was laid out a quarter of a 
mile south of Walworth village on the present Stephen A. Tabor farm. 
A second burial plat was selected in 1816, near the center of the town, 
and is known as the Baker cemetery. To this nearly all the remains 
originally interred in the pioneer graveyard were ultimately removed. 
Another pretty cemetery is located on elevated ground a little south- 
west from Walworth village. 

Walworth Village. — Until 1825 this place was known as "Doug- 
lass Corners," from the Douglass brothers, Stephen and Andrew, who 
were among its first settlers. The former built here the first hotel and 
Thomas Kempshall the pioneer store in town, which were the substan- 
tial beginnings of the present pretty village. Two other early settlers 
here were Andrew Millett and Luther Fillmore, the latter of whom be- 
came prominent in public affairs. The post-office was established in 
1823, with Henry Moore, postmaster; the present incumbent is Cope- 
land Morse. 

Among the various merchants who have carried on trade in the vil- 
lage were Theron and Veniah Yeomans, on the site of F. C. Robie's 
store, in an old building recently burned; Lewis Eddy, where is now 
the Masonic hall; and Tucker & Sweeting, Benjamin Billings, Nathan 
Lusk, Uriah Hoyt, a Mr. Richmond, Philip Lawrence, John Sebring, 
and Edward Kent. The present hotel was erected by Hon. T. G. Yeo- 
mans. Among the landlords was John Sweeney, whom many will re- 
call with interesting recollections. The village now contains three 
general stores, a jewelry store, hotel and livery, a millinery store, one 
harness shop, a shoe store, a tin shop, two cooperages, two physicians, 
an academy and public school, two churches, and a population of 
about 450. 

West Walworth. — The site of this village was originally settled and 
improved by Joseph Howe in 1805, and from a few log houses and a 
blacksmith shop it has steadily grown into a thriving rural hamlet 
The first store was opened in 1835 by William Freeland in a building 
subsequently occupied by S. L. Miller. The Johnson Brothers began 
the manufacture of grain threshers here in 1838, but the business 



400 LANDMARKS OF 

proved unprofitable and it was soon abandoned. The post-office was 
established and William D. Wylie was appointed postmaster in 1840. 
The present occupant of the office is Thomas Payne. The village now 
comprises two general stores, a hardware store, two blacksmith shops, 
wagon shop, dry house and evaporator, a millinery store, two churches, 
and about 150 inhabitants. Lee and Harvey Miller, brothers, were 
prominent and long-time merchants, as also was Nathan Reed. West 
Walworth in late years has been an important center for handling dried 
fruit, which has proved a profitable business. 

Lincoln. — Situated in the northwest part of the town, the little ham- 
let of Lincoln affords the inhabitants there nearly all the advantages 
and privileges that either of the above described villages could offer. 
In 185:3 N. F. Strickland erected and started a mill here and in the fall 
of that year a store building was put up and business opened. In 1866 
Mr. Strickland obtained a post-office for the place and was appointed 
the first postmaster. The hamlet now contains a store, a cheese factory, 
wagon and blacksmith shops, two churches, and about a dozen dwell- 
ings. 

Churches. — From traditionary evidence gathered from old settlers, 
it appears that a Presbyterian Society once flourished in the village of 
Walworth, but definite data concerning its organization, existence, or 
disappearance cannot now be obtained. On land now owned by T. G. 
Yeomans there once stood a stone church edifice reputed to have been 
used by this Presbyterian Society as a place of worship, but it was long 
ago torn down and its history and the history of the society are veiled 
in the misty past. 

The First Methodist Episcopal Church of Walworth was the pioneer 
religious organization of the town, and their first house of worship was 
a primitive structure built three-fourths of a mile west from the village 
prior to 1809. With rude slab seats, with an ancient elevated pulpit, 
and with a gallery on three sides that was reached by a ladder, it housed 
the little band of worshipers until 1815, when a union edifice with the 
ownership vested in the Methodistswas erected in Walworth. Although 
never formally dedicated, it was used as a meeting place until is;-.', 
after which it was transformed into a dry house. February 27, 1826, the 
society was legally organized with I. R. Sanford, Luther Fillmore, 
Levi Leach, Thomas Brown, and A. H. Howland, trustees. The pres- 
ent fine brick edifice was built under the pastorate of Rev. L. F. Cong- 
don in L872,- and cost about $17,000. The society has 150 members, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 401 

Rev. John II. Stoody as pastor. The present frame parsonage south 
of the church was built on the site of an old one, removed, in 1884, and 
cost $1,400. 

The Second Baptist Church of Walworth was organized by Rev. R. 
Powell, on July 11, 1832, with the following constituent members: Dea- 
con Bancroft, Dr. and Mrs. L. D. Ward, Miss Palmer, Deacon and So- 
phia McLouth, Benjamin Mason and wife, Freeman Wood and wife, 
Benjamin Wood and wife, R. Wood, Mrs. L. Burr, Mrs. Agnes Cran- 
dall, Gideon Hackett and wife, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, James Rice and 
wife, Asil and Rhoda Hoyt, Lewis Potter and wife, and Barney Corey. 
The union church was used for worship until 1834, when the present 
stone edifice was erected and dedicated in September of that year. It 
was repaired and re-dedicated in December, 1887, at a cost of some 
$6,000. The society has about seventy members and is now supplied 
by Walter B. McNinch, a student at Rochester. The Sunday school 
was organized May 1, 1842, with Levi Hicks, superintendent. 

The First Baptist church of West Walworth was organized with 
fourteen members in 1815 by that active missionary of Western New r 
York, Rev. Jeremiah Irons. The first pastor was Rev. Daniel Palmer, 
in 1816, and until 1832 meetings were held in the school house. In 
that year their stone house of worship was built and dedicated January 
8, 1833, by Rev. Mr. Palmer. It has since been extensively repaired. 
The present pastor is Rev. R. P. Ingersoll. The first Sunday school 
was organized in 1815 and had fifteen members. 

The Evangelical Association (German Lutheran) of West Walworth 
was organized with thirty members by Rev. David Fisher, in 1857, and 
until 1866 held its meetings in private houses. In that year a stone 
building formerly used for school purposes was purchased, repaired, 
and dedicated in the fall. The Sunday school was formed in 1855, 
with John Lotze superintendent. The society has about sixty mem- 
bers, with Rev. A. Schlenk as pastor. 

The Free Will Baptist church of Walworth, located at Lincoln, was 
organized in 1816 by Rev. Thomas Lewis, with these members : David 
Salisbury, Mrs. Robbins, Joseph Strickland and wife, James, Andrew, 
and Pamelia Strickland, Ephraim Holbrook, and Sarah Lyon. Rev. 
Mr. Lewis was installed the first pastor and a stone edifice was erected 
near the center of the town in 1834 at a cost of about $2,000. It was 
dedicated by Rev. D. M. L. Rollin, January 18, 1835. It was long 
used for worship and for several years past has been occupied as a 

51 



402 LANDMARKS OF 

dwelling. In L876 a frame church was built in Lincoln; since that 
year the society has worshiped therein. Rev. A. D. Loomis is pastor. 
The society's property is now valued at about $4, Odd. 

The Methodist Episcopal church of Lincoln had its inception at a 
meeting held at Lincoln hall by Rev. Charles Hermans. An organiza- 
tion was perfected in 1872 by Rev. Mr. Benson, with twelve members, 
and Rev. Mr. Hamlin became the first pastor. He was succeeded by 
Rev. John Irons, under whom in 1874 their frame church was erected 
at a cost of about $3,000. It was dedicated December 2, 1874, by Rev. 
B. I. Ives. The society now has eighty members, under the pastoral 
charge of Rev. William C. C. Cramer. The vSunday school was organ- 
ized in 1872 with 100 scholars, under E. K. Boughton, superintendent. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF ROSE. 

The town of Rose was formed from the old town of Wolcott on the 
5th of February, 1826, and embraces an area of 21,S4 , .t- > j acres. It lies 
in the interior and east of the center of Wayne county, and is bounded 
on the north by Huron, on the east by Butler, on the south by Galen, 
and on the west by Lyons and Sodus. The largest stream is Thomas 
Creek, which rises southeast of Rose Valley and flows northwesterly 
th rough the village into Great Sodus Bay. The next of importance is 
old Dusenbury Creek, locally known as Mudge Creek, rising in the 
same locality and flowing northward through Huron into East Bay. 
Other streams are Marsh and Black Creeks, both flowing south. 

The surface is largely broken into drift hills, trending north and 
south and intervened with beautiful valleys. The highest elevation in 
town, lying near the Sherman farm, is 140 feet above Lake Ontario. 
South of Rose Valley the land is very level. The soil consists of 
gravelly loam occasionally mingled with clay, with black muck in the 
swamps. It is exceedingly fertile, and yields abundant crops of apples, 
grain, peppermint, onions, tobacco, raspberries, potatoes, etc. The 
principal industry is agriculture. There are extensive ledges of lime- 
stone that have been worked for burning and building purposes, and 



WAYNE COUNTY. 403 

at Glenmark the outcropping produces a very pretty waterfall. The 
town was originally covered with a heavy growth of beech, hemlock, 
maple, cedar, ash, and tamarack. Alfred S. Roe, in his " Rose 
Neighborhood Sketches, " relates an interesting legend "of a button- 
wood or sycamore, near Wayne Center, so large that a section of it was 
used as a dwelling house after it had fallen down and proven to be 
hollow. In fact, one of the stories of the late Simeon I. Barrett was 
that of putting up at the Button wood tavern early in the century. The 
late Hiram Church, of Wolcott, said that in 1808 three families, num- 
bering fourteen persons, young and old, put up at this same inn for the 
night and were well entertained. Osgood Church, his father, was one 
of the guests. He also says this was on one of the Jeffers farms." 

Clay is found in several places suitable for manufacturing brick and 
tile. Most of the marsh land has been reclaimed by judicious ditching, 
and the contrast between the town of three-quarters of a century ago 
and the town of to-day is an interesting one. The primitive wilder- 
ness, after years of arduous labor and continuous hardship, was converted 
into productive fields, orchards, and gardens. The pioneers, with very 
few exceptions, have passed away, leaving descendants and successors 
to enjoy the fruits of their efforts. Rude log cabins long since gave 
place to the comfortable frame dwellings, and the frontier school and 
church have been succeeded by larger and better institutions. The 
high moral standard of the earlier settlers permeates the communities 
of the present generation, which ably maintains for their town the 
prestige and importance that have always characterized it among simi- 
lar divisions of the State. 

The whole of the town of Rose, save the south three tiers of lots, 
was originally included within Williamson's patent, as described in the 
chapter devoted to Wolcott. This tract was surveyed 'into farm lots of 
from twenty-five to 200 acres each. The three tiers above noted are 
known as Annin's gore, and were laid off into eighty acre lots. Very 
early in the century Hon. Robert S. Roe and Judge John Nichols, 
natives of Virginia and brothers-in-law, purchased 4,000 acres of Will- 
iamson's patent, extending from the gore to within three-quarters of a 
mile of the Huron line and lying on either side of the Rose Valley road. 
They were then residents of Geneva, and their purchase was called the 
" Nicholas 4, 000-acre tract. " Mr. Nicholas was a congressman from 
Virginia, a member of the New York State Senate, and judge of the 
Ontario county court. Mr. Rose was an assemblyman and a congress- 



404 LANDMARKS OF 

man, and when this town was organized in 1826 it was decided to give 
it his name; in recognition of the compliment he sent a "little Merino 
lamb about the size of awoodchuck." The early settlers purchased 
their lands of Osgood Church, of Wolcott, who was the resident sub- 
agent for the Williamson patent from 1808 to 1813, after which the 
business was transacted with the land office at Geneva. The sur- 
veys and allotments were made by John Smith in 1805 and 1806. 

Until 1873 communication was carried on by means of teams and 
stages, but in that year the Lake Ontario Shore Railroad (now the R., 
W. & O.) was completed and opened through the north part of the 
town with a station at North Rose. This added a new impetus to busi- 
ness interests and established more convenient markets for the farmers' 
produce. In 1841 the famous Sodus Canal was commenced through 
the efforts of Gen. William H. Adams; it was to extend from the Clyde 
River or Erie Canal via Rose Valley and near Glenmark to Sodus Bay. 
All the mills along its line in this town were demolished and never re- 
built. After the renewal of the charter in 1848 a large amount of 
work was done and evidences still remain. In 1853 a railroad was pro- 
jected from a point south of Clyde through that village and Rose Val- 
ley to Sodus Bay; a survey was made, but the clashing of interests 
caused an abandonment of the enterprise. In 1872 the measure was 
revived, but without avail. Eron N. Thomas was treasurer of the 
company and Mr. Thomas, Chauncey B. Collins, and Henry Graham 
were among the directors. 

The first regular roads were surveyed from May 10, 1810, to April 1, 
1814, by Osgood Church. The first highway laid out was that leading 
east from Stewart's Corners; the second was that from Rose Valley to 
Clyde, surveyed June 29, 1810. The road from the Valley to Port 
Glasgow was established March 20, 1811, and the one from Glenmark 
to North Rose on April 1, 1814. The thoroughfare from Rose Valley 
to Clyde was long a plank road maintained by a company incorporated 
for the purpose; as such it was discontinued soon after 1877. In 1847 
the town had forty-four road districts; at present the number is fifty- 
one. 

The first town meeting was held at the house of Charles Thomas in 
Rose Valley, in April, 1826. Erasmus Fuller presided and the follow- 
ing officers were chosen: Supervisor, Peter Valentine; town clerk, 
David Smith ; assessors, James Colborn, Jeremiah Leland, Dorman 
Munsell; collector, Thaddeus Collins, jr.; overseers of the poor, John 



WAYNE COUNTY. 405 

Skidmore and Aaron Shepard; commissioners of highways, Elizur 
Flint, Robert Jeffers, William Lovejoy; commissioners of common 
schools, Jacob Miller, James Colborn, Milburn Salisbury; inspectors of 
common schools, Alpheus Collins, Peter Valentine, David Smith; con- 
stables, Thaddeus Collins, jr., Lewis Leland; and twenty-two overseers 
of highways. 

The supervisors have been as follows: 

Peter Valentine, 1826-29, Harvey Closs, 1857-58, 

Philander Mitchell, 1830-32, Jackson Valentine, 1859-69, 

Dorman Munsell, 1833, James M. Home, 1870-71, 

Thaddeus Collins, sr., 1834, Charles S. Wright, 1872-73, 

Ira Mirick, 1835, Jackson Valentine, 1874-75, 

Peter Valentine, 1836-39, Joel S. Sheffield, 1876, 

Dorman Munsell, 1840-41, William J. Glen, 1877, 

Peter Valentine, 1842, S. Wesley Gage, 1878, 

Eron N. Thomas, 1843, William J. Glen, 1879, (part) 

Philander Mitchell, 1844-45, George Catchpole, remainder of 
Elizar Flint, 1846, 1879, 

Hiram Mirick, 1847, William H. Griswold, 1880-81, 

Philander Mitchell, 1848-50, George Catchpole, 1882-84, 

Eron N. Thomas, 1851, Samuel Gardner, 1885, (part) 

Solomon Allen, 1852, E. Chester Ellinwood, remainder 
Eron N. Thomas, 1853, of 1885 and 1886, 

Thaddeus Collins, jr., 1854, George Catchpole, 1887-90, 

Jackson Valentine, 1855, Merritt G. McKoon, 1891-93, 

Philander Mitchell, 1856, Frank H. Closs, 1894. 

The town officers for 1894 are: Frank H. Closs, supervisor; Joel S. 
Sheffield town clerk, died July v 30, 1894, and E. F. Houghton appointed; 
T. B. Welch, S. W. Lake, R. C. Barless, F. E. Soper, justices of the 
peace; Valorus Ellinwood, F. E. Henderson, Joel H. Putnam, assessors; 
Seth C. Woodard, collector; Thomas J. Bradburn, highway commis- 
sioner; Judson Chaddock and John A. Hetty, overseers of the poor. 

March 3, 1885, an appropriation to not exceed $2,000 was voted for 
the erection of a memorial town hall, which was built in Rose Valley in 
1886. It is a frame structure, two stories high, and contains also the 
rooms of the local G. A. R. Post. 

The first settlements in Rose were made by Alpheus Harmon, Lott 
Stewart, and Caleb Melvin in 1805. The latter was a brother of the 
Jonathan Melvin, sr., so intimately identified with the beginnings of 
Wolcott. In Osgood Church's old book of records relative to the sale 
of lands on Williamson's patent are entries of 117 contracts, bearing 



406 LANDMARKS OF 

dates from June 16, 1808, to October 15, 1813, of which the following 
come within the limits of this town : 

Alpheus Harmon lot L69, 113 acres, and lot 170, 115 acres, at $3.50, June 21, 1808; 
Pender Marsh, lot 205, HO acres, at 84, January 11, 1811; Epaphras Wolcott, lot 160, 
101 acres, at $4, January 30, isn ; Seta Shepard, lot 197, 40 acres, at *4, April 1, 

1811.; Daniel Lounsbury, lot , 206£ acres at $4, April 3, 1811 ; Jonathan Wilson, 

lot 1 in, 50 acres, at $4, April 3, 1*11 ; John Wade, lot 185, 107 acres, at $4, April lfi, 
isn; Asa and Silas Town, lots 212 and 213, 150 acres, at 84, November 11, 1811; 
John Burns, lot 153, 108| acres, at $4.25, April 8, 1812; Abram Palmer, lot 140, 102 
acres, at $4, April 22, 1812; Thomas Avery, lot 154, 103 acres, at $4.25, May 4, 1812; 
Demarkus Holmes, lot 187, 101 acres, at $4.32, June 25, 1812; Noahdiah Gillett, lot 
L32, 101 acres, at $4, < >ctober 2, 1812; Eh Wheeler, lot 188, Oil 1-2 acres, at $4, Novem- 
ber L3, 1812; Jacob Ward, lot 140, 50 acres, at $4.25, November 14, 1812; Elijah How, 
lot llii, 50 acres, at XI, November 18, 1812; Jonathan Wilson, lot 101, 31 acres, at 
$4.25, December 29, 1812; Asahel Gillett, lot 155, 50 acres, at §4.25, March 10, 1813. 

Caleb Melvin located about a mile south of Rose Valley in 1805; the 
same year Alpheus Harmon settled in the northeast part of the town, 
and Lott Stewart at Stewart's Corners, which took his name. Stewart 
kept a tavern here, the first outside the village; it stood where is now 
the home of George Stewart. Mr. Stewart married for his second wife 
a daughter of Alpheus Harmon, by whom he had one son (Allen) and 
five daughters; his first wife bore him a son (James) and two daugh- 
ters. Mr. Harmon sold out to A. F. Baird and removed to Cattarau- 
gus county, whither also Stewart went and died. Soon afterward came 
Joel Bishop and his sons, Seth, Joel, jr., and Chauncey; they located 
on the Port Glasgow road. Near them Oliver and Seth Whitmore and 
Simeon Van Auken became residents, and among others of about this 
period were James and Jeremiah Leland, Milburn Salisbury, and 
Asahel, Hosea, and Harvey Gillett. 

About L810 Alpheus and Thaddeus Collins, jr., came in and two 
years later were joined by their father, Thaddeus, sr., and the re- 
mainder of his family. They purchased 400 acres, including a part of 
the village of Rose Valley. Capt. John Sherman located at the Valley 
in 1S1 1 and built and opened an inn. He had originally settled on the 
Ganargwa Creek, but soon removed to Galen, whence he came here, 
being accompanied by his sons, Elias D., Charles B., and John, jr. In 
lsP2 Elijah How located two miles northwest of Rose Valley and 
Aaron Shepard, a blacksmith, the same distance east. Alfred, Lyman, 
loci, and John Lee, brothers, settled in town about this year. 

Robert Jcffers made the first settlement in the west part of Rose in 
is I 5; he was 'accompanied by three sons, John, William, and Nathan, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 407 

and for many years the place was called the J'effers neighborhood. 
Jacob Clapper settled near them. Capt. Chauncey Bishop located on a 
farm in this town in 1812 where he died in August, 1880. Hollow-ay 
Drury came from Eden, Vt. , in 1815. George Seeley, son of Joseph, 
was born in Sherburne, N. Y., in 180G and died here in December, 1 885. 
lie was a colonel in the State militia, held several town offices, and was 
a deacon in the Baptist Church. Henry Graham was a noteworthy fig- 
ure in town in years gone by. Born in 1802, he came to Port Glasgow 
in 1831 and kept the hotel later owned by Isaac Gillett. He removed to 
Rose, but finally went to Clyde, where he died in October, 1878. 

Palmer Lovejoy located in the northeast corner of the town at an 
early day and gave to the place where he purchased the name of Love- 
joy settlement. He had sons William C, Silas and Daniel. Among 
other early settlers were Dorman Munsell, Alverson Wade, Paine and 
William Phillips, Julius Baker, Benjamin Way (father of Samuel and 
Harley), Robert Andrews, John Basssett, John Burns, Samuel South- 
wick, Jonathan Ellinwood (father of Lucius and Chester), John Wade, 
Philander Mitchell, Joseph Seeley (father of George and Delos), Isaac 
Crydenwise, Eli Andrews, and John Covey. Philander Mitchell was a 
very prominent man; in 1827 he was elected a justice of the peace 
along- with Elizur Flint, Dorman Munsell, and Charles Richards, and 
held the office over thirty years. He was county superintendent of the 
poor in 1861-63. Elizur Flint was president of the first temperance 
society organized in town in 1829. 

Hon. Eron N. Thomas was postmaster at Rose Valley several )^ears, 
supervisor three times, and member of Assembly in 1862. He was a 
prominent man and the owner of a stock farm near the village. Eli 
Garlick, a settler of 1815, died January 7, 1892, aged ninety-two. . Eli- 
zur Flint came here in 1817 and died in February, 1884. Simeon I. 
Barrett was born in 1798 and died in town in November, 1887, after a 
residence of over sixty years. Samuel Gardner, born in 1820, settled 
early in Huron, where he was supervisor some time, and moving to Rose 
held the same office at the date of his death in May, 1885. 

• Prominent among other early settlers are recalled the names of James 
Colborn, Dr. Peter Valentine (the first and for several years supervisor), 
Dr. Richard S. Valentine (the doctor's son), John Closs (the father of 
George, Harvey, Lorenzo, and Caleb H.), Elizur Flint, Charles 
Thomas (the father of Eron N., Nathan W. , and Lorenzo C, all from 
Pompey, N. Y.), Solomon Allen, Solomon Mirick (father of Ira, 



408 LANDMARKS OF 

George, Hiram, and Thomas), Orin Lackey, William Watkins, Amos 
Covey, Robert Mason (father of Harvey), William Chaddock, Dudley 
Wade (father of Ensign D.), Alonzo, William, jr., and Winfield Chad- 
dock (sons of William, sr. ), Peter and Edward Aldrieh, David Smith, 
Uriah Wade, John Skidmore, Gideon Henderson, John Barnes, Charles 
Richards, Samuel Hunn, Jacob Miller, Mr. Burnham, Abel Lyon, Asa 
Cook (in Rose Valley), Betts Chatterson, Charles G. Oaks (who died in 
1883), Thomas Cullen, and Joel N. Lee (who died in October, 1880). 

John J. Dickson, M. D., born in 1807, was for forty-five years a 
physician in Rose and for twenty years was a justice of the peace. In 
1845 he was elected to the Legislature, and became a charter member 
of Rose Lodge, No. 590, F. and A. M., settling here in 1829, he died 
February 15, 1874; the funerals of himself and his first wife were con- 
ducted by the Masonic fraternity. Joel S. Sheffield located in this 
town in 1854. He was supervisor and town clerk, holding the latter 
office at the time of his death July 30, 1894. 

Isaac Lamb was a very early settler. He was enterprising and popu- 
lar and in 1823 he built a saw mill which ceased operations after a 
period of sixty years. About 1838 he erected a grist mill, one of the 
old stones of which is now used by Myron Lamb at North Rose as a 
horse block. Further up the stream Ansel Gardner once built a card- 
ing mill, but it was never utilized. 

The first log house and the first frame dwelling were built by Caleb 
Melvin. Thaddcus Collins, sr., is said to have set out the pioneer 
orchard at the Valley as early as 1813. The first birth was that of 
Milburn Salisbury and the first death was that of a child of Harvey 
Gillett, both in 1812. Hosea Gillett and Hannah Burnham were mar- 
ried in January, 1813, which was the first wedding in town. 

A Dr. Delano was the pioneer physician, about 1813, but he remained 
less than a year. The first settled physician in Rose was Dr. Peter 
Valentine, and subsequent comers were Drs. Henry Van Ostrand, 
Beden, Richard S. Valentine, and R. C. Barless. 

The first grist mill was erected at Glenmark Falls by Simeon Van 
Auken and Seth Whitmore in 1812; in IS 13 a saw mill was built. 
These mills were afterward rebuilt by Hiram and Ira Mirick, and 
among the various owners were J. Brown, William Chaddock, and 
Henry Garlick. About a mile above these Elijah How put up the 
pioneer saw mill in 1811 ; another was built a little below by Samuel 
Hunn, and- Alfred Lee also erected one near the Valley. Other saw 



WAYNE COUNTY. 409 

mills on Thomas Creek were put up by Uriah Wade, Simeon T. Barrett, 
and I limn & Chatterson. All were demolished when the Sodus Canal 
was commenced, and the creek was widened and deepened for nearly 
three miles to form a portion of that great ditch. In excavating for 
the canal drift wood and animals' bones were discovered ten feet below 
the surface. 

Willis G. Wade built at Rose Valley the first steam saw mill in 1848, 
which he sold to Eron N. Thomas; it was burned in 1873 and rebuilt. 
The second was erected in the west part of the town by Isaac Wood- 
ruff; in 1859 its boiler blew up and killed a sawyer named Grinnell. 
Conrad Young built the third steam saw mill at Wayne Center. 

The first steam grist mill was erected in 1866 by William A. Mix. 
Chaddock & Garlick built one at Rose Valley in 1873. In 1821 Simeon 
Van Auken built a clothiery on Thomas Creek. His successor, John 
Wan Auken, added wool carding machines, and the establishment 
finally passed to Horace Converse, who discontinued it about 1850. 

The only distillery ever operated in this town was built by Charles 
Richards at Rose Valley about 1818; it ceased work after a year's ex- 
istence. The first and only tannery was erected by William Watkins 
and Charles Thomas about 1826; the building was subsequently used 
as a storehouse by Robert N. Jeffers. 

Among other early settlers and substantial citizens of the town may 
be mentioned William and Jairus McKoon, Amaziah Carrier, John 
Kellogg, John Q. Deady, Ira Lake, Henry Robinson (the father of ex- 
State Senator Thomas Robinson, of Clyde, and John W. Robinson, of 
Newark), Samuel Lyman (who raised the first frame building in Rose 
without the use of liquor), Asa and Silas Town, William Dickinson, 
Addison and James Weeks, Franklin Finch, Riley Winchell, John 
Barnes, William Hickox, Thomas Craft (brother of Benjamin and 
Abram) Oliver Colvin, Josephus Collins, Jackson Valentine, John Coll- 
ier, Pender Marsh, Charles S. Wright, Austin Roe (a brother of Daniel 
and the father of Daniel J., John B., and Rev. Austin Roe and Mrs. 
Sheldon R. Overton), Daniel Brewster and Egbert Soper (brothers), 
John Halloway, Moses Wisner, Jonathan Briggs, the Vandercocks, the 
Vanderoefs, W. J. Glen, and many others noted a little further on or 
more at length in Part II of this volume. 

In 1835 the town had one grist mill, seven saw mills, a fulling works, 
a carding mill, one foundry, an ashery, a distillery, one tannery, and 
1,715 inhabitants. In 1845 there were two taverns, two stores, five 

52 



410 LANDMARKS OF 

clergymen, three physicians, sixty-three mechanics, 830 farmers, and 
2,031 inhabitants. In 1858 there were 13,272 acres improved land ; real 
estate assessed at $527,507; personal property, $35,911 ; 1,084 male and 
L,030 female inhabitants; 395 dwellings, 419 families, and 329 freehold- 
ers; 12 school districts and 791 children; 754 horses, 1,286 oxen and 
calves, 871 cows, 3,727 sheep, and 1,241 swine; productions: 9,778 
bushels winter and 94,200 bushels spring wheat, 1,725 tons hay, 13,246 
bushels potatoes, 28,535 bushels apples, 66,330 pounds butter, 7,075 
pounds cheese, and 845 yards domestic cloths. 

In 1890 the population was 2,107, or 137 less than in 1880. In 1893 
the assessed valuation of land aggregated $716,450 (equalized $771,- 
654); village and mill property, $109,595 (equalized $103,308); rail- 
roads and telegraphs, $91,590; personal property, $51,250. Schedule 
of taxes 1898: Contingent fund, $1,407.08; town poor fund, $520; roads 
and bridges, $1,205; school tax, $931.19; county tax, $2,227.98; State 
tax, $1,227.74; State insane tax, $316.73; dog tax, $40.50. Total tax 
levy, $8,621.33; rate per cent., .00889819. The town has two election 
districts, and in 1893 polled 302 votes. 

The first regular school was taught by Sally Bishop in 1813; she used 
for a school house an old vacant log dwelling about a mile and a half 
north of Rose Valley, and was succeeded by Maria Viele, and she by 
Rev. David Smith ; following them came Abigail Bunce, Catharine 
Robinson, William H. Lyon, Gibson P. Center, John S. Roe, George 
W. Ellinwood, George Seeley, George Paddock, Jackson Valentine, 
Wallace St. John, and Isaac and John W. Robinson. The first school 
house in Rose Valley was a log building on the site of Pimm's Hotel, 
and in it Rev. David Smith taught the opening term. This primitive 
school building was superseded by a frame structure in 1824 on a site 
donated for the purpose by Thaddeus Collins. This in turn was re- 
placed in 1846 by a stone school house, which was abandoned in L861 
and the unused Presbyterian church purchased. In 1867 the present 
building was completed and opened, the total cost being $4,000. The 
district including North Rose was organized June 27, 1821. A school 
house had doubtless been erected prior to that date. In 1827-8 it was 
replaced by a new one, of frame. The present fine graded school 
building was built a few years since. School District No. 2, known as 
Stewart's, was the first one organized in town, and here Alvin Clark 
was a very early teacher. The original school house in District No. 7, 
after the stone building was erected, was converted into a dwelling and 



WAYNE COUNTY 411 

occupied by Jacob Tipple, a shoemaker, who died in 1853, and whose 
wife lived to be over 100 years old, dying July 7, 1888. The stone 
school house, built in 1840, and in which Arvine Peck was the first 
teacher, was succeeded by the present building about 187'). 

In 1826 Rose was divided into nine school districts. The town now 
has twelve school districts, each having a school house, which in 
L892-3 employed fifteen teachers and were attended by 504 scholars. 
The buildings and sites were valued at $10,090 and the districts are 
assessed at $981,340; public money received from the State, $1,868.08; 
raised by local tax, $2,427.50. 

The first burial place in the town was that in the Stewart neighbor- 
hood. In a similar plat in the north part of Rose Valley many of the 
earlier interments were made, but encroachments of the village caused 
it to be abandoned, and the bodies were removed to a new cemetery one 
mile north. The first burials in the Ellinwood burying ground were 
those of Samuel Ellis Ellinwood and wife. 

During the War of the Rebellion the town of Rose contributed a 
large number of her brave sons to fight the nation's battles. Each and 
every one did valiant service at the front, and were distinguished by 
heroism -and fidelity. To their memory the grateful citizens have 
erected a town hall, in which the John E. Sherman Post, No. 401 G. A. R. , 
has a permanent home. This post was organized September 28, 1883, 
with eighteen members. 

Some fifty-five years ago a peculiar event transpired in Rose in the 
Stewart neighborhood, the central scene being the present farm of Silas 
Lovejoy. The occurrence is best told, as follows, from a former pub- 
lication. 

A number of people in this part of the county worked themselves into the delusion 
that "money chests" of gold and precious stones lay buried beneath the surface in 
this town, to which they were guided by invisible spirits through a " medium." On 
several farms northeast of Rose Valley they assembled at night and silently dug for 
the treasure., A single word spoken before it was found was fatal ; the treasure would 
disappear and the evil spirits would rise against them. In this way the delusion was 
fed and kept ablaze by those interested, who were always sure to break the silence, 
when the deluded would run frightened away. On one occasion a kettle was pre- 
viously buried, and when struck with a spade an exclamation caused the treasure in 
it to vanish. To these ignorant men this supplied the most absolute proof, and the 
effects of this foolish delusion are still visible in many places by partially rilled exca- 
vations, where they labored with a zeal and energy worthy a better cause. 

The interpreter of the "money diggers," as they were called, pretended to see the 
" money chests," or hidden treasure, through a large, peculiar stone, which he always 



412 LANDMARKS OF 

retained with him. He held it to his eyes, and claimed the power to see through it 
into the earth. Several visionary citizens of this town, with more strangers who came 
here regularly, united in their mvstic meetings previous to all their diggings. As an 
inducement to persons predisposed to the marvelous, it was related that the son of a 
certain minister, then living in town, who was eighteen years of age and of good 
habits, saw, one evening, in his father's granary, which was lighted up by super- 
natural light, an image in the form of a "little child." Then again it appeared in 
his bed-chamber, and, when addressed by the young man, replied that it was from 
the " Court of Glory," and had come to reveal to him the hidden treasures of the 
earth, and that if he would pray for the span of seven days it would appear the next 
time in the form of a "beautiful young lady." In due time the "beautiful young 
lady " appeared and made the promised revelation, the circle was formed, one of the 
number was made captain, and the digging commenced. Night after night was 
passed in hard labor under the particular direction of this invisible spirit. Circles 
were carefully marked out around the pit to keep the d<=vil out. The money, or a 
portion of it, was to be used for charitable purposes, and to alleviate the sufferings 
of humanity. But after many fruitless attempts and much disappointment the cap- 
tain, becoming incredulous, and losing confidence in the invisible guide, through 
the interpreter, denounced the "beautiful spirit" as being the devil. Of course 
this rebellious action could not be tolerated, and must be put down. Accordingly, 
the captain was notified in writing to appear on a certain day to a trial before the 
spirits and the circle. On the back of the notice he wrote "protested," but named 
a day one week later, when the circle convened and the trial began. Innumer- 
able spirits were seen by the minister and his son, and from ten a. m. to four p. 
M. the patriarchs of old were called as witnesses, and everything was going against 
the captain. The last witness was the spirit of Samuel, the prophet. The cap- 
tain with all his power conjured Samuel to tell the truth and reveal the devil's 
work. He was just ready to give up his case when, to his astonishment, and the 
dismay of the circle, the prophet began performing under his own control. The 
preacher and his son burst into tears to see poor old Samuel hopping about the 
room on one foot, then down on the floor, playing bear witli a great load on his 
back. The captain, having absolute control of the spirit, conjured him to faith- 
fully answer such questions as he should put to him. " Can you at pleasure trans- 
form yourself into a 'devil,' 'lamb,' or 'young lady?'" Answer, "I can." "Have 
you been the only witness here to-day in the form of all the old patriarchs?" 
Answer, " I have." " Are you the devil himself ?" Answer, "I am." The captain 
was triumphant. The deluded parson, son, and all the circle were ready to give 
up that it was all the work of the devil. Yet to such an extent did the cap- 
tain believe in the power of the devil that he related, as a real occurence, that a 
friend of his, while riding, was seized and taken up by the devil, carried through 
the air seven miles, and, after a terrible struggle and fright, was released and 
dropped in a barnyard. The captain was sent for, who, with the aid of a physi- 
cian, restored him. It is stated that many a time while the others were in the 
pit digging for their "gold" and "money chests" the devil would appear to the 
sentry on the watch in the form of a bellowing bull or by heavy sounds of groan- 
in-, or shrieks, which would put the whole party t<> flight. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 413 

Rose Valley. — This village is located a little southeast from the 
center of the town at the intersection of the roads leading to Wolcott 
North Rose, and Clyde, and maintains a daily stage communication 
with these points. The post-office was established in 1827 as Valen- 
tine's with Dr. Peter Valentine as postmaster. The name was subse- 
quently changed to Albion, then to Rose Valley, and in 1834 to Rose, 
and as such it has ever since remained. June 17, 1829, Charles Thomas 
became postmaster and kept the office in his tavern; he was succeeded 
by his sons, Nathan W. and Eron N. Thomas, the latter serving from 
1832 to 1841, from 1845 to 1849, and from 1853 to 1861. Other post- 
masters have been Hiram Salisbury, Benjamin Hendricks, Charles S. 
Wright, Jackson Valentine, Daniel B. Harmon, George W. Ellinwood 
(from 1869 to 1885), Joel S. Sheffield, E. F. Houghton, and George A. 
Collier, the present incumbent. The first mail carrier was Timothy 
Smith. 

The village was first settled by Capt. John Sherman and the Collins 
family in 1811. The former located opposite the lower hotel, where 
he built in 1815 a double log house, half of which he opened as a tavern. 
This was the first public house in the town, and finally passed in turn 
to Charles W. Thomas, Nathan W. Thomas, John J. Dickson, Ira 
Mirick, and others. The present lower hotel was erected by Lorenzo 
C. Thomas. The upper tavern, long known as Pimm's Hotel, was 
built on the site of the first village school house, by Ira Mirick, the 
first proprietor, who was succeeded by Hiram Mirick. Their father, 
Solomon Mirick, died here in 1839. Ezra T. Pimm, the longest time 
landlord, was elected president of the Wayne County Veterans' Asso- 
tion in 1889. The first blacksmith was John Barrett, who built a shop 
on the site of the Vanderoef residence about 1813. The first shoe shop 
was opened by Robert Andrews. The first store in the place was 
started in 1831 by John Barber, jr., who moved to Clyde one year later. 
His successor was a former clerk, Eron N. Thomas, who continued 
business until 1859. Other merchants have been Dr. Peter Valentine, 
C. B. Collins, I. & H. Mirick, Charles S. Wright, Jackson Valentine, 
George A. Collier, George W. Ellinwood, Joel S. Sheffield, and Charles 
Wright. 

The first physician was Dr. Peter Valentine, who was also the first 
supervisor. He settled here in 1819, and among his professional fol- 
lowers have been Drs. John J. Dickson, Henry Van Ostrand, A. F. 
Sheldon, George D. Whedon, James M. Horn, Lewis Koon, Richard S. 
Valentine, and Romaine C. Barless. 



414 LANDMARKS OF 

The carriage and wagon shop of M. T. Collier was started by Collins 
& Lakey, who sold to William II. Thomas. He conducted it until 
1861, when it came into the possession of the firm of Thomas & Collier 
(M. T. Collier), by whom it was continued till the death of Mr, 
Thomas. Since then Mr. Collier has been sole proprietor. The grist 
mill of William A. Mix was burned in July, 1872, and was rebuilt as a 
saw and cider mill. 

In 1857 the Rose brass band was organized with twelve pieces, the 
successive leaders being Z. Deuler, E. B. Wells, and D. B. Harmon. 
It then went into the army and remained in the service as a band until 
the war closed, when it disbanded. In 1 8 ( i 8 it was reorganized and 
continued many years. It finally went down, and the present Rose 
Cadet Band was formed. 

Rose Valley now contains four general stores, a hardware store, one 
newspaper and two printing offices, three blacksmith shops, a carriage 
and wagon shop, a saw and cider mill, two hotels, a meat market, four 
churches, a public school, a town hall,- three physicians, and about 500 
inhabitants. 

North Rose is a station and post-village on the.R. W. & O. Railroad 
in the north part of the town. It owes its growth and present propor- 
tions mainly to the railway, which gave it a new impetus and awakened 
numerous business interests. It was originally known as Lamb's Cor- 
ners from the family of that name who settled the site at an early day. 
The post-office was established about 1860 with David Lyman as post- 
master; the present incumbent is Thomas B. Welch. Soon after the 
completion of the railroad John York erected a large malt and store 
house, which was burned with two stores, in May, 1891, entailing a 
loss of over $00,000. It has never been rebuilt. While drilling an ar- 
tesian well on the premises a pocket of natural gas was struck. In Oc- 
tober, 1880, a cooper shop, house, barn, and other property were de- 
stroyed by fire, causing a loss of $8,000. The village now consists of 
three general stores, one hardware and one drug store, an hotel, a lum- 
ber and coal yard, etc., a fine graded school, one church, and about 250 
inhabitants. 

Wayne Center, so named from its close proximity to the geograph- 
ical center of Wayne county, is a postal hamlet in the extreme west 
part of Rose; the post-office was established in L863 with Joel II. Put 
nam as postmaster. The present incumbent is J. W. Trimble. It lies 
on the same meridian as Washington, D. C. The place contains a store, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 415 

barrel factor)' and saw mill, a blacksmith shop, and a small cluster of 
houses. 

Gti'.N.MARK, or (ilenmark Falls, is a hamlet and mill site on Thomas 
Creek about two miles west of North Rose. It is named from the beau- 
tiful scenery, and in days gone by was an important milling point, the 
stream affording excellent water power. It contains some abandoned 
mills, a shop or two, and the store of Albert Ellis. 

Churches. — The Baptist Church of Rose was organized at Rose, 
Valley as the Second Baptist Church of Wolcott on January 3, 1820, 
with these members: Hosea Gillett, John Skidmore, Peter Lamb, Joel 
and Chauncey Bishop, Phebe Bishop, Clara Burns, Hannah Miner, 
Sally Skidmore, Rachel and Martha Bishop, Lydia Fuller, Simantha 
Leland, Hannah Gillett, and Nancy Ticknor. The first meetings were 
held at the house of Joel Bishop, where was also convened the council 
on May 3, to extend the hand of recognition. Chauncey Bishop was 
the first clerk and served until July, 1855, when George Seeley was 
elected and held until September, 1881 being succeeded by Lucien H. 
Osgood. In 1834 the church joined the Wayne Baptist Association, of 
which it has ever since been a member. The first pastor was Rev. Da- 
vid Smith, who was installed January 8, 1821 ; the present pastor is 
Rev. Maxwell H. Cusick since 1891. Their first church edifice was 
built in 1836, the building committee being Chauncey Bishop, Ira Mi- 
rick and Dr. Peter Valentine. The site was purchased in Rose Valley 
of Hiram Mirick. The building was remodeled in 18G1 and again in 
1885-86, the expense of the last renovation being $4,400. The society 
has about 125 members and owns a frame parsonage. The church was 
incorporated March 17, 1834, with the following trustees: David 
Holmes, Chauncey Bishop, Ira Mirick, Dr. Peter Valentine and Joseph 
Seeley. 

The First Methodist Episcopal Church of Rose Valley was organized 
September 21, 1827. Circuit preaching and class meetings had been 
held for many years. The first permanent Methodist preacher in the 
town was doubtless Alfred Lee, who came at an early date from Ver- 
mont. Caleb Mills held religious services in a log school house in the 
Valley as early as 1819. The first class was formed in 1824 with Mr. 
Lee as leader, and the first members were Charles and Polly Thomas^ 
William Watkins, Zemira Slaughter, and Abigail Bunce. The society 
was legally organized August 27, 1832, with these trustees: Abel Lyon, 
Jacob Miller, Samuel E. and Chester Ellinwood, George W. Mirick, 



416 LANDMARKS OF 

Robert Andrews. Thaddeus Collins, Isaac Lamb, and Moses F. Collins. 
Eron N. Thomas was clerk, and the certificate of incorporation was filed 
September 13, L833. February 26, L836, the church was reorganized 
with three trustees instead of nine, viz. : Ellis Ellinwood, Joel X. Lee, 
and George W. Mirick. Thaddeus and Chauncey Collins donated the 
site and a cobblestone church was erected in 1835-6 on the site of Mrs. 
Augusta Allen's house. It cost $1,200, had a high box pulpit and gal- 
leries on three sides, and was burned April 18, 1850. In 1860-61 the 
present edifice was erected at a cost of nearly $7,000; it was dedicated 
March ;;, L864. It was repaired at a cost of $1,000 and reopened Au- 
gust 27, L889. The present pastor is Rev. W. H. Rogers. The society 
owns a parsonage and has about 100 members. 

The First Presbyterian church of Rose Valley was organized at the 
Closs school house February 17, 1825, by Revs. Francis Pomeroy and 
Benjamin Stockton, with these members: John and Eunace Wade, 
Aaron and Polly Shepard, Simeon and Lydia Van Auken, Rufus 
Wells, and Moses Hickok. Aaron Shepard was chosen deacon and 
John Wade and Moses Hickok elders. In 1833 their first house of 
worship was erected and dedicated at the Valley on a site purchased of 
Hiram Mirick a little east of the Baptist church ; about 1862 it was sold 
to the village for a school house, finally became a mill, and was burned 
many years since. Another site was bought of William Vanderoef 
and upon it was built the present handsome brick structure at a cost of 
about $8,000. It was dedicated in 1865. January 5, 1846, the society 
adopted the Congregational form of government, but on April 18, 1851, 
it w r as received back into the Presbytery. The first clerk was James 
Van Auken, then Smithfield Beaden, and Elizur Flint from November, 
L 834, to October, 1882. The society owns a parsonage and has about 
sixty-five members. The present pastor is Rev. N. B. Knapp. 

The Free Methodist church of Rose Valley was organized as earl)- as 
L861, when the charge was supplied by Revs. Mr. Burton and J. W. 
Stacey. In 1862 Rev. William Cooley became pastor," and during his 
stay their house of worship was erected on the site formerly occupied 
by the house of Nathan W. Thomas. It is a frame edifice and was 
dedicated Januarys, isi;:>. The society owns a frame parsonage and 
has about fifty members. The pastor is Rev. D. C. Stanton, who also 
lias charge of the Free Methodist church in Clyde. 

The Methodist Episcopal church of North Rose was organized a few 
years since as a mission of the M. E. church of Rose Valley. A neat 



WAYNE COUNTY. 417 

frame edifice was built in 1884 at a cost of about $2,400. The pastor 
is Rev. W. H. Rogers. 

A band of worshipers who called themselves " The Neversweats " 
sprang into existence in the Jeffers settlement a number of years ago. 
" They met in the Spink school house and talked in unknown tongues." 
They made several conversions and evoked considerable interest, but 
discarded all organization, creed, or ceremony. Without these they 
soon dropped away as quietly as they had come into notice. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF HURON. 

Huron was organized as Port Bay from the northwest corner of the 
old town of Wolcott on the 25th of February, 1826. The name first 
chosen remained until March 17, 1834, when the present designation 
was formally adopted. It contains 21,826 acres, and is bounded on the 
north by Lake Ontario, on the east by Wolcott and Butler, on the south 
by Rose, and on the west by Sodus. 

The town was originally included within the Williamson's patent of 
the Pultney estate, which has been detailed in the chapter devoted to 
Wolcott. It lies east of the center of the northern limits of Wayne county, 
directly north from Clyde, and has more than fifteen miles of lake and 
bay coast. Dense forests covered its primitive surface, and long fur- 
nished lucrative employment to the numerous saw mills that dotted the 
several streams. The largest watercourse is Dusenbury or Mudge 
Creek, which flows from Rose through the west part of Huron and the 
village of North Huron into East Bay. This bay also receives the 
waters of another brook a little west. Other streams are Third and 
Thomas Creeks, which empty into the head of Sodus Bay, and a branch 
of Wolcott Creek, flowing into Port Bay. 

The surface is undulating and inclines toward the lake. In the west, 
northeast, and southeast parts of the town are large tracts of lowlands 
originally of a marshy formation, but by systematic drainage these have 
largely been brought under cultivation. The soil is mainly a sandy 
and gravelly loam and unusually fertile; in many places it is admixed 

53 



418 LANDMARKS OF 

with considerable clay. East and west through the southern portion 
of Huron is the famous ridge, which geologists claim formed the shore 

of Lake Ontario in past ages, and along its summit runs the Wolcott 
and Port Glasgow road. 

The coast formation of the town of Huron is worthy of special men- 
tion, for its equal does not exist in Wayne county. Bold and precipi- 
tous, and interesting alike to the student and tourist, it is in place 
extremely picturesque and contributes not a little to the popularity of 
the Sodus region as a summer resort. The highest elevation is Chim- 
ney Bluff, 175 feet above the lake. Bay Bluff is 125 feet high, and 
several other promontories have nearly an equal eminence. In the 
northwest corner of the town lies the larger portion of Sodus Bay, 
which forms one of the finest harbors along the American shores of 
Lake Ontario, and which is described in the Sodus chapter. This 
great indentation extends to within one mile of the southern boundary of 
Huron, and near its head is Le Roy's or Long Island, which contains a 
summer hotel and four or five cottages. Newark or Little Island, an- 
other summer resort, is so named from its proportionate size, and is 
owned mainly by citizens of Newark village. Eagle or Big Island re- 
mains chiefly in its primitive condition. Charles Point is a series of 
islands and bars extending from the mainland at the lake toward Sodus 
Point village, its elevations being named Bute, Isley, and Arran. It 
was formerly called Farr's Island, and contains a number of handsome 
summer homes. 

The first thoroughfare in Huron was the "old Galen road " from the 
salt works in Savannah to Glasgow 7 , or " Floating Bridge," as it was then 
sometimes called. It was opened by the Salt Company prior to 1808. 
The first highway regularly surveyed was that from Sloop Landing 
(Port Glasgow) to Wolcott village. The surveyor was Osgood Church, 
who laid out many of the early roads and was resident sub-agent of 
Williamson's patent. He established this road June 8, 1810, at which 
time Jacob Shook and Peres Bafdwell were commissioners of highways. 
June 29 of that year Mr. Church surveyed the road from Port Bay to 
Clyde. 

Prior to the construction of the Erie Canal the Huron side of Sodus 
Bay promised a brilliant future, but the great waterway drew the prin- 
cipal commerce southward and killed whatever prospects the promoters 
of this region may have entertained. The site of Port Glasgow 7 was 
intended for- a port under the name of Sloop Landing. Here Obadiah 



WAYNE COUNTY. 419 

Adams, of Wolcott, had a large warehouse and a sailing vessel to trans- 
port his produce to Canada. He bought quite a tract of land, laid it 
(Hit into village lots, and erected several very good buildings. Jar\-is 
Mudge also built a commodious hotel. April !), 1819, the Sodus Bay 
Bridge Company was incorporated to construct a bridge "over Great 
Sodus Bay at or near the route of the Niagara ridge or State roads in 
the town of Wolcott." Considerable shipping was carried on, as the 
place formed the outlet for a large extent of adjacent territory. The 
opening of the Erie Canal was its death-blow, but long afterward im- 
mense quantities of lumber were sent thither to distant markets. 

April 18, 1837, an act was passed authorizing William Edwards and 
Harlow Hyde to establish and maintain a ferry over the bay at this 
point for ten years at the following prices : fifty cents per coach, thirty- 
one cents for two horses and wagon, eighteen cents for one horse and 
wagon, twelve and one- half cents for man and horse, six cents each for 
footmen, and ten cents per head for neat cattle. 

About 1822 Joseph Fellows and Andrew McNab, agents for the 
Pultney estate, made an effort to build up the business at Sloop Land- 
ing, but without avail. They gave it the name of Port Glasgow in 
honor of the city of Glasgow in Scotland, and building a warehouse, 
schooners, etc. , they took measures to establish a permanent commerce. 
In 1827 a preliminary survey for a canal from Clyde to Sodus Bay was 
made, and the event momentarily aroused declining interests. In 1841 
the project was revived with Gen. William H. Adams as the chief pro- 
moter, but clashing influence prevented its consummation. In 1850 the 
Pennsylvania and Sodus Bay Railroad was chartered with Port Glasgow 
as the northern terminus. Surveys were made and enthusiasm contin- 
ued with more or less ardor until 1870, when the landable plan was per- 
manently abandoned. And now the town is practically devoid of either 
ports or railway, although the R. W. & O. Railroad cuts off its southeast 
corner. The nearest stations are Wolcott, North Rose, and Alton, all 
of which have furnished excellent shipping facilities since the comple- 
tion of the line in 1873. 

The town is principally an agricultural section and produces annually 
large crops of fruit, grain, peppermint, etc. The primitive wilderness 
has passed away, like nearly all of the earlier settlers, whose labors, 
however, are still extant in the form of broad cultivated fields, attract- 
ive homes, substantial schools and churches, and thriving hamlets, em- 
bodying all the arts and elements of our best civilization. Their de- 



400 LANDMARKS OF 

seen dan t sand successors worthily maintain the wide prestige and sterling 
characteristics so ably implanted amid the privations and hardships of 
pioneer life. 

The first town meeting convened at the tavern of Josiah Upson near 
South Huron on April 4, 1826. Norman Sheldon presided and the fol- 
lowing officers were elected : Supervisor, N-orman Sheldon ; town clerk; 
Elisha Benjamin; assessors, Wareham Sheldon, Spencer Chapin, Jed- 
ediah Wilder; collector, Ira Smith; overseers of the poor, Simeon Bis- 
sell and Josiah Upson; commissioners of highways, Alanson Jones, 
John C. Frazier, Simeon Bissell; constables, Ira Smith and Benjamin 
Parker; commissioners of common schools, Arad Talcott, Spencer 
Chapin, Wareham Sheldon; inspectors of common schools, Ebenezer 
Jones, Elisha Benjamin, Lemuel Colbath ; poundmaster, Stephen Carey. 
The supervisors of the town have been : 

Norman Sheldon, 1826-30, Samuel Gardiner, 1868, 

Elisha Benjamin, 1831-32, Oscar Weed, 1869, 

Jedediah Wilder, 1833, Samuel Gardiner, 1870, 

Harlow Hyde, 1834-35, Oscar Weed, 1871-72, 

Philip Sours, 1836-40, Reuben Sours, 1873-74, 

Harlow Hyde, 1841-42, I hvight B. Flint, 1875-76, 

Ebenezer Jones, 1843-44, William W. Gatchell, 1877, 

Jedediah Wilder, 1S45-47, Alanson Church, 1878 

Edward W. Bottum, 184s, William W. Gatchell, 1879, 

James T. Wisner, 1849, Elisha Cady, 1880, 

John F. Curtis. 1850, Robert A. Catchpole, 1881-82, 

Ralph Sheldon, 1851, Roswell E. Reed, iss:!, 

Reuben Sours, 18 .2-53, Oscar Weed, 1884-85, 

James T. Wisner, 1854, Samuel Cosad, 1886-88, 

Elisha Cady, 1855, William W. Gatchell, 1889, 

Roswell E. Reed, 1856, Samuel Cosad, 1890-93, 

John F. Curtis, 1857, H. Demmon Sheldon. 1894. 

Reuben Sours, 1858, Samuel Cosad was chairman of the board 

Elisha Cady, 1859-60, in 1892 and 1893. 

Rufns B. Sours, 1S61-67, 

The town officers for L894 are: H. Demmon Sheldon, supervisor; E. 
B. Kellogg, town clerk ; Anson S. Wood, George C. Mitchell, Charles 
B. Kellicutt, and (after January 1, 1895) James W. Sceber, justices of 
the peace; Darwin Dermond, collector; William (Juereau, highway 
commissioner; A. F. Davenport and Walter W. Darling, overseers of 
the poor; Frank B. Green, John Carroll, George E. Thomas, Clarence 
F. Davenport, constables; John Proctor, Adonijah Church, Harvey 
Brundige, excise commissioners; Abram Davis, game constable. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 121 

The first settler in this town was Capt. William Helms, who came 
from Fauquier county, Va., and located on the present site of Port 
Glasgow in 1706. He brought with him about seventy slaves, but soon 
afterward left them and his farm to the management of his brother, 
Thomas, and removed to Bath, N. Y. Thomas Helms was highly 
educated, possessed superior abilities, and had been a congressman 
from Virginia, but becoming dissipated he had lost nearly all of his 
inheritance. Infatuated with a poor, uncultured young woman named 
Lydia Mohaz he lived with her as his wife, and after having two chil- 
dren they ran away from Virginia and came to his brother's home in 
this town. This family and their slaves were the sole inhabitants of 
Huron until about 1807, by which time two more children had been 
born to them. Their daughter, Celia, born in 1803, was the first white 
child born in the town. Other settlers came in, and so emphatically 
did they express their dissatisfaction at the mode of life as it existed on 
the Helms homestead that Helms and his woman went through the 
forms of marriage. He was a brutal fellow, and his slaves were most 
cruelly treated, but the institution existed until his death. He cleared 
nearly 100 acres with them and without the aid of teams, rolling the 
timber together and burning it. The negroes lived on the place and 
had their own cabins, and obtaining their freedom they scattered to 
more congenial climes. 

In November, 1807, Ezra Knapp purchased a farm three-quarters of 
a mile east of the Helms homestead, upon which he settled with his 
family of six children. He came from New Marlboro, Mass., with 
three horses and two wagons. With him came the families of Jarvis 
Mudge, Nathaniel Hale, John Hyde, and Adonijah Church, the latter 
of whom located in Wolcott Mr. Mudge settled on the creek that 
took his name and built there one of the first saw mills in town. 
Abraham Knapp, a married son of Ezra, moved from Pompey, N.Y., 
the same year and located on a farm adjoining his father. In April, 
1808, Mr. Hale's wife died and was buried on his farm ; this was the 
first white death in Huron, and soon afterward he removed to Wolcott. 
Prior to this several negroes belonging to Helms had died, and in later 
years some of their skulls and bones were found while excavating. 

Early in 1808 and 1809 other settlers arrived, among them Josiah 
Upson from Connecticut, Mr. Chapin, a Mr. Knox, and the Sheldons. 
Roger Sheldon and Elizabeth Marsh, his wife, came from Hartford, 
Conn., in 1809, and settled about two miles east of Port Glasgow. 



422 LANDMARKS OF 

Their family consisted of six sons: Norman, Wareham, George, Grove, 
Ralsamon, and Ralph, and four daughters. George owned and cleared 
what is now the Jacob Yiele farm. Grove died at sixteen and 
Ralsamon lived to be nearly 100, dying in Genoa, N.Y. Ralph cleared 
the Allen Robinson farm and died in Wolcott in 1871. On their way 
from Hartford the family stopped over night with Judge Johnson 
in 1 Mitchess county, and Mrs. Johnson gave the children some Virginia 
pears, the seeds of which were saved and planted near their wilderness 
home. From them came the famous Sheldon pear, and the original 
tree is still standing on the homestead. Norman Sheldon was the first 
supervisor and died in Huron, aged ninety-eight. 

The first white man to die in the town was Mr. Chapin. About J son 
Elihn Spencer located at North Huron. Osgood Church, as previously 
stated, was the sub-agent for Williamson's patent, which included the 
whole of Huron, and in his old book of records 117 contracts are 
recorded, from June 16, 1808, to October 15, 1813, after which the 
business was transacted with the land office at Geneva. The contracts 
falling within our limits are as follows: 

Obadiah Adams, lot 19, 106 acres, at $3.50 per acre, July 1, 1809; Levi Wheeler, lot 
45,11:', 1-2 acres, August 13, 1809; Roger Sheldon, lot 22, 10G acres, September l.\ 
L809; Wareham Sheldon, lots 24 and 25, 142 1-2 acres, September 26, 1809; James 
Alexander, lot 411, 70 acres, October 14, 1809; EHab Abbott, lot 43, 81 acres, at 
$3.50, July 26, 1810; Zenas Wheeler, lot 44, 100 acres, June 1, 1811; Ira Smith, 
lot 12, 59 3-4 acres, September 1, 1811 ; Elihu Spencer, lot 71, 15(5 1-2 acres, August 
«.), 1811; John Laraway, lot 343, 70 acres, November 22, 1811; Nathan Parker, lot 
9S, 114 3-4 acres, December 2, 1811; Sheldon and O. Seymonr, lot 70, 100 acres, 
December 2, 1811; Nathaniel Graves, lot 88, 188 acres, August 17, 1811; Stephen 
Betts, lot 360, 100 acres, April 14, 1811; Lorin Doolittle, lot 40, 65 1-2 acres, June 
12. L812; Jarvis Mudge, lot 74, 55 acres, December 30, 1812; William Tindall 
(colored), lot 291, 1 66 acres, May 30, L813; Ezra Knapp, lot 75, about 30 acres, 
April 27, 1813; C. Avery and C. Andrews, lots 95 and 97, 207 acres, June 26, 1813; 
Simeon Van Auken, lot 126, 35 acres, July 1, 1813; Robert Mason, lots 136 and 
106, 215 aires, July 6, 1813; Christopher Martin, lot 114, 128 acres, July 9, 1813. 

The last named lot was the Helms property at Port Glasgow. Mar- 
tin became a noted hunter and trapper. Prior to 1812 Erastus Wilder, 
Daniel S. Butrick, Noah Lyman, Tmther Wheeler, John Wade, Noah 
Seymour, Robert M. Palmer, Jason Mudge, and others became settlers, 
but the war of that period almost cheeked immigration. On one occa- 
sion, when a report gained credence that 1,500 hostile Indians were 

1 This is known as Negro Point Lot at Port Bay, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 123 

advancing on the settlements with warlike intentions the people all 
fled to the interior; Joseph Watson, of Clyde, and others drove with a 
wagon down to the bay to bring away the only remaining family — a 
widow and her children. 

Among subsequent comers were Richard Redfield (the first shoe- 
maker), John Holloway (an early blacksmith), Ebenezer Jones, Elisha 
Benjamin, Jedediah Wilder, Simeon Carey, Spencer Chapin, D. Barker, 
Ira Smith, Lemuel Colbath, Messrs. Ellis and Westcott, Daivd Vought, 
Levi Wheeler, James Alexander (for several ye*ars highway commis- 
sioner), and Rufus D. Sours (who died in February, 1875). Horace 
Demmon was born in Vermont in 1803, came with his parents to this 
town in May, 1817, and died April 2, 1891. His father commenced 
making brick for the "-City of Sloop Landing." Dr. Zenas Hyde, a 
son-in-law of the Ezra Knapp previously mentioned, was the town's 
first settled physician, but he soon removed to Wolcott. A child of his 
was the second white person born in Huron. John H. Newberry came 
here in 1827, bought a farm near East Bay, and died October 28, 1878. 
Daniel Lamb, from Hartford, Conn. , settled on what is now the David 
Lake farm at South Huron prior to 1820, and died here, leaving two 
sons, William and Lewis. A son of the former is postmaster at Lum- 
misville. Daniel Whipple located where Aaron Sours now lives in 1836. 

Prominent among other settlers may be mentioned Charles E. Reed, 
son of R. E., elected sheriff of Wayne county, and died in office No- 
vember 17, 1890; Daniel Chase, blind many years, died at North Hu- 
ron in November, 1872, aged nearly 100; Simon V. W. Stout, born in 
Lyons in 1807, sheriff in 1840, died at Port Glasgow; Benjamin Parker, 
who died in 1874; James M. Cosad, who built the first barn with stone 
basement in town; Major Farr, who purchased and settled on one of 
the islands of Charles Point and gave it his name; Benjamin Catchpole, 
living on the Dr. William N. Lummis estate; and many others noticed 
further on and in Part II. of this work. 

In 1814 the first plat was laid out and set apart for burial purposes 
near South Huron, and Catherine Alexander, who died in 1815, was 
the first person regularly buried therein. Prior to this, however, sev- 
eral bodies had been removed to it from various localities. The first 
marriage in town was that of Dr. Gardner Wells to Paulina M. Fuller 
in 1813 ; the ceremony being performed at the house of Ezra Knapp. 
Dr. Wells lived in Junius, Seneca county, and was a surgeon in the 
War of 1812; he obtained leave of absence to consummate his mar- 



I -'I LANDMARKS OF 

riage, after which he rejoined his regiment. Jason Mudge opened the 
first store a mile and a half northeast from South Huron in 1812. Giles 
Fiteh drove the first stages through the town from Woleott to Roch- 
ester about 1820. 

In 1858 the town had 12,221 acres improved land, real estate assessed 
at $575,999, personal property valued at $31,444; 985 male and 896 
female inhabitants, 386 dwellings, 384 families, 315 freeholders, 712 
horses, 1,091 oxen and calves, 675 cows, 3,716 sheep, and 1,438 swine. 
There were produced then 10,357 bushels winter and 113,035 bushels 
spring wheat, 1,010 tons hay, 15,895 bushels potatoes, 20,361 bushels 
apples, 59,850 pounds butter, 4,844 pounds cheese, and 1,310 yards do- 
mestic cloths. 

In 1890 the population numbered 1,793, or 243 less than in 1880. In 
L893 the assessed value of land aggregated $768,477 (equalized $716,- 
170); village and mill property, $35,560; railroads and telegraphs, $18,- 
539; personal property. $8,000. Schedule of taxes 1893: Contingent 
fund, $1,187; town poor, $250; roads and bridges, $500; school tax, 
$712.03; county tax, $1,703.61; State tax, $938.78; State insane tax, 
$242.19; dog tax, $97.50. Total tax levy, $5,827.86; rate per cent., 
.00701664. The town has two election districts and in 1893 polled 331 
votes. 

The first school was taught by Paulina M. Fuller (afterward Mrs. 
Gardner Wells), a stepdaughter of Ezra Knapp, in 1809. Her school 
house was an old log cabin on the Helms farm formerly occupied by a 
family of negro slaves. The first regular school building was erected 
near the Huron post office in 1813, and the first teacher therein was 
Gardiner Mudge. Minerva Flint, who married Ralph Sheldon, was a 
very early teacher in the town; she died in 1871. Huron now has 
eleven school districts with a school house in each, which were taught 
in 1892-93 by as many teachers and attended by 305 scholars; value of 
school buildings and sites, $5,245 ; public money received from the State, 
$1,296.38; raised by local tax, $1,333.81; assessed valuation of the dis- 
tricts, $817,240. 

During the War of the Rebellion the town of Huron contributed a 
large number of its brave citizens to fill the Union ranks. The part it 
took in that terrible struggle is detailed in a previous chapter. 

North Huron is a small post village near the head of East Bay in the 
northern part of the town. Elihu Spencer erected here, in 1809, the 
first grist mill and saw mill in Huron; the former was a brick structure. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 425 

J. L. Barber built another mill in 1825 which finally passed to Thomas 
Graham. Other mills have been put up on the same stream (Mudge 
Creek). The place now contains a store, blacksmith shop, two churches 
and 75 inhabitants. James Chase succeeded Charles R. Weed as post- 
master and died in office July 14, 1894. 

South Huron (Huron post-office) is a scattered settlement near the 
center of the town. Josiah Upson settled here at an early date and in 
1811 established a tanning business, which he continued till 1818, when 
he built and kept the first regular tavern in Huron. In 1849 a town 
hall was erected just south of the Presbyterian church, and a few years 
since a Grange hall was erected on the opposite side of the road. Besides 
these the place contains a grocery and a blacksmith shop. The post- 
mistress is Mrs. S. E. Andrus. 

Lummisville, about one mile northwest of South Huron, is another 
small postal settlement containing a store, repair shop, etc. The post- 
master is Wilson Lamb, who succeeded Lafayette Legg in the fall of 
1881. The office was named from Dr. William N. Lummis, the first 
postmaster, who kept it where David Green now lives. 

Port Glasgow (Resort post-office) has been noticed in previous pages 
of this chapter. It is chiefly noted as a summer resort and contains 
two hotels. The post office was established June 1, 1894, with S. G. 
Stacey as postmaster. Near here Dr. Zenas Hyde is said to have opened 
in an old log building, about 1810, the first tavern in town. Norman 
Sheldon about the same time opened another. The place lies at the 
head of sloop navigation on Sodus Bay and until recent years was a 
point of some shipping importance. 

Bonnicastle is a small but attractive summer resort on Sodus Bay a 
little more than a mile north from Port Glasgow. It contains a few 
cottages and accommodations for tourists. 

Lake Bluff is a summer resort on the lake shore, west of East Bay 
and contains two hotels, a store, and a few cottages. The post-office 
here is continued three months in the year with E. B. Fuller as post- 
master. 

Rice's Settlement on Mudge Creek in the southeast part of the town, 
is so named from Decatur Rice, who finally came into the possession of 
the mill built by Jarvis Mudge in 1811. 

The Presbyterian Church of Huron was organized as the First Pres- 
byterian Church of Wolcott by Revs. Charles Mosher and Henry Axtell 
on July 18, 1813, with these members: Erastus Wilder, Robert M. 

54 



126 LANDMARKS OF 

Palmer, Luther Wheeler, Jonathan Melvin, sr., Martha Fox, Lucy 
Wheeler, Damarius Wilson, Ezra Knapp, Elisha Jones, John Wade, 
Noah Seymour, Roswell Fox, Elisha Plank, Marian Seymour, Johanna 
Bunce, Elizabeth Olmstead, Margaret Upson, Elizabeth Sheldon, Ruth 
Plank, Josiah Upson, Amy Hancock, Noah Lyman, and Eunice Wade. 
The first officers were Ezra Knapp, Noah Lyman, Erastus Wilder, and 
Josiah Upson, elders; and Erastus Wilder and Ezra Knapp, deacons. 
The first pastor was Rev. A. M. Butrick. (The first minister of this 
denomination in Huron was Rev. Francis Pomeroy, who preached the 
pioneer sermon in the town at the house of Ezra Knapp in April, 1811. 
Two other ministers prior to 1813 were Revs. Royal Phelps and Daniel 
S. Butrick). In 1826 the name of this church was made to conform 
with that of the town by formally adopting the title of the Presbyterian 
Church of Port Bay, and in 183G it was again changed, this time as at 
present, to the Presbyterian Church of Huron. The first and only 
house of worship was built of wood at South Huron in 1836 and attained 
its present dimensions by a subsequent addition of twelve feet. The 
society has about 100 members with Rev. R. A. Ward as pastor. 

The Methodist Episcopal Church of North Huron was organized as a 
class at the school house by Benson Smith in 1817 with seven members. 
Mr. Smith was an exhorter and the first class leader. The first preacher 
was Rev. Enos Barnes, and services continued at private dwellings and 
the Dutch street school house until the present edifice, a frame struc- 
ture was built at North Huron about 1844, at which time the society 
was legally organized. It cost $1,200 and was dedicated by Rev. Hiram 
Mattison. It was repaired in 1865 at an expense of $1,500. The first 
minister in charge of the new church was Rev. Almon Cawkins, and 
the first officers were: Trustees, Simeon Slaght, J. Seeber, Stephen 
Seaman, R. L. Ostrander, Stephen Playford; stewards, Horace Dem- 
mon, Simeon Slaght, William G. Brene, John McCarthy, Stephen 
Playford; class -leaders, Horace Demmon, John Hyde, John McCarthy. 
The Sunday school was first organized in 1832 with Horace Demmon 
as superintendent. The society has about fifty members under the 
pastoral care of Rev. P. Martin. 

The Methodist Protestant Church of North Huron was organized 
about 1840, and the same year their present edifice was erected and 
dedicated. The society has twenty-five members with Rev. R. K. 
Andrews as pastor. They also maintain a flourishing Sunday school 



WAYNE COUNTY 457 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF BUTLER. 

Butler originally conprised tho southeast part of the old town of 
Wolcott (which see), and was organized into its present limits on the 
'20th of February, 1826. It is nearly six miles square, and has as area 
of 21,918 acres. It forms the central township of the eastern part of 
Wayne county, and is bounded on the north by Wolcott, on the east by 
Cayuga county, on the south by Savannah and Galen, and on the west 
by Rose and Huron. Its principal stream is Wolcott Creek, which 
rises in the northeast part of the town, flows southwest through Butler 
Center, thence westerly, northwesterly and northerly through Wolcott 
village, and empties into Port Bay. Butler Creek is a small stream 
that rises east of Butler Center and flows southwest through South 
Butler and south into Crusoe Lake in Savannah. Both of these streams 
formerly furnished good mill sites. 

The. surface is broken into ridges and valleys running generally north 
and south The soil is generally loam admixed with more or less clay; 
on the lowlands considerable muck exists. It is very fertile and nearly 
all adapted to cultivation. The principal industry is agriculture. 
Grain, hay, potatoes, vegetables, fruit, etc., are grown in abundance. 
During the past decade or two the production of tobacco has been given 
especial attention, and has placed the town prominently among the 
great tobacco growing sections of the State. Apples, pears, plums, and 
small fruit are raised in considerable quantities. Originally the land 
was covered with heavy timber, which long gave employment to sev- 
eral saw mills, and which even yet supplies two or three with sizable 
logs. Along Wolcott Creek, and in the northeast part of Butler, a 
good quality of limestone exists and has been extensively burned into 
lime for building purposes. 

Devoid of railroad or canal the town has always maintained com- 
munication with adjacent villages by stage and horses. The first 
thoroughfare was the old Galen road opened about 1804 from the salt 
works in Savannah to Sodus Bay. It entered this town at South Butler, 



428 LANDMARKS OF 

ran westwardly to Wheeler's Corners, and passed thence north and 
northwest through West Butler to Port Glasgow (then Sloop Landing). 
At South Butler it was intersected by the Musketo Point road from the 
east. From West Butler an early road ran north to Wolcott village. The 
first regular highway, leading south from Wolcott and now called New 
Hartford street, was surveyed and established by Osgood Church on 
November 2, 1810; Jacob Shook and Peres Bardwell were road com- 
missioners. Nearly all the roads in Butler were surveyed after the 
organization of the town. About 1825 a canal was projected from 
Seneca River to Sodus Bay. A company capitalized at $200,000 was 
formed and March 29, 1829, a charter was obtained. A survey was 
made running through Butler, but finally changed to a point a little 
west of Clyde. 

The first town meeting was held at the house of Jacob S. Viele on 
Tuesday, April 4, 1826, at which Ebenezer Fitch was moderator, and 
Thomas Armstrong "clerk for the day." The first officers chosen 
were: Thomas Armstrong, supervisor; Ebenezer Fitch, town clerk; 
Jesse Viele, Israel J. Clapp, and Orestus Hubbard, assessors; Ezekiel 
Scott and Nathan Cook, overseers of the poor; Prentice Palmer, col- 
lector; Morris Craw, Asaph Spencer, and Welcome Cole, highway 
commissioners; Thomas Armstrong, Joseph A. Olmsted, and John R, 
Taintor, commissioners of common schools ; Prentice Palmer and 
William Wood, constables; Benjamin Tucker, Austin Roe, and Joseph 
Watson, school inspectors; Simeon Merrill, Ezekiel Scott, Joseph A. 
Olmsted, Welcome Cole, Paul H. Davis, Thomas Newell, and Eleazer 
Smith, fence viewers; and twenty-nine pathmasters. The second 
town meeting was held on April 3, 1827, also at the house of 
Mr. Viele, and the third to the ninth at the house of Lucius 
Hibbard. November 28, 1827, the following justices of the peace 
were elected: Israel J. Clapp, four years; Ebenezer Fitch, three 
years; Thomas Hall, two years; and Jesse Viele, one year. In 1827 it 
was voted that pathmasters be fence viewers. The expenses of the 
town during the first year were $139.41, and at the annual meeting in 
L827 there was an indebtedness of $5.10. In 1827 the expenses 
amounted to $113.23. Austin Roe was town clerk many years. 
The supervisors of Butler have been as follows: 

Thomas Armstrong, 1S26-33, Thomas Armstrong, 1838, 

UriahG. Beach, 1834-36, Austin Roe, 1839, 

Austin Roe, 1837, John Dratt, 1840-41, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 429 

Nathaniel W. Tompkins, 1842-43, Gibson Center, 1863, 

Thomas Armstrong, 1844-45, Benham S. Wood, 1864, 

John Dratt, 1846, Henry K. Graves, 1865, 

Horatio N. Wood, 1847, Anson S. Wood, 1866, 

Franklin Knapp, 1848, Andrew Spencer, 1867-69, 

John Dratt, 1849, Joel Laberteaux, 1870-73, 

Thomas Armstrong, 1850-51, John E. Hough, 1874-78, 

Henry K. Graves, 1852-53, William Wood, 1879-80, 

John Dratt, 1854, Eugene M. Walker, 1881-82, 

Charles Mead, 1855, Joseph H. L. Roe, 1883-86, 

Henry K. Graves, 1856, Isaac Lockwood, 1887, 

Horatio N. Wood, 1857, Lyman H. Dratt, 1888-89, 

C. D. Hadden, 1858, Gorham J. Wilson, 1890-93, 

Abram Gibbs, 1859, Cyrus E. Fitch, 1894. 
John E. Hough, 1860-62, 

The town officers for 1894 are: Cyras E. Fitch, supervisor; D. P. 
Mitchell, town clerk; Frank W. Fry, J. A. Craw, Noah Wood, A. B. 
Newton, and D. Wallace Holdridge (after January 1, 1895), justices of 
the peace; William P. Stiles, George E. Vincent, and Aaron Treat, 
assessors; William R. Burghduff, collector; Lucius Douglass, highway 
commissioner; A. M. Armstrong, overseer of the poor. 

Settlement was commenced within the present limits of Butler as 
early as 1803. Capt. Peter Mills, who located in the town about that 
year, is regarded as the first actual settler. He was a Revolutionary 
soldier and drew a bounty here of 500 acres of land for military services. 
A part of this is now the L. H. Viele farm north of South Butler. 
His wife, Sarah Mills, died November 26, 1809, aged sixty-five, hers 
being the first death and burial in the town. Among the very first 
settlers were John Grandy on the Orestes Hubbard farm and Henry 
Bummell, two miles northwest of South Butler. The latter sold to 
Eli Wheeler in 1808, and moved to Cayuga county. Abijah Moore 
located on New Hartford street in 1805 and lived there until 1860. 
Many of the earlier settlers were New Englanders endowed with 
sterling characteristics and indomitable perseverance. Slowly but 
steadily they converted the wilderness into productive fields and 
pleasant homes. By degrees they surrounded themselves with the 
comforts and luxuries of life, and transmitted to their descendants and 
the present generation their noble traits and advanced ideas of civiliza- 
tion. Primitive log cabins and rude churches and schools in time gave 
way to commodious frame dwellings and better institutions. 

From 1808 to 1813 Osgood Church, of Wolcott, was the resident sub- 



430 LANDMARKS OP 

agent for Williamson's patent, a part of which was located in Butler. 
He gave contracts for the land, and those falling within our limits 
were as follows : 

Robert Van Tassell, 144 1-2 acres, lot 54, June 16, 1808; Silas Munsell, 180 3-4 
acres, lot 65, June 22, 1808; Aaron Hoppin, 165 1-2 acres, lot 45, September 30, 
1808; Glazier Wheeler, 152 1-2 acres, lot 52, November 26, 1808 ; Thomas Hancock, 
50 acres, lot 104, August 8, 1809; Elijah Hancock, 50 acres, lot 104, August 8, 1809; 
William P. Newell, 85 acres, lot 144, August 9, 1809; Lucius Hibbard, 47 acres, 
lot 104, August 12, 1809; Prentice Palmer, 156 1-2 acres, at $4, lot 62, October 21 | 
1809; Thaddeus Collins, 99 acres, at $3.50, lot 141, October 23, 1809; Jacob and 
Eli Ward, 100 1-2 acres, lot 122, at §3.50, February 18,1810; Milton Fuller, 98 1-2 
acres, lot 182, December 25, 1810; Eliakim Tupper, 20 acres, lot 53, May 26, 1811; 
Jacob Watson, 94 acres, lot 56, May 28, 1811 ; James Phillips, 99 acres, lot 92, 
October 12, 1812; Eli Wheeler, 100 acres, lot 188, November 13, 1812; John South- 
wick, 96 1-2 acres, lot 191, November 14, 1812; Joseph B. Grandy, 101 acres, lot 
201, July 1, 1813; Asa Whitmore, 101 acres, lot 208, August 17, 1813; Samuel 
Haskell, 102 acres, lot 163, September 11, 1813. 

In 1807 Seth Crane settled north of Wheeler's Corners, but in 1812 
removed to a farm two miles east of South Butler, upon which he was 
succeeded by Ezekiel Scott. Mr. Crane was a justice of the peace and 
a deacon in the Baptist Church. He was a Revolutionary veteran and 
a very kind-hearted man. In 1809 Noah Starr and Seth Winans became 
settlers. The latter was also a Revolutionary soldier. Prentice Palmer 
located in the town in 1810, but the next year moved to Savannah to 
take care of the old Galen salt works. It is said that in one winter, in 
twenty-hve days, he killed twenty-six deer. Paul Wellman, a soldier 
in the Revolution, came to Butler in 1810, accompanied by his father, 
Jedediah Wellman, who died the next spring, aged eighty-four, and 
whose death was the second in the iown. 

Eli Wheeler was a settler of 1810. He was a prominent citizen and 
died in 1847. His son, Highland Hill Wheeler, was born in Cairo, N. 
Y., November 23, 1808, removed with his parents to Butler, and died 
here July 1, 1894. When twenty-one he went to New York, studied and 
practiced law, married and returned to his farm, known as Highland 
Terrace, in 1860. He followed his profession and was a justice of the 
peace here many years. He was a scholarly writer and a recognized 
authority on local history, in which he took a deep interest, contributing 
many letters bearing on the early settlement of the old town of Wolcott 
to the county papers. He left four children. 

Daniel Roe, when fifty years old, moved with his wife and five sons 
and six daughters from Litchfield, Conn., to this town, arriving May 



WAYNE COUNTY. 431 

24, 1812. He bought out one Hopkins, who had built a log house and 
cleared some six or eight acres of land. He was vigorous and energetic, 
and lived to see his farm of 170 acres pretty well cleared up and his 
family all settled about him. He was an active Christian man and had 
a marked influence in the community, and was instrumental in securing 
from the old Genesee Conference the first Methodist preachers for that 
locality or region. They held quarterly meetings in his barn, preached 
in the school house on a corner of his farm, and he was an earnest sup- 
porter of the church while he lived. He was one of the first magistrates 
of the town and served many years, and was for several years postmas- 
ter, the post-office being kept in his house. The mail was brought from 
Auburn on horseback once or twice a week. He died at the age of 
eighty-nine years and seven months. His wife preceded him in March, 
1840, at which time the family cemetery now on the homestead was laid 
out. His sons, who all settled near him, were men of influence. Dan- 
iel was one of the pioneer settlers of the present town of Wolcott, and 
was prominent for many years as supervisor, justice of the peace, etc. 
He died at Butler Center, September 22, 1884, aged ninety-two years. 
He was a life-long Democrat. Austin, another son, was member of 
Assembly one or two terms. Willis W. was also prominent in town 
and lived and died upon the homestead where his youngest son, J. H. 
L. Roe now resides. Of the old settlers on the same street, now gone, 
who have left descendants there, were Joseph Watson, Nathan Cook, 
Azur Raynor and Lucius Hibbard, and a little to the east lived Thomas 
Armstrong, for several terms a member of State Senate, and Paul H 
Davis, a man of marked characteristics yet of sterling integrity. 
Thomas Armstrong settled in Butler in 1813. He was long the super- 
visor, served as sheriff of Seneca county, and was the first sheriff of 
Wayne county. He was in the Assembly six years and in the Senate 
eight, and was a popular public officer. 

Roger Olmsted settled near Wotcott village, and with his son built 
some years afterward a saw and grist mill on Wolcott Creek. Abijah 
Moore and his son had a distillery and grist mill on the same stream. 
Other early settlers in the neighborhood were Simeon Merrill, sr. , John 
Ward and John Harmon. 

Maj, William Moulton, a Revolutionary officer, settled in 1810 on 
600 acres granted him for military services near the center of the town. 
He was a decorous gentleman of the old school, and wore a powdered 
queue, cocked hat, top boots, and white headed cane. His estate in- 



432 LANDMARKS OF 

eluded Armstrong Hill, the highest elevation in town. He was a land 
surveyor, and gave special attention to the cultivation of fruit. 

Horace and Noah Peck were early settlers, and in 1815 sold out to 
Edward Bivins and his father-in-law, Benjamin Hall, who came in the 
spring of 1816. Abner Bivins, the father and a Revolutionary soldier, 
and James, a brother, removed hither a few years later, as did also 
Joshua, Elias, Stephen and Peter Hall, brothers of Benjamin, and their 
father, Thomas. The road from South Butler to Wolcott was first 
called East street, and probably the first settler upon it was Capt. Peter 
Mills, who was the first man to die in the town, and who was succeeded 
by his son, Daniel Mills. John Foot lived near him, and about two 
miles north resided Aaron Hopkins. 

( >ther prominent settlers were David Sprague, the father of two chil- 
dren, of whom Charles W. was one; James Davis, a tailor; Daniel Rog- 
ers, a lineal descendant of John Rogers the martyr; Welcome Cole, 
who died in March, 1883; Abram Gibbs, who died November 11, 1891, 
aged eighty-one; Prentice Cushman, who lived in South Butler more 
than forty years and died in May, 1801; James M. Jenkins, a local M. 
E. preacher, who died in 1879; Horatio Wood, for twenty years a mag- 
istrate and the father of Noah Wood, who died in 1860; Jason Under- 
bill, sr. , who died in May, 1889; Deacon Isaac Miner, born in Connec- 
ticut in 1792, settled in Butler early, and died in Rose in December, 
1891 ; Micajah Aldrich, father of Edward A. ; Chester Lee, son of Lv- 
man; Washington Ellinwood, son in-law of Lyman Lee; Joseph Brews- 
ter, who died in Clyde; Samuel Thompson, who had six children and 
died in 1852; Benjamin Kellogg, the grandfather of William B. ; Will- 
iam McKoon, a typical pioneer and a local M. E. preacher, who was 
succeeded on the homestead by his son Jairus; Milton Town, who died 
in 1882, son of Silas; Samuel C. Pomeroy, who died in April, 1891; 
Seth Craw and John Draft. 

Ransom Loveless, sr. , born in Johnstown, N. Y., in 1791, came to 
Butler in 1816, and died in August, 1864. His son, Ransom, jr., born 
here in 1818, succeeded to the homestead. Another son was Columbus 
Loveless. Nathaniel W. Tompkins became a merchant in Wolcott in 
1835, but in 1841 settled on a farm in Butler. William H. Peck was 
born in L821, located in Galen in 1840, removed to Wolcott in 1883, and 
died there in October, 1886. Joel B. Bishop, the father of Benjamin, 
came to Rose about 1812, but later moved to Butler and died in March, 
1875, aged seventy-five. Abijah Upham, born in Saratoga county in 



WAYNE COUNTY. 183 

L795, served in the War of L812, and removed hither from Victory, 
X. V., in L825. He died in February, 1881. John Kellogg, a native of 
Massachusetts, came to Butler when nine years old and died on the 
homestead May 25, 1876, aged seventy-four. Israel J. Clapp settled 
here in 1822 and died in December, 1802. He was born in Massachu- 
setts in June, 1796, served in the War of 1812, and was a carpenter by 
trade. He was prominent in town affairs. About 1829 Ransom Ward 
opened a store in a frame building a half mile west of West Butler, 
which was the first mercantile establishment in town, but it was soon 
discontinued. 

Hon. Thomas Johnson, born in Saratoga county in 1814, came to 
Butler from Mexico, N. Y. , when twenty years of age and lived with 
his uncle, Thomas Armstrong. He was a school teacher, farmer, and 
town superintendent of schools, and served in the Assembly in 1856- 
57. Two of his sons enlisted in the 9th Heavy Artillery. Mr. John- 
son died January 23, 1890. 

Ezekiel Scott, previously mentioned, served six years in the Revolu- 
tionary War, and settled on the Scott homestead in this town in 1812. 
Upon the formation of the township he was one of a committee of three 
to choose an appropriate name, and Butler was selected in honor of 
Gen. William Butler, an officer of the Revolution. A. C. Scott, a 
grandson of Ezekiel, died February 28, 1890, in the house where he 
was born. 

Jacob S. Viele purchased a farm of 300 acres near the center of the 
town in 1819 and erected at Butler Center a saw mill that did a large 
business for more than forty years. About the same time Simon S. 
Viele, a brother, located on a farm a mile or so north ; his eldest son, 
Stephen S., a lawyer, was murdered at Seneca Falls in 1860. 

In 1858 the town had 15,316 acres of improved land, real estate as- 
sessed at $580,494:, personal property at $21,850, 1,126 male and 1,099 
female inhabitants, 414 dwellings, 438 families, 360 freeholders, twelve- 
school districts and 815 school children, 981 horses, 1,766 oxen and 
calves, 1,024 cows, 4,898 sheep, and 1,647 swine. There were produced 
16,462 bushels winter and 140,631 bushels spring wheat, 2,557 tons hay, 
i;,li()6 bushels potatoes, 51,981 bushels apples, 97,571 pounds butter, 
15,112 pounds of cheese, and 1,750 yards domestic cloth. 

In 1890 the population was 1,836, or 425 less than in 1880. In 1893 
the assessed value of land was $690,620 (equalized $728,949) ; village 
and mill property, $72,119 (equalized $81,609); personal property, 



434 LANDMARKS OF 

$44,820. Schedule of taxes, L893: Contingent fund, $912.77; town 
poor, $150; roads and bridges, $100; school tax, $782.61; county tax, 
$1,872.48; State tax, $1,031.83; State insane tax, $266.19; dog tax, 
$54.50. Total tax levy, $5,733.69; rate per cent., .00710002. The 
town has two election districts and in 1880 polled :i"»4 votes. 

The tirst school in the town was taught in the summer of IS 11 by 
Miss Mary Woodruff a little north of West Butler. In the winter fol- 
lowing Wheeler Wellman, son of Paul, taught the second school in a 
log school house standing between his father's house and that of Eli 
Wheeler's. The town now has ten school districts with a school house 
in each, which were taught in L892-3 by twelve teachers and attended 
by :544 scholars. The school buildings and sites are valued at $5,875; 
assessed value of districts, $577,290; public money received from the 
State, $1,454.69; raised by local tax, $1,674.65. The principal of the 
South Butler Union school is Prof. H. A. Maynard. 

During the War of the Rebellion the town of Butler sent 135 of her 
brave and loyal citizens to fight the nation's battles. All of them did 
valiant service. The organizations to which they belonged are detailed 
in a preceding chapter. 

South Butler village lies near the center of the extreme south part 
of the town of Savannah. Prior to 1830 it was known as Harrington's 
Corners. William Shedd opened a small store just over the line in 
Savannah about 1830 and was soon succeeded by Oman King, who gave 
the place the name of King's Corners. Through his efforts a Sunday 
school and a Presbyterian Church were organized. Mr. King died in 
L841, and was succeeded by Sylvester Pomeroy, with whom his kinsman, 
Samuel C. Pomeroy, afterward United States Senator from Kansas, 
was associated. Sylvester Pomeroy died in 1845 and was followed by 
Henry K. Graves, who died January 1, L879. Mr. Graves was super- 
visor several years and a member of Assembly. In 1839 O. H.Wheeler 
and Samuel B. Tucker built a saw mill, which finally passed to Brad- 
way & Crofoot, who also had a stave and shingle mill and a cooperage. 
Soon afterward a post-office was established under the name of South 
Butler and the name of the village was made to correspond. Dr. 
Clarendon Campbell was the first postmaster. Another founder of the 
place was John Smith, who opened streets, laid out and sold building 
lots, and erected a store, etc. In the latter he placed his son, who soon 
died, and was succeeded by Zebulon Ross, who was followed by John E. 
Hough, About L850 a grist mill was removed hither from Pineville by 



WAYNE COUNTY. |:;;. 

John Seymour, who sold to J. Richmond. It passed to David R. 
Hamilton and son William, then to Lyman H. Dratt, and in ls'l I to 
Mr. Hinds, in whose possession it was burned February 9, L875. The 
present grist mill is owned by C. A. Coleman. Samuel West was an 
early blacksmith, having a shop that was burned where Frank Maguire's 
shop afterward stood. In 1846 Griffin Green started a tannery that 
went down several years ago. A hotel was built and opened at an 
early day, of which Abram Dratt was proprietor. 

About 1877 Thomas S. Law established the bluing manufactory now 
conducted by his son Arthur E. Azel C. Hough recently began the 
manufacture of a cash recorder, of which he is the inventor and patentee. 
In 1867 Dr. Jerome Hibbard commenced making cheese boxes here, 
and established the present extensive Hibbard basket works, in which 
at one time more than 100 hands were employed, the present number 
being from twenty-five to thirty. He was also the inventor of the 
Hibbard farm gate in 1868. Dr. Hibbard was born in February, 1830, 
and died here April 4, 1888. He was a graduate in 1861 of the College 
of Physicians and Surgeons of New York city and an assistant surgeon 
in a Virginia hospital during the war. 

South Butler village now contains, besides the above, a hotel, two 
general stores, a drug store, a post-office and confectionery store, two 
blacksmith shops, a hardware store, three milliners, two wagon shops, 
one grist mill, a district school, four churches, two or three physicians, 
and about 360 inhabitants. The postmaster is George W. Pangburn, 
who succeeded De Witt C. Wheeler. 

Butler Center, so called from its geographical position, had its 
nucleus in the saw mill of Jacob S. Viele in 1819. Afterward a fulling 
and carding mill was built, but was long since discontinued. The pres- 
ent saw and feed mill is owned by Joseph H. Potter. Besides this the 
place contains two stores, a blacksmith shop, school, one church, post- 
office, and small cluster of dwellings. Abel Wing, a long time mer- 
chant here, was postmaster for several years and was succeeded recentl}' 
by A. M. Armstrong. 

West Butler, in the western part of the town, was originally called 
Murray's Corners, and is now frequently termed Cider Hill. It formerly 
had a post-office, which was discontinued in June, 1881. It is merely a 
small rural hamlet. 

Churches. — A Baptist church was organized in Butler as earlv as 
1824. In 1825 Rev. Luther Goodrich was installed as pastor, and about 



436 LANDMARKS OF 

L830 was succeeded by Rev. Isaac D. Hosford. June 26, L834, the 

Baptist church of Butler and Savannah was regularly constituted at 
South Butler by Rev. Rowell Osborne with about fifteen members. 
Rev. Mr. Hosford was the first pastor and Ames Winnegar the first 
clerk. The first and present frame house of worship was erected in 
1850 at a cost of $1,200, and in that year a Sunday school was organized. 
The society has about eighty members under the pastoral charge of 
Rev. Levi R. Reynolds. The superintendent of the Sunday school is 
Mrs. James Foster. 

The Presbyterian church of Butler was organized in 1831 under the 
Presbytery of Geneva. In 1836 they built at South Butler the first 
church edifice in the town. Among the earlier pastors or supplies were 
Revs. William Clark, Gelston, Samuel R. Ward (colored), Lewis C. 
Lockwood, and James Gregg. In 1853 Rev. Antoinette L. Brown, the 
first woman regularly ordained to theministry in the State, was installed 
pastor "by a speech from Gerritt Smith." Soon afterward the society 
languished and finally ceased to exist. Their old church is now used 
as a dwelling. 

The Disciples Church of South Butler originally consisted of eleven 
members, among whom were John Dratt and wife, Lyman Hill and 
sister (Mrs. Chapin), Israel J. Clapp and wife, and a Mr. Comstock. 
Mr. Dratt was the elder. The meetings were first held in an old tan- 
nery, and for some time in school houses. This church, first designated 
" Campbellite," then "Disciples," and later " Christian, " was instituted 
about 1831. They denied Scriptural authority for ordaining or setting 
apart any one as a minister or preacher, or as specially authorized to 
administer the rites of the church, such as baptism and the Lord's 
supper; and maintained that a hired ministry and the "paying for 
preaching" were unnecessary. This dogma was therefore practiced 
upon. They organized themselves into a congregation of baptized be- 
lievers, and any one of them might perform the duties of the church. 
Their first meeting house, which cost about $800, was sold to the 
Advents. In 1861 the present edifice in South Butler was erected at 
an expense of $3,000. The first located minister was Josiah I. Lowell, 
who remained until his death in L858. The first Sunday school was 
organized by Dr. M. F. Sweeting about is,">.">, with fifty pupils. The 
present pastor is Rev. Mr. Applegate. The society has L 70 members. 

The Seeoiid Advent church was organized at South Butler in L861. 
The old church edifice of the Disciples was purchased and used as a 



WAYNE COUNTY 437 

place of worship. They still maintain regular services and a Sabbath 
school. The local preacher is E. P. Stevens. 

The Methodist Protestant church of South Butler was erected in L879 
with Rev. A. L. Stinnard in charge. Prior to his appointment a class 
was organized at the house of R. H. Arnold, with twelve members, 
and with Arthur Skinner as leader. The first church services were held 
in a hall over the hardware store, and the first cpiarterly meeting con- 
vened here June 3 and 4, 1880. The Baptist church was leased and 
later the Advent church was used, and in 1881 Rev. W. H. Bentley be- 
came pastor. Their frame edifice was erected that year and dedicated 
in August by Rev. M. Prindle. It cost about $2,500. The present pastor 
is Rev. Hale Gardner. The society owns a parsonage and has about 
forty members. 

The Methodist Episcopal church of Butler Center was erected prior 
to or about 183G and belonged to the Rose circuit, for on the records is 
the following entry: "The first quarterly meeting was held in the 
Methodist chapel. Butler Center, December 3, 1836. Present — Isaac 
Stone, presiding elder; Burrow Holmes, preacher in charge; Joseph 
Byron, assistant; John Roe, secretary; Thomas Roberts and Daniel 
Smith, local preachers; Austin Roe and Francis R. Nichols, exhorters. 
Class leaders: M. Smith, Paul- H. Davis, James Cosgrove, William 
Wadsworth, Thomas West, Russell Rusco, Thaddeus Collins, Benja- 
min Jenkins, Joel H. Lee, James Park, Amos Aldrich." 

The society owns a frame parsonage and a cemetery plat adjoining 
the church lot. The membership numbers about ninety and Rev. C. 
C. Tucker is pastor. F. R. Pierson is Sunday school superintendent. 

A Methodist Episcopal church was built at a very early day on the 
present site of the Disciples parsonage at South Butler. It was finallv 
moved to Savannah village, where its frame forms that of the M. E. 
church building" there. 



PART II. 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 



CHARLES T. SAXTON. 

Charles T. Saxton, attorney in Clyde, Wayne county, N. Y., and nominee in 1894 
of the Republican party for lieutenant-governor of the State of New York, was born in 
Clyde in 1846. He is a son of Daniel Saxton, -who was for nearly fifty years a respected 
citizen of Clyde, and who died in 1891. His advantages for securing an early education 
were very limited. After attending district school until he was fourteen years old, he 
worked about a year as clerk in a dry goods store. He was ambitious to go to college, 
and with that purpose in view studied Greek while working as clerk. He hoped to be 
able to fit himself to enter college and then work his way through. But the breaking 
out of the war changed his plans. It required very little consideration by him to arrive 
at a determination to enlist, and he did so, with a few of his young companions, joining 
the 90th New York Infantry soon after the conflict began and went with the regiment 
to East New York, where he remained until January 5, 1862. From there the regiment 
proceeded to Key West, Fla. Mr. Saxton was then only fifteen years old. In the 
miserable Florida barracks the regiment was attacked by yellow fever and 200 of its 
number died. In the summer of 1863 the regiment went to Port Hudson and in the 
siege of that place experienced its first taste of real war. Then followed the Red River 
campaign, in which Mr. Saxton won the rank of sergeant-major. At Pleasant Valley, 
Cox's Plantation, and other engagements the 90th Regiment served with credit. After 
this the regiment was not engaged until the summer of 1864, when they were ordered 
to Washington, where they joined Sheridan and shared in the glorious Shenandoah 
Valley campaign. The extreme marches and field privations of this campaign caused 
Mr. Saxton's severe illness, and he was sent to a Washington hospital with a fair 
assurance that he would not leave it alive. But he is of sturdy stuff and was soon 
afterward sent home on a furlough, tipping the scales at 114 pounds; his present weight 
is 225 pounds. Forty days later he was again ready for the field. At the close of the 
war his regiment was ordered to Hawkinsville, Ga., where they were kept until 
February, 1866. On February 19 they were ordered to Hart's Island and mustered out, 
four years and three months after Mr. Saxton's enlistment. 

Returning from the war, still young and ambitious to enter a profession, Mr. Saxton 
began the study of law in the office of Vandenberg & Baker in Clyde and studied night 
and day until his admission to the bar in 1867. He was only twenty-one years old at 

A 



4 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

this time, and married soon after his admission to the bar with no other expectations of 
income other than what he might earn by hard labor. He went with his wife to Grand 
Rapids, Mich., and opened an office. Partly on account of his wife's desire to live 
among friends they returned to Clyde and he formed a partnership with John L. Crane, 
which existed two years. In 1876 he formed a partnership with his old teacher in law, 
John Vandenberg, of Clyde, and for the succeeding seventeen years they worked har- 
moniously and successfully together until the death of Mr. Vandenberg in the spring of 
1894. A quick thinker, a concise, eloquent and effective speaker, Mr. Saxton early 
attracted attention in his profession, and he attained unusual success. A Republican in 
politics, he identified himself with the work of his party, and his talents were soon 
recognized. After holding the offices of village clerk in Clyde, trustee and president of 
the village, and justice of the peace, he was elected in 188G to the State Assembly, re- 
ceiving the largest majority the district ever gave a candidate for that office. He was 
one of the readiest and most conspicuous debaters in the Legislature and served with 
special credit and ability on the Judiciary Committee. He was elected to the Legislature 
in 1888 and 1889 ; was chairman in both years of the Judiciary Committee, and under- 
took to secure the passage of his famous ballot-reform measure. His well-directed 
efforts, his eloquent speeches, and his untiring labors were finally crowned with success. 
In the fall of 188D he was elected to the State Senate and was re elected without op- 
position in 1891. In that body, as in the Assembly, he occupied a conspicuous position, 
not only in the councils of his own party, but in the promotion of many important 
measures. In 1891 he secured the enactment of the ballot-reform bill, which embodied 
the main features of the Australian ballot system ; but he was forced to accept it in an 
imperfect form by the opposition of the other political adherents. In 1888 he had 
charge in the Assembly of the bill providing that the death penalty should be inflicted 
by electricity, which became a law the same year. In 1891 he framed and introduced 
a corrupt practices Act, which defined offenses against the elective franchise and re- 
quired, among other things, the publication by candidates of their election expenses. 
This is the first act of the kind ever placed on the statute books of any American State; 
and he has never ceased his efforts to supply the deficiencies of that law, but thus far 
without marked success. In the fall of 1893 he was again elected to the Senate for the 
third time by a plurality of 8,500, and by the unanimous expression of his Republican 
colleagues was made temporary president and leader of the majority. Mr. Saxton's 
career in the last session of the Legislature is well known. It was marked by the same 
untiring activity, adherence to what he believed to be for the best interests of the State, 
and his eloquent advocacy of those measures which made that session conspicuous. In 
the fall of 1894, and while this volume is in press, Mr. Saxton was made a candidate of 
his party for the office of lieutenant-governor, with Levi P. Morton for governor, and 
the ticket has been unanimously nominated at Saratoga, and elected on the 6th day of 
November. This election forces Mr. Saxton to resign his office in the Senate. 

Senator Saxton is noted for his brilliant advocacy in the Legislature of those measures 
designed to promote the moral and intellectual advancement of the people at large. 
Among the many bills of general interest introduced by him, which are now upon the 
statute books,, are the university-extension bill, the anti-pool room bill, and the bill 




Styju~ W. Wtiei 



(XA**s& 



BIOGRAPHICAL. r, 

regulating gifts for charitable purposes, which is designed to prevent the failure of such 
great public charities as that contemplated by the will of the late Samuel J. Tilden. lie 
is recognized throughout the State as one of the most popular and effective of the 
campaign speakers. 

In 1892 Mr. Saxton was chosen honorary chancellor of Union College, Schenectady, 
and delivered the chancellor's address to the graduating class, receiving the degree 
of LL.D. 

Mr. Saxton is a prominent member of the G. A. R.. in which he has been commander 
of two different Posts, a member of the Department Council of Administration, and was 
delegate- at-large from this department to the National Encampment of 1894. 

Mr. Saxton's marriage took place in 1868 to Helen M., daughter of Ambrose S. 
Field. They have four children. 



STEPHEN K. WILLIAMS. 

Stephen K. Williams was born in Bennington, Vt. His father was Richard P. 
Williams, a successful physician of that place. His mother was Lucy Fletcher, of Lud- 
low, Vt. When he was four years old his family, consisting of his father, mother, and 
older brother Fletcher and himself, removed to Newark, N. Y., where Stephen K. has 
since resided. His father, Richard P. Williams, practiced his profession of physician and 
surgeon several years, but finally retired from practice on account of ill health, and died 
several years ago. His mother, Lucy F. Williams, died recently at the age of ninety-five 
years. His brother, Fletcher Williams, is a banker at Newark, and president of the First 
National Bank, of which he is the founder. 

Mr. Williams's ancestors on his father's side came from Wales. His mother's name 
was Keyes. His mother's brothers, Elijah and Timothy Fletcher, of Lynchburg, Va., 
and Michael, Calvin and Stoughton A. Fletcher, of Indianapolis, Ind., were prominent 
men in the States where they lived. 

Stephen K. Williams was from childhood a student, attending the common school at 
Bennington, Vt, when three years of age. He is indebted to his father, who taught 
him on winter evenings not only the common branches, but also the beginning of Latin 
and Greek, for the foundation of his education. At ten years of age his father sent him 
back to Bennington to attend the academy for a year, during which time he studied 
Latin and other branches. On his return the remainder of his academic education was 
obtained in the Palmyra, N. Y., Academy. He entered Union College at Schenectady 
at the age of fifteen years, one year in advance, being the second or sophomore year 
took the classical course, and graduated at eighteen. While in college he u stood among 
the first in a class of about 125 and at the end of his course there received the honorary 
election as member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, and was also one of the members of 
his class selected to deliver an oration on Commencement day. He has since received 
from Union College the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. 

On his graduation from college he spent part of a year in Adrian, Mich., with his 
father, buying wheat. He then returned to Newark, N. Y., and, as his father had 



6 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY 

selected the profession of law for him, he entered the law office of Hon. Lyman Sher- 
wood, county judge, as a student; and after remaining there about a year, finished his 
law studies in the office of George H. Middleton, an able and accomplished attorney, and 
on his admission to the bar was offered and accepted a partnership with Mr. Middleton 
in the law business, with whom he remained several years. On Mr. Middleton being 
elected county judge the firm was dissolved, and Mr. Williams opened a law office by 
himself in Newark, where he has since resided. 

M r. Williams has always been a devoted student and taking for his motto that " Genius 
is labor," has exemplified it by hard labor in his office and has risen to the rank of one 
of the most prominent lawyers in the State. He has always given close attention and 
patient labor to his law cases and preparing them from his extensive law library, is quite 
successful, and is always listened to with attention in the Circuit. Courts and in the 
General Term of the Supreme Court, and in the Court of Appeals. 

Mr. Williams has also during a part of his life been a politician and interested him- 
self actively in the advancement of his party. He was district attorney for Wayne 
county for three years. He declined other political preferment for some time, but at 
length yielding to the solicitations of his friends, he was elected State senator for the 
25lh district including the counties of Wayne and Cayuga, in 1864, and performed his 
duties in that body with such acceptance to his constituents that he was twice re-elected, 
holding the office six successive years. He gave the same ardent and industrious effort 
to the duties of his political positions, as to his private practice in his profession. While 
in the political field Mr. Williams was recognized as a factor of influence in his county 
and throughout the State. He for a long time enjoyed the intimate friendship of Will- 
iam H. Seward (of Cayuga county), one of the counties represented by Mr. Williams 
in the Senate, especially while Mr.* Seward was secretary of state in President Lincoln's 
and President Johnson's administrations. Mr. Williams was in Albany, as senator, at 
the time of President Lincoln's assassination and took part in the ceremonies attending 
the reception of the president's body in that city on its wav to the tomb in Springfield 
111. 

Mr. Williams was active in forwarding legislation in support of the government and 
in raising troops during the war. He was a member of the County War Committee and 
president of the Town War Committee, and freely devoted his time and energies to the 
raising of and care for the volunteers during the great struggle. 

Mr. Williams was president of the Sodus Point and Southern Railroad Company while 
that road was in process of construction and until its completion, and contributed largely 
to its building. The completion of this road was the commencement of the permanent 
giowth of the village of Newark and it has ever since been a principal factor in the ex. 
ceptional advancement and prosperity of that village. 

In 1882 Mr. Williams became the editor of the United States Supreme Court Reports, 
published by the Lawyers' Co-operative Publishing Company, of Rochester, and has 
since, with the exception of one year, acceptably filled this responsible position. In 
that year he went to Washington and inaugurated the necessary arrangements for the 
publishing of these reports, and while there became acquainted with Chief Justice Waite 
and the other members of that court. This edition is now in thirty-eight volumes, each 
one containing four of the official volumes. 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 



Mr. Williams has always kept up his law practice at Newark and is a partner with 
his son, Byron C. Williams, in that business. 

Mr. Williams married Angeline Crane, daughter of Judge Zenas S. Crane, of Mont- 
clair, N. J., who is now living. They have five children : Byron C, above mentioned, 
Sarah Elizabeth, Frances J., Ida, and Cora May, all of whom except Ida A. are living. 



JOHN HENRY CAMP 

Was a native of Tompkins county, N. Y., and was born in Ithaca April 4, 1840. 
His father was Frederick M. Camp, who removed soon after the birth of his son to 
Trumansburg, where he died. His mother was Sarah (Piatt) Camp, who was nearly 
related to Hon. Thomas C. Piatt; she died in Trumansburg in January, 1894. The 
other children of this family besides John H. were Mrs. Frank H. Griswold, of Auburn, 
(a half sister), Mrs. George M. Patten, of Bath, Me., and the late Mrs. David S. Biggs, 
of Trumansburg. 

John H. Camp attended the academy in his native county where he won his first 
laurels as an orator and debater, and afterwards entered the Albany Law School from 
which he graduated with honor. Following this he spent a short time in Mr. Bishop's 
law office in Rochester, whence he came to Lyons where the number of attorneys then 
seemed less in proportion to population than in most localities. He opened an office 
with the late R. W. Ashley, but in 1863 was appointed by Judge George W. Cowles to 
take charge of the surrogate's office. This position soon gave him opportunity to form 
a valuable acquaintanceship in all parts of Wayne county, which was of great service to 
him in later years. He remained in that office under Judge L. M. Norton also ; but it 
should not be understood that he acted as "surrogate's clerk," as he preferred to feel 
free to keep up the practice of his profession. Clients sought him frequently and he 
soon gained a considerable practice, in which he met with gratifying success. He was 
an eloquent speaker, peculiarly persuasive and courteous in his address, while his legal 
ability and conscientious efforts for his clients rendered him a formidable opponent at 
the bar. He early entered the political field, which had great attractions for him, and 
he became one of the most popular and effective campaign speakers in the State. 

In 1867 Mr. Camp was elected district attorney of Wayne county and served most 
acceptably through an important term, the prosecution of the murderer Graham falling 
to him — a case that attracted attention throughout the country. In 1872 Mr. Camp 
was one of the Republican Presidential Electors, and secretary of the Electoral College. 
During these years be was rapidly gaining political strength and prestige, and in 1877 
he was elected to the 45th Congress, where he made a brilliant and successful record 
for six years. He exerted a large influence in that legislative body and left a record in 
every way worthy of his talent and character. It was while in Washington that the 
persistent malady attacked him from which he was thenceforth to suffer. 

Returning from his labors in Congress Mr. Camp was nominated in 1883 for the high 
office of justice of the Supreme Court. His colleague on the judiciary ticket, Hon. W. 



8 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

D. Stuart, of Rochester, had inclined the enmity of many members of the Monroe 
county bar, which led to the formation of an association of lawyers to defeat the Re- 
publican nominees. This action in combination with the wave of Democratic success 
growing out of the Folger-Cleveland campaign, and the popularity of the Democratic 
candidates, was sufficient to defeat the opposing nominees in a district that is regularly 
Republican. There was also treachery in his own county that contributed to defeat 
Mr. Camp, though he was reluctant to believe it. It was a disappointment, undoubtedly, 
to Mr. Camp, but it was not an unmixed misfortune; for he entered with renewed 
ardor into the practice of his profession and with most remarkable success. He worked 
hard and his great ability, his power as an advocate, his versatility and unbounded con- 
fidence in himself, rendered him a legal antagonist to be feared. Admitting to partner- 
ship, I. W. Dunwell, a young attorney who was destined to attain eminence in the 
profession, the firm became favorably known not only throughout Wayne county, but 
far beyond its bounds. His partnership with Mr. Dunwell began in 1877, continued till 
Mr. ("amp's death, and was one of the strongest in this part of the State. The New 
York Central Railroad Company and other large corporations sought the services of the 
firm, and their practice became very large and lucrative. 

His passion for politics again prompted Mr. Camp to enter the field, not as a candidate 
for office, but as a controlling factor through Wayne county and a powerful influence in 
the western part of the State. His talents were readily recognized by the State leaders 
and in all important councils his presence and voice were sought. For years he was 
intimately associated with Thomas C. Piatt, by whom he was implicitly trusted, and in 
1891 when age compelled Hon. John N. Knapp to relinquish the chairmanship of the 
State Committee, Mr. Camp was placed on the committee and would have been given 
the chairmanship had not his increasing ill health interfered. 

Throughout Mr. Camp's political career he exhibited the qualities of the born general 
in that field. He was personally affable, courteous to all, and created a favorable im- 
pression upon every one with whom he came in contact. Those who once acknowl- 
edged his leadership, were reluctant to abandon it. He never refused a favor that he 
could properly grant, and never forgot a promise however insignificant. No citizen of 
Wayne county ever equaled him in the extent of his political connections and influence 
outside of his own county. Generous, honorable, a charming talker, with social quali- 
ties that endeared him to his friends, he was a personality that will not soon be for- 
gotten. 

Mr. Camp was married in 1864 to Yictoria R. Drummond, of Bath, Me., to whose 
love and devotion he was often heard to credit much of his success in life. They had 
two children, one of whom, Frederick Mortimer Camp, died in infancy. Mrs. Camp 
and a daughter, Mrs. Charles W. Armour, survive him. Mr. Camp's death occurred on 
October 12, 1892, at his home in Lyons. 

At a meeting of the Bar Association of Wayne county, October 14, 1892, a committee 
consisting of Hon. Charles T. Saxton, Stephen K. Williams, and Charles McLouth, was 
named to prepare a suitable memorial of Mr. Camp. This memorial (prepared by Mr. 
McLouth), was reported at the annual meeting of the association, held November 14, 
1892, and from it the following brief extracts are taken: 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 9 

Coming to this bar in the first flush of professional life, his incisure at once displayed 
itself, and every member of the bar acknowledged his fitness for the place. So without 
seeming to lead, he easily led, and without crowding his way, it opened to him. His 
industry was great — his preparation great — his advocacy great — and his labor tireless. 
American lawyers are not prone to yield to leadership, but th*y are not ungenerous to 
merit nor indifferent to success. No one sulked over Mr. Camp's triumphs. He won 
by hard work, or by merit of his case, or by strategy, and he combined them all. . 
He fought as fiercely against bodily infirmities, when any other might have succumbed 
to the first assault, as for his clients. His location, his standing, his power over juries 
his industry, his acquaintance, all combined to place him largely on the plaintiff's side, 
and the great proportion of cases are with the plaintiff in all courts. And withal he 
largely won. He adored and adorned his profession ; and what more can be said of a 
lawyer? A grounded lawyer, a wise counselor, a fierce but fair antagonist, a born ad- 
vocate, a loyal friend, he laid down his life in the midst of years, in the flush of profes- 
sional power, in the zenith of fame. 

On this occasion feeling tributes were paid to Mr. Camp's life and memory by various 
leading members of the bar. 



EZRA A. EDGETT. 

The parents of Ezra A. Bdgett settled in Oneida county when he was twelve years 
old, removing from Greene county where he was born November 21, 1828. He re- 
ceived his education in the district and select schools of Oneida county, and removed 
with his family to Wayne county in 1865. He possessed excellent business qualifica- 
tions and early engaged in the preserving business, founded the Wayne County Pre- 
serving Company and was in the business more than thirty years. Conducting his 
business upon principles of integrity, he was successful in a material sense and gained 
the respect of the community. On December 16, 1856, he married Harriet C. Marvin, 
of Camden, Oneida county, and they have had four children, as follows; James C, who 
was associated in the business of his father; married Anna L. Wilcox, of Port Gibson, 
N. Y., and has one son, Oliver. Edith M. married William R. Conover and resides in 
Boston; has one daughter, Halla. Mary L. resides with her mother ; and George, who 
died in infancy. Mr. Edgett died January 30, 1889. Since his death the preserving 
business has been carried on by his widow and Edwin K. Burnham, at Newark. 



S. N. SAWYER. 

The subject of this sketch is a son of Samuel W. Sawyer and Hannah Nelson Sawyer. 
Samuel W. Sawyer was born in Camden, N. Y., in 1821, and removed to Macedon, 
N. Y., in childhood. He settled in Palmyra about the year 1840, and has since resided 
there. He has served as assessor, as trustee, and as president of the vilfage. 

S. N. Sawyer was born in Palmyra October 6, 1853, and received his education in the 
Classical Union School of his native place, and at Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., 



in LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

graduating in 1877. Having determined to adopt the profession of law, he studied in 
the office of S. B. Mclntyre, of Palmyra, and attended the Albany Law School, from 
which he graduated in 1883, and at once formed a partnership with the late David S. 
Aldrich, under the firm name of Aldrich & Sawyer. This firm continued in business 
until January 1, 1889, after which Mr. Sawyer practiced alone until July 1, 1893, when 
he organized the firm of Sawyer & Tinklepaugh, which is still in existence. 

Mr. Sawyer is an active Republican in politics, and a public spirited and enterprising 
citizen. He served as justice of the peace one term ; was clerk of the village from 
September, 1884, to April, 1893, when he was elected president of the village, and 
re-elected in 1894. In these positions he has fully met the expectations and approbation 
of his fellow citizens. 

In the fall of 1888 he was elected district attorney of the county, served his term and 
was re-elected. In this responsible position he has succeeded in wirining an unusual 
proportion of the cases that have come into his charge. He was three years secretary 
of the New York State League Building and Loan Association and is now a director in 
the Wayne Building and Loan Association and its counsel. 

Mr. Sawyer is a prominent member of the Masonic order; is past master of Palmyra 
Lodge No. 248; past high priest of Palmyra Eagle Chapter No. 79, R. A. M.; past master 
of Palmyra Council No. 21, R. & S. M.; past commander of Zenobia Commandery No. 
41, K. T.; past district deputy grand master of the Grand Lodge of this State ; and he 
is now (1894) chief commissioner of appeals of the Grand Lodge of the State. 

On October 20, 1885, Mr. Sawyer married Augusta, daughter of Rev. John G. 
Webster, of Palmyra, and they have two daughters. 



OLIVER HURD ALLERTON 

Was born in Amenia, Dutchess county, N. Y., on the 17th of April, 1816. His 
father was Samuel W. Allerton, who was also a native of Amenia, where he was born, 
December 5, 1785. He was educated in the district schools of his native town, and in 
the select school of Rev. Dr. Barnett, a Presbyterian minister. His father and his 
grandfather were both professional men, studied medicine and practiced as physicians. 

His father was Doctor Reuben Allerton, and was a surgeon in the Revolutionary 
war, and was present at the battle of Saratoga and surrender of Burgoyne. From the 
surgeon of the British general he received a portion of his instruments, which are still 
in the possession of the family. The ancestry of this family is clearly traceable 
through eight generations from the Mayflower and came from England. Samuel W. 
Allerton was a farmer and married Hannah Hurd, of Amenia, and they had nine chil- 
dren, four sons and five daughters, all living as follows: Cornelia, Amarillys, Henry R., 
now a resident of Newark, N. Y., Orville H. (the subject), Amanda H., Byron (see 
personal sketch in later pages of this volume), Rebecca II., Lois J. and Samuel W. 
Samuel W., sr., settled in Benton, Yates county, in 1842. In 1849 the family removed 
into Wayne county, and carried on farming fifteen years. Mr. Allerton resided in 



1'. I ((GRAPHICAL. 1! 

Newark village after that until his death in August, 1885, when he lacked only three 
months and twenty-five days of being 100 years old. 

Cornelia Allerton married Walter Sherman of Dutchess county ; Amarillys married 
Shadrack Sherman of the same county. Henry R. is a resident of Newark village, 
where his sister, Mrs. Taber, has charge of his household. Amanda H. married Will- 
iam Taber. Byron married Helen Sherman of Dutchess county. Rebecca H. and 
Lois J. reside with their brother, Henry R. in Newark. Samuel W. married first 
Pamelia Thompson, and second, Agnes Thompson, and lives in Chicago. 

Orville Hurd Allerton attended district and select schools of Dr. Lenord, also the 
Amenia Seminary until he was about thirteen years of age, when he began business 
life in a store in Nassau, N. Y., with an uncle. He early evinced a taste for mercan- 
tile pursuits and served as clerk for twelve years, his last engagement being in Elmira 
with the well-known John Arnot. During this long period he acquired a thorough 
knowledge of business principles and laid a foundation of character, integrity and in- 
dustry which enabled him in later years to reach a high measure of success. Coming 
to Newark, N. Y., in 1842 he began a mercantile career, which continued twenty-five 
years By the exercise of the qualities just named, with proper economy, he gained a 
competence. 

At the close of his mercantile career he went to Pittsburgh, Pa., as superintendent 
of the Pennsylvania stock yards, a position of great responsibility and liberal compen- 
sation. He remained there seventeen years, when he retired, after over fifty years of 
active business life, in the enjoyment of the entire confidence and esteem of his em- 
ployers. He was succeeded in the position by his son, Orville H., jr. 

About the year 1881 his family returned to Newark, where he soon afterward built 
the most imposing residence in the village, and has since lived a life of retirement from 
active business. 

On January 15, 1845, he married Eliza A. Dean, of Dresden, Yates county, N. Y., 
and they have had two children : Clarence, who died at nine months of age, and Or- 
ville H., jr. The latter was educated in the Newark Academy, and in business schools 
in Poughkeepsie and Elmira; married Ida C. Leggett, of Newark, and has two children : 
Ida May and Edith Marie. 

Mr. Allerton is liberal minded and honorable in all his dealings and intercourse with 
his fellow citizens, believing that "nothing is useful but what is honest," hence has no 
love for demagogism of any kind. The man who made a thousand dollars a year by 
attending to his own business, and a thousand dollars more by letting other people 
alone, he believes is a good example to follow. Mr. Allerton is a Republican in politics, 
but his own business interests have always prevented him from assuming activity in 
the political field, except in local affairs. He is a public-spirited and respected citizen 
in all the relations of life. 



12 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

NICHOLAS MESTLER. 

The subject of this sketch was bora in Bavaria, Germany, December 29, 1826, and 
died on his homestead in the town of Arcadia, Wayne county, May 26, 1894. When 
he was eight j^ears old he was taken by his parents to France, where he worked in fac- 
tories and after his father's death supported his mother and the other children of the 
family. He immigrated to this country in 1852, located first in Rochester, later in 
Lyons, and still later in the town of Galen. On May 16, 1853, he married Barbara 
Oswald, of Lyons, and after leaving Galen he purchased the farm where he passed the 
remainder of his life. When he first occupied the place it was very much run down, 
but by his industry and the aid of his wife and children, he made it one of the best and 
most productive farms in the town. Mr. Mestler was a man of probity and good busi- 
ness ability. He was the father of sixteen children, fourteen of whom lived to matu- 
rity, as follows : Caroline, Mary M., Rosa B., Julia, Anna B., Henry J., Albert N., 
George H. (married Etta Parish and is in employ of the New York Central Railroad 
Company), Philip L. (married Josephine Masters and has three children : Mertorr Roy 
and George) ; Louis P. (married Lottie Snyder of Clyde and has two children : Harris 
and Meda) ; he is also employed by the New York Central Railroad Company ; Cath- 
arine M. (married Charles Thompson of Lyons and they have three children : Edna, 
Clarence and David ) ; Susanna P. (married William Dayton of Newark, and they have 
one daughter, Lillie M.); Sarah J. (married John C. Cook of Newark, and they have 
two children : Robert and William) ; and William R. (married Ada Smith of Rochester 
and is a bookkeeper of that city.) 



EDWIN K. BURNHAM 

Is a native of Vermont, where he was born in Randolph, September 8, 1839. He is a 
son of Ammi Burnham and Lucy (Young) Burnham, and one of thirteen children, eleven 
of whom were born to the wife named, and two to a second wife. Four of these 
children are now living. Ammi Burnham was a farmer and brickmaker, a man of more 
than common intelligence, and was elected to the Vermont State Legislature in .1851. 

Edwin K. Burnham attended district school and afterwards the academy in Royalton, 
Vt., finishing his studies in the Orange County (Vt.) Grammar School. The call to 
arms in the war of the Rebellion found him ready to respond, and in 1862 he enlisted in 
Company C of the 15th Vermont Infantry. He participated in the great Gettysburg 
battle and received an honorable discharge in 1863 with the rank of sergeant. In the 
spring of 1864 he graduated from the Albany Law School and was admitted to practice 
in the courts of this State. In June of the same year he settled in Newark, N. Y., 
where he formed a law partnership with James E. Briggs, who was also a native of 
Vermont. In September of that year he re-enlisted in the army, and on October 10, 
1864, received a captain's commission in Company D, 111th Regiment of New York 
Infantry, and left for the front. His regiment participated in the operations around 




C/1/t-c-Av.-ctzd [//l&d-te&'l 



BIOGRAPHICAL. i.3 

Petersburg until he was taken prisoner, April 2, 1865. He was returned to his com- 
mand on the 9th of April, the day on which Lee surrendered to Grant, and received his 
honorable discharge June 4, 1865. 

Returning to Newark Mr. Burnham entered upon active practice of his profession. 
In 1872 he founded the Newark Union newspaper. In the fall of 1884 he was elected 
to the State Legislature by the Democrats and was largely instrumental in the passage 
of the bill establishing the custodial asylum for feeble-minded women, which was located 
at Newark and is now a flourishing and useful institution; of this he is secretary and a 
member of the Board of Trustees. In June, 1889, he was appointed superintendent of 
public buildings, which position he filled with ability and honor. One of the first 
innovations made by him was the rule that the national flag should float from the staff 
on the capitol at Albany every week day through the year; this was the origin of that 
other patriotic movement for the display of the flag on public school buildings in this 
State. 

Mr. Burnham at the present time (1894) owns a one-half interest in the Wayne 
County Preserving Company at Newark and has twenty acres devoted to fruit and 
vegetable growing. He has served as supervisor of the town four terms, and as justice 
of the peace eight years. It will be seen that he has found various interests to draw 
him to some extent away from his profession ; but he has always retained his love for it 
and has never relinquished active practice, in which he is recognized as an efficient and 
honorable attorney. 

On August 31, 1865, Mr. Burnham married Nancy A. Dillingham, a niece of Governor 
Dillingham, of Vermont. They have had four children, one of whom died in infancy. 
The others are : George A., Edwin D., and Helen E. 

Mr. Burnham is a member of Vosburgh Post No. 99, G. A. R., of which he has been 
commander four terms. He is also a member of Newark Lodge No. 83, F. & A. M., 
and of the order of Odd Fellows No. 250 ; of the A. 0. U. W. No. 17 ; and of the local 
Grange. 



LYMAN BICKFORD. 

Lyman Bickford was born in East Bloomfield, November 1, 1820, Azariah Bickford, 
his father, being a native of Maine. His grandfather, Rev. James P. Bickford, went to 
Rochester in the year 1812, being one of the first settlers at that time. He afterward 
removed to Michigan, where he died at the age of eighty- four years. Azariah Bickford 
was a blacksmith by trade and started business in East Bloomfield. In 1819 he married 
Philana Perkins, of the town of Victor, and their family consisted of nine children, 
Lyman B. being the eldest. Azariah Bickford died in 1886, aged eighty-four years. 
Lyman Bickford is a machinist and has carried on business since 1842. At present he 
is retired. April 28, 1842, he married Elvira Perkins, and they are the parents of three 
children : Alary, who married Col. Henry P. TTnderhill, dying in her twenty-sixth year, 
and two sons, deceased. Mr. Bickford is a member of the Masonic fraternity, Macedon 



14 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Lodge No. 665. He is a member of the Universalist church. In politics he is a Democrat 
and served as supervisor for five years. He was the founder of the Bickford & 
Huffman Company, now doing business in Macedon village. 



EDGAR D. MILLER. 

Edgar D. Miller was born in Port Gibson, Ontario county, July 11, 1854, was edu- 
cated in the district schools and Macedon Academy, also Genesee Wesleyan Seminary 
at Lima, and also at Fort Edward Institute. He read law with Comstock & Bennett in 
Canandaigua nearly two years, then went to the Albany Law School to complete his 
studies, graduated, and was admitted to the bar in 1876. Since this he has continued 
to practice his profession, sometimes with a partner, and at other times alone. Mr. 
Miller has twice served as village clerk of the village of Newark, and two terms as a 
justice of the peace of the town of Arcadia. He has served as county committeeman 
several years, and has also been several times a delegate to Democratic State conven- 
tions, which party he supports invariably. He was appointed superintendent of Section 
No. 8, Erie Canal, by Hon. Edward Hannan, superintendent of public works, August 
1, 1893. His father, James N., was born in Phelps November 22, 1819, and has been 
a merchant, dealer in real estate, and a farmer. November 3, 1842, he married Mary 
J. Turner, of the town of Manchester, and they had five children: Alice 0., wife of 
David Gray; Frank, Dewilda, both who died young; and Audessa, wife of Edwin 
Van Wormer, by whom she has one daughter, Ollie I., residing with her Grandfather 
Miller. Mrs. Miller died October 24, 1890. Mr. Miller's father, Daniel, was born in 
New Jersey in 1789 and came here with his parents when a boy. He married Jane 
Gunnung, and they had eight children : Nancy A., Cynthia, James N., John J., Melissa, 
Mary J., Caroline, William H., who died young; Edna, and Albert D., who is a farmer 
on the homestead, which has been in the family without a break since the time of 
Edgar D. Miller's great-grandfather, Jacob, who bought it of the government. 
Daniel Miller died August 31, 1852, and his widow August 30, 1878. He was a 
soldier of 1812. 



JOHN STUERWALD. 

Among the many Germans who have in the past left their own country for the freer 
air and better conditions of America, was the father of John Stuerwald, and his wife, 
Lena (Green) Stuerwald, with their children. Charles Stuerwald was born in 1817, 
was a graduate of a college and a man of considerable prominence in his native country, 
held the office of mayor of his town, and was otherwise honored. He died in 1891 and 
his wife in 1893. John Stuerwald was born in Bavaria, Germany, March 2, 1848, and 
was only two jears old when his parents emigrated and settled in Lock Berlin, Wayne 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 15 

county, N. Y. He was given good opportunity to secure an education, through the 
district schools, with two years in the Union School and the academy at Clyde. At the 
age of seventeen years he began teaching school, which he continued in the winters 
until 1S71, during which period he was also employed a part of the time as clerk in 
Lock Berlin. In 1872 he embarked in the furniture and undertaking business in East 
Newark, which he continued with success six years, and then removed to Newark, 
where he greatly extended his business. Locating first in leased property he began in 
1883 the erection of his fine business and residence block on Union street, which he has 
occupied since. Mr. Stuerwald is recognized as a man of good judgment in public as 
well as private affairs; he is a Republican in politics and earnest in support of his party. 
He was chosen trustee of Newark village and held the office eight years, and was 
president of the village one year. He is a member of Newark Lodge No. 83, F. & A. M.; 
Newark Chapter No. 117, R. A. M.; and the K. 0. T. M. No. 115. On February 21, 1874, 
Mr. Stuerwald married Eliza V. Gee, of Newark, and they have one son, Fred, who is 
now a student. 



ORLANDO FRANKLIN THOMAS. 

Orlando Franklin Thomas was born in Brooklyn, L. I., November 12, 1856, and is 
a son of Benjamin Franklin and Anna (Meade) Thomas. The family is descended from 
Scotch ancestry through later English branches. Benjamin F. Thomas was a son of 
Clarence Erastus Thomas, a respected farmer of this State, and was himself a lumber 
dealer of Brooklyn. He died in 1884, leaving a widow, who still survives, and five 
children, all of whom are living. 

Orlando Franklin Thomas received his education in the Brooklyn' Polytechnic Institute, 
finishing in Hines' Military Academy at Garden City, N. Y., which he left when he was 
about fifteen years of age. He early gave evidence of native business qualifications, 
and his first employment after leaving school was as office boy in a large sugar refinery. 
From this position he was advanced to shipping clerk in a coffee warehouse. With some 
unimportant exceptions these two engagements occupied his time until he was twenty- 
four years old, when he made an engagement that was to determine his occupation for 
many years and lay the foundation of a remarkably successful business career. He 
accepted a position to travel in the interest of the Manhattan Silver Plate Company, 
then a very modest establishment in New York city, in which James H. Young was the 
controlling partner. Mr. Thomas not only sold the goods of the company successfully, 
but he also suggested or instituted improvements that greatly advanced the business. 
Three years later he purchased the interest of Mr. Young's partner and took direct 
charge of the factory. He largely increased the line of goods, extended their sale with 
enterprise and vigor, and in three years after becoming a partner larger quarters were 
necessary, and the factory was removed to Brooklyn and established in their own build- 
ing. The business continued to increase, and in 1885, in order to better carry out the 
plans of Mr. Thomas and his associate, the present corporation was formed and Mr. 
Thomas was made secretary and Mr. Young president. The success of the company 



16 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

since that time has been remarkable and is very largely due to the individual efforts of 
Mr. Thomas. In order to escape prevailing labor troubles the company resolved to re- 
move the factory away from Brooklyn, which was accomplished in 1889. The citizens 
of Lyons, Wayne county. N. Y., interested themselves in securing the works for their 
village, a part of the stock being taken by them, and that place was selected for the 
location of the factory. The large brick building now occupied was fitted up and 
adapted for the business, and Mr. Thomas purchased the holding of Mr. Young at the 
time of removal, was made president of the company and the practical direction of the 
immense business has since continued in his hands. Its development since it was brought 
to Lyons has been, perhaps, more astonishing than its previous career, the value of its 
outfit having muliiplied five or six times. Stores have been established for the sale of the 
company's goods in New York, Chicago, St. Louis, San Francisco, and Sydney, Australia. 
These are all managed directly from Lyons and have been placed in successful operation 
under the administration of Mr. Thomas. About 250 hands are now employed in the 
factory. 

In his business intercourse Mr. Thomas is prompt in decision, clear-headed and prac- 
tical in the consideration of new measures, genial and courteous to his fellows, and in- 
spired by faith in himself and the correct business principles which have governed his 
life. Politically he is a Republican, but he has never found time to give more than the 
good citizen's attention to that interest. 

Mr. Thomas was married in 1880 to Emma Yan Cleaf, of Brooklyn. They have one 
child thirteen years old. 



HON. WILLIAM CLARK. 

Hon. William Clark was born at Ovid, Seneca county, N. Y. ; February 9, 1810. 
His ancestors on both his father's and mother's side served with credit in the Revolu- 
tionary war, and on his father's side in the Indian and Colonial wars also. He was 
the oldest son in a family of eight children, four boys and four girls. Two of his 
younger brothers were the late Juds;e John T. Clark of Wisconsin, and Gen. 
Emmons Clark of New York city, for twenty-five years Colonel of the Seventh Regiment, 
and now and since 1866 Secretary of the New York City Health Department. One of 
his sisters is Mrs. Sophronia C. Bottume, of Lyons, widow of the late Dr. E. W. Bottume. 
He moved with his father, William Clark, a well known Presbyterian minister, at the 
age of six years, to Huron, Wayne county, where he remained, except about two 
years — which he spent attending Ovid Academy — until he c:.me to Lyons to study law 
at the age of twenty. Here he entered the office of Graham H. Chapin, and afterwards 
that of John M. Holley. He was admitted to practice as an attorney at law in the 
Supreme Court in January, 1838, and practiced at Lyons for two years, when he 
entered into partnership with John M. Holley, which continued till Mr. HolleyVdeath 
while a Member of Congress. Mr. Clark was also admitted in due course, under the 
system which was then in force in this State, as a counselor at law in the Supreme 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 17 

Court in January, 1841, as a solicitor in chancery in January, 1838. and as a counselor 
in chancery in July, 1843. He was also admitted to practice in the District and Circuit 
Courts of the United States in and for the Northern District of New York in March, 
1842. After Mr. Holley's death Mr. Clark practiced alone down to the time of his 
leaving Lyons for Denver, Colorado, except for a few years when Col. Anson S. Wood, 
now of Wolcott, N. Y., was associated with him under the firm name of Clark & 
Wood, and from 1870 to 1876, when his son, William H. Clark, who was Member of 
Assembly from the Eastern District of Wayne county in 1875, was associated with him 
under the firm name of W. & W. H. Clark. 

He always took a deep interest in politics, first as a Whig and afterwards as a Re 
publican, and was State Senator in 1854-5, and chairman of the Judiciary Committee. 

While a strong and convincing advocate, Mr. Clark was particularly well known as a 
thoroughly informed and safe legal adviser — a reputation which was shown by the term 
almost invariably applied to him, and by which he came to be everywhere known, that 
of "Counselor" Clark. 

Mr. Clark was married October 13, 1847, to Miss Amelia R. Heermans, formerly of 
Nassau, N. Y., who died Oct. 16, 1880. Of their six children two died while quite young. 
The surviving ones are William H. Clark, of Cortland, N. Y., now editor of the Cort- 
land Standard; John H. Clark, for many years principal of the Lyons Union School, 
afterwards superintendent of schools at Flushing, N. Y., and now connected with 
Gunton's College of Social Economics in New York city; and Mrs. James H. Brown 
and Miss Carrie Clark, of Denver, Col. 

In December, 1878, Mr. Clark removed to Denver, Col., for the benefit of his health, 
he having for many. years suffered severely from asthma. It was while on his return to 
that city from a visit at Lyons that he fell from a train near Clyde, 0., July 9, 1890, and 
was instantly killed. He was a member, at the time of his death, of the Central Presby- 
terian Church of Denver. ' 

The Wayne Democratic Press, speaking of him after his death, said : 

" In his profession he was an able counselor and an advanced thinker. He was a man 
of intelligence, well-read, mentally trained. His character nobody ever assailed. He 
was an honest, faithful man. He filled with honor the office of State Senator, and as 
chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and servant of the people was clear- 
headed and firm. He left the legislative hall with a clean record, and during his life he 
was held up to the young men of his time as an example to follow.'" 

The Lyons Republican spoke of him as follows: 

" Few men in Wayne county were better known at the time of his removal to Denver 
than Mr. Clark, and few commanded a larger measure of genuine respect and esteem. 
He was a man of decided opinions and fearless in their expression ; but beneath a 
positive manner he carried a warm heart and kindly disposition that attached his friends 
to him as with hooks of steel. He was a keen observer of events, and his extensive 
and varied information made him an instructive and delightful companion. None who 
met him during his recent visit to his old home in Lyons will forget how happy he 
seemed to be in greeting his old time friends again, or the interest he displayed in the 
growth and improvement of the village that was for so many years his home. Though 



18 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

past his four score years, his step was firm, his voice sonorous, and his bodily health 
apparently unimpaired." 

The following resolutions were adopted by the bar of Wayne county following Mr. 
Clark's death : 

Whereas, Hon. William Clark was for many years a distinguished citizen of Wayne 
county, an eminent member of the bar and filled with distinction while among us high 
public office, and 

Whereas, His choice of a home always remained in Wayne county, and he resided 
away only because afflicted with a physical malady from which he could only find relief 
by absence. Therefore, 

Resolved, That as citizens and members of the bar of Wayne county, we mourn his 
lamentable death and honor and cherish his memory. That we remember him as a 
citizen of great ability, pure life and ever interested in the public welfare ; as a 
lawyer eminent in counsel, able in argument, and true and honorable in his dealings with 
clients and with the members of his profession ; and as a statesman enlightened, incor- 
ruptible, without reproach. 

Resolved, That these resolutions be filed with the records of the county and copies 
sent to the friends of our deceased brother and also to the press for publication." 

The portrait of Mr. Clark which appears in this volume is from a photograph taken 
not long before his death. 



PLINY SEXTON. 

It is a pleasant as well as an imperative duty to place in this historical work on Wayne 
county, a brief account of the life and character of the man whose name stands above. 
In general terms it is wholly proper to state that no one has exerted a wider influence 
for good in this community. 

Pliny Sexton was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, on -January 31, 1796, and was 
brought into what was then Ontario county (now Wayne) by his parents in 1799. The 
family settled temporarily near the present village of Marion, but soon removed to 
what is now the village of Palmyra. In December, 1801, the boy made a journey with 
his mother to visit her mother in Suffield, Conn. This long and trying journey, made 
in a sleigh, was always remembered as replete with incident. They remained east 
until 1803, when they again made the journey westward and lived for a period at what 
has locally been called " the Huddle " on the road to Walworth. In 1805, when the 
boy was only nine years old, he went to work for Sylvanus Conant in a brick yard on 
the creek flats about two miles west of Palmyra. In those early years of arduous toil 
were laid the foundations of character, energy, perseverance, and fidelity which marked 
his personality through life. And the conditions of life and the physical surroundings 
of the people in this part of the country at that time, were far different from those of 
this day. In every direction extended an almost unbroken forest, through which 
roamed at will, wild animals. Speaking of his boyhood experiences, he mentioned 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 19 

being sent, when about eleven years old, alone to drive a cow from Walworth to Lake 
Ontario, all of the way through the woods, and of his fear of meeting bears, which then 
abounded. Even when, after his apprenticeship, he returned to Palmyra, in 1819, as a 
young business man, the country was still in quite a primeval state. The Brie Canal 
was not dug until several years afterward ; railroads were unthought of, and the only 
mode of travel was upon the rude highways by private conveyance or in the public 
stage coach. His journeys to New York for goods, and the return, easily consumed a 
month of time, by stage to Albany and from there by sail vessel down the Hudson 
Eiver, a voyage which baffling winds often extended to a week. The surplus products 
of this country were hauled to Albany by teamsters, who brought back loads of mer- 
chandise. . 

In the year 1808 the family removed to Mayfield, in what is now Fulton county, 
N. Y., and in 1809, when he was thirteen years old, the boy was apprenticed to Caleb 
Johnson, in Johnstown, in the same county, to learn the silversmith's and watch making 
trade. He served there faithfully for eight years as an apprentice, until he was twenty- 
one years old, receiving for his labor his board and clothing and nine months schooling 
— a period of devoted service to acquire properly the means of earning a future liveli- 
hood that is unheard of at the present day. In the fall of 1818 he worked in Auburn 
at his trade and in the manufacture of mathematical instruments, principally surveyor's 
compasses. One of these compasses bearing his name as maker, is now owned by the 
town of Palmyra. In the following year (1819) he returned to Palmyra and made that 
place his home until death. It was only a mere hamlet at that time and finding no 
suitable building for a shop, the young man proceeded to erect one. He was cheerfully 
aided by his brethren of the Society of Friends, kindness that he never forgot or failed 
to recognize on all proper occasions. He had his tools and very little money; but he 
was given credit for lumber, while others aided him in his work on the shop, Asa 
Stoddard building it and taking a brass watch for his pay. It stood about on the site of 
the present Episcopal church. There he began work, making almost anything he was 
called upon for, including sleigh bells, silver spoons, compasses, repairing watches, and 
gradually increasing his stock of goods. 

In 1822 he married, but heiiad already begun building a house, which is still standing 
on the corner of Main and Washington streets, which he occupied before it was finished, 
his previous housekeeping having been in the chambers of Orrin White's dwelling, on 
the site of the Episcopal church lot. In 1823 he brought into the town and sold the 
first cooking stoves. In 1825 he joined with others in erecting the Jenner Block, the 
middle section of which he occupied with his rapidly growing business. In 1828 he 
built and removed to the " corner hardware store," which stood until 1878 on the corner 
of Main and Market streets. There he remained in the hardware business many years. 
His business was conducted as almost all really successful business is — upon principles of 
integrity, fairness, and proper regard for the rights of all ; and of course he was success- 
ful ; successful not alone in acquiring money, but in making for himself a most enviable 
place in the hearts of his fellow citizens. When, therefore, in 1844 he determined upon 
organizing the Palmyra Bank, under the then new free banking law, he found no 
trouble in doing so, for there was no lack of confidence in the enterprise under his 
o 



20 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

management. He soon afterward entered into partnership with the late George W. 
Cuyler in the banking business, which was conducted under the name of '' Cuyler's 
Bank," until 1864, when they organized the present First National Bank of Palmyra, 
of which Mr. Sexton remained vice-president until his death. 

Mr. Sexton had other objects and views besides the mere gaining of wealth. Always 
public spirited, he was active and influential in promoting the foundation of the excellent 
Union School at Palmyra, and in aiding other movements that benefited the place. In 
later years, when he could free himself in a measure from exacting business duties, he 
occupied himself in building up and improving a neglected portion of the village. He 
bought and drained the ''old mill pond property," and converted it into a habitable 
region, at the same time removing a dreaded source of disease and discomfort. Of his 
long business career in Palmyra it was written at the time of his death as follows : 

" Viewed simply as a business life it affords a worthy and encouraging example to 
young men. He began with nothing, and following a life of industry and economy, 
coupled with strict integrity, gained for himself, long before life's close, if not so great 
wealth as some have supposed, all thereof that man need want. And of all his gains 
nothing ever came to him from another's injury. In all his business plans he studied to 
be helpful to others as well as himself. And the one thing to be noted above all else, 
is that the most potent factor in his material success r was the perfect trust and confi- 
dence which his fellow men early came to repose in him, and which he never failed to 
justify. That confidence was typified in the financial panic of 1857. when standing in 
the entrance of the bank of which he was part owner, he found the frightened deposit- 
ors, who were unwilling to longer trust their money to the keeping of the bank, not 
only willing but anxious to take his individual note, without security, and go home con- 
tent leaving their treasure in his hands." 

This is all high praise, but his character eminently deserved it. For it was not alone 
in business that he was accounted successful. He left behind a name and reputation 
of stainless purity. During his mature life he was a member of the Society of Friends 
and imbued with their high ideal of manhood in all of life's relations. Deprived of 
early opportunity for obtaining an education, he began a course of self- teaching and 
reading which ultimately gave him a cultured and refined mind and a large fund of 
general information. All movements for the betterment of his fellows, all ins'ances 
deserving aid and sympathy, found in him a ready and generous benefactor ; and par- 
ticularly was this true of efforts to uplift the moral tone of a community, or the undoing 
of a wrong. He was, therefore, an ardent and active participator in the anti-slavery 
movement, believing slavery not only a curse, but a crime. His house became a well- 
known station on the famous "underground railroad," and many a poor fugitive from 
bondage was aided and protected by Pliny Sexton. 

Mr. Sexton died at his home in Palmyra March 26, 1881, in his 86th year. He left 
surviving the wife of his later years ; a daughter, Mrs. David S. Aldrich, and his son, 
Pliny T. Sexton. 

" He left behind him no one who could owe him an unkind thought, and carried with 
him to the better land the respect and affection of all who knew him." 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 21 

PLINY T. SEXTON. 

Pliny T. Sexton, of Palmyra, son of the foregoing, was born in Palmyra, June 12, 
1840. His mother was Hannah Sexton, a highly cultivated and 'gifted woman, who, 
like her husband, was a member of the Society of Friends, among whom she is still well 
remembered as a preacher of unusual power. 

The son's early circumstances were vastly different from those under which his father 
began life, and were such as would be expected for one blessed with such a father and 
mother. The doors to educational opportunity were early opened wide for him. In 
the Palmyra Classical Union School and in private institutions he acquired a broad 
general education, which was succeeded by a course at the noted Rensselaer Polytechnic 
Institute at Troy, N. Y., whose range of studies extends over a more practically useful 
field than the usual college course. It was desired that he should also have a business 
knowledge of the law, and to that end he entered the New York State and National 
Law School, from which he graduated with the degree of LL.B. in 1859. He was a 
hard student, mastering whatever he read. On attaining to his majority in 1861, he was 
admitted fo the bar of this State, and since has been admitted to practice in the Supreme 
Court of the United States. Mr. Sexton was not destined to closely follow his pro- 
fession. Other interests connected with the business of his father and that later 
developed by himself have occupied his attention and time. It should not be inferred, 
however, that he has altogether neglected the law, which has never lost its attract- 
iveness to him. His interest in the development of legal science has remained deep and 
abiding, and possessing a judicial quality of mind he has thoroughly grounded himself 
in the principles of his profession by continued and careful study in his law library, 
which is one of the best in his vicinity. 

Mr. Sexton succeeded his father in an important banking house, and under his liberal 
and progressive management it has become one of the leading financial institutions of 
the State outside of large cities. It was in 1864 that the First National Bank of Palmyra 
was organized, in the dark days of the Rebellion, when a loan of money to the govern- 
ment was an exhibition of patriotism. He was made its first cashier and since 1876 has 
been its president. His practical financial knowledge and judgment have been manifest 
in the entire history of the institution of which he is the head. 

A lifelong Republican in politics, Mr. Sexton might have been highly honored in that 
field had he so desired. The strife of party politics for personal ends has had little 
attraction for him, but he has never been reluctant to give expression to his enlightened 
views on public questions or active aid to local movements which he believed were for 
the good of the community. Without solicitation on his part he was for four successive 
terms elected president of his native village and retired from the office at his own 
request. For six years he was president of the Board of Education of the Palmyra 
Classical Union School, an office the duties of which were in entire harmony with his 
natural and acquired tastes and in which his influence was most salutary. In 1883 he 
received without his own seeking or attendance at the convention the nomination for 
the honorable and responsible office of State treasurer. This was in the year following 



22 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

the Cleveland tidal wave of 200,000 majority for governor, and of course no Republican 
could be elected. 

In 1890 the Legislature of the State chose Mr. Sexton one of the Regents of the Uni- 
versity of the State of New York. This honorable position gave him opportunity for 
the public development and advancement of theories of education which he had long 
entertained ; and his reputation for scholarship and rare mental vigor and acquirements 
was still further recognized in 1893, when he was elected honorary chancellor of Un:on 
University, Schenectady, and as such delivered the annual address June 28, of that year. 
At that time he received from that institution the degree of Doctor of Laws. He 
chose as his theme on the occasion alluded to, '' Educational Extension,'' his treatment 
of which was in direct line with his previous efforts for that cause. 

This subject of " Educational Extension " has occupied Mr. Sexton's thoughts for 
some years. It is founded upon his belief that educational facilities should not stop at 
the time in young people's lives when they usually leave our schools and colleges, but 
should continue through life, even if they have to be supplied through State aid. He 
was chiefly instrumental in securing the passage by the Legislature in 1891 of the 
so-called University Extension Law, which is only the established name for the objects 
sought by him. Abandoning his private business he spent most of the session in 
Albany. Equipped with facts and ample argument, gifted with rare powers of persua- 
sion, and armed with the conviction of the importance of his mission, he worked as 
lobbyists have seldom worked. He had aid, but he is generally recognized as the parent 
of the measure, which finally became a law. The system has been put into operation to 
some extent and promises great usefulnes, as the projectors anticipated. University 
Extension centers have been established at various points and educators with progressive 
ideas have entered into the work with enthusiasm. While the system had its beginning, 
in name, in England, Mr. Sexton, as well as others, have originated and incorporated in 
it and contemplate for it new ideas which will undoubtedly develop into useful practical 
features. This educational movement was the inspiration of Mr. Sexton's address at 
Union before referred to, which was a clear and unanswerable argument in favor 
of educational extension. 

Mr. Sexton has been thoughtfully interested also in electoral reform, and has recently 
(1894) published a pamphlet suggesting a plan for practicable " Independent voting 
within political party lines," which seeks to bring the election of public officers more 
fully under actual popular control. 

The tastes of Mr. Sexton are domestic and his life and manner unpretentious and 
modest. He was married in September, 1860, to Harriot Hyde, daughter of the late 
Stephen Hyde, of Palmyra, and granddaughter of the Rev. Alvan Hyde, D. D., formerly 
a noted Presbyterian divine, of Lee, Mass. Their Palmyra home is hospitable and 
pleasant. They have also a summer home on Lake George, one of the loveliest spots in 
the country. Both Mrs. and Mr. Sexton are fond of outdoor life, and several years ago 
made a winter horseback tour of the Southern States, traveling in that manner from 
Palmyra to Savannah, G-a. They have no children. 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 23 

CARL BOTCHER. 

Carl Botciier was born in Mechlenberg, Germany, February 28, 1842. His parents, 
Carl and Henrietta (Miller) Botcher, farmers, left their fatherland with their family of 
four sons — two of whom were by Mrs. Botcher's first husband, Christopher Swartz — 
on the 31st of October, 1853, and arrived in New York city January 18, 1854. They 
came direct to Rochester, where they remained two months, and then settled perma- 
nently in the town of Arcadia, Wayne county. Their first home was three miles north 
of Newark village, where Frank Swartz, the eldest of Mrs. Botcher's first children now 
lives. Four years later they removed to the present farm of Carl Botcher, where the 
parents died — the mother in October, 1882, and the father in September, 1884. They 
both possessed the sterling characteristics of native Germans, and were ever first and 
foremost in all matters affecting their countrymen. For many years they were promi- 
nently identified with the Lutheran church of Newark, sustaining it with continued 
liberality and encouraging it by personal attendance and labor. Mr. Botcher was a 
Republican, but never sought political preferment, yet he always gave his influence to 
the betterment of his adopted country. 

Carl Botcher, the third child in the family and the eldest of the two children of Carl 
sr., obtained his education before leaving his native land, and acquired a good knowl- 
edge of all the branches taught in the public schools of Germany. His father had been 
accustomed from early youth to the methods of agriculture as carried on under the 
German nobility, and after coming to the United States could never wholly eradicate 
the principles thus formed from his mind. The son. therefore, at the early age of fif- 
teen, was compelled to take active charge of the farm and ever afterward had the gen- 
eral management of affairs. He readily adopted the most modern methods, applying 
them with unusual success, and in many instances instituted new ideas. His present 
fine farm of 136 acres, adcrned with spacious and substant ; al buildings, all of which 
have been practically erected under his personal supervision, attests the degree of suc- 
cess which has attended his efforts. 

November 16, 1865, Mr. Botcher married Miss Kate Bloom, born March 7, 1846, a 
native of Germany, and the daughter of Conrad Bloom. They have had two children 
a daughter and a son. The latter. Clarence G. Botcher, was born October 18 1871 
was educated at the Newark Union Free School and Academy, and assists his father 
on the homestead. 

Conrad Bloom, the father of Mrs. Carl Botcher, came to America with his family in 
1853 and settled in what is now East Newark. They removed to Missouri in May, 
1867, where he died in February, 1892. and where his widow still resides. They had 
six children, of whom five are living. 



THERON G. YEOMANS. 

Theron G. Teomans was born in Greene county. New York, January 31, 1815. His 
father, Gilbert Yeomans, was born in Dutchess county, N. Y., November 30, 1775. 



24 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

His grandfather, Eliab Yeomans, was born in Dutchess county, N. Y., in 1735. The 
two latter moved to Greene county, N. Y., in 1778. Eliab Yeomans, the grandfather, 
was a noted land surveyor of that early period, and died at the age of ninety-three 
years. 

The mother of our subject was Sarah Bullock, daughter of Asa Bullock. His parent's 
were married October 14, 1802, and Lad born to them ten children, Theron G being 
the only survivor, aged eighty years. He was accustomed to farm life till fifteen yeai 
of age, when he came to Walworth to assist an older brother in mercantile business for 
six years. At the age of twenty-one years he succeeded his brother in the same busi- 
ness, from 1836 to 1845. 

He was married to Lydia A. Stearns, daughter of Royal Stearns of Ontario county, 
N. Y., September 27, 1837! They have three children living: Lucien T., Elon L. and 
Francis C. ; the two former of the firm of T. C. Yeomans & Sons, and the latter, Francis 
C , a resident of the State of Washington. They lost one son, Vaniah G., aged fifteen 
months, and one daughter, Ellen L., aged seven years. 

Mr. Yeomans engaged in the nursery business in 1840, and continued it on an exten- 
sive scale individually about thiity years ; and thereafter in the name of T. G. Yeomans 
& Sons about twenty yeais. Their fine farm is noted for its large orchards, well cared 
for, and for many years celebrated for its large production of choice fruit. A very 
important feature of this farm is the thorough system of drainage adopted many years 
ago, and carried on to the extent of having laid over sixty miles of tile drains; their 
noted drawf pear orchard having a tile drain passing within five feet of every tree. 
The New York State Agricultural Society, in 1852, awarded Mr. Yeomans a silver cup 
valued at twenty-five dollars as a prize for his successful experiments in draining. 

From about 1850 to about 1870 he planted out orchards to the extent of one hun- 
dred and fifty acres, most of which are now in bearing and producing a fair reve- 
nue to the firm. In 1851 he imported from France about three thousand dwarf pear 
trees for an orchard, which at that time was a new departure in the fruit business, 
of which most people predicted failure, though it proved a gratifying success, and 
was the most decisive innovation of the period in pear culture, and is at the present 
time, 1894, vigorous and productive. L. H. Bailey, professor of horticulture of Cornell 
University, while visiting it in its season of fruiting in 1894, said; "It is an inspi- 
ration to me, and is an historical orchard." Many of the trees are from nine to twelve 
inches in diameter and only about eight to ten feet high. 

In 1879 Mr. Yeomans visited Holland, and brought thence that fine strain of Hol- 
stein-Friesian cattle (thirty-three animals), the nucleus of the herd of T. G. Yeomans 
& Sons, which has become famous throughout the country, and the progeny of whicn 
have enriched the stock of countless farms. One of the largest breeders and best judges 
of this breed of cattle pronounces this the most remarkable importation ever made. It 
was this firm, with this herd, who first brought out conspicuously, by actual tests, the 
surprising qualities of this breed for butter production ; which have since been abund- 
antly confirmed and demonstrated by their winning the chief prizes at most of the great 
public contests of the breeds in this country ; and by the production of more butter from 
one cow in a single year than was ever produced by any other cow of any breed, viz. : 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 25 

eleven hundred and fifty-three pounds and fifteen ounces. On the organization of " The 
Holstein-Friesian Association of America," Mr. Yeomans was chosen its first president, 
and some member of their firm has at all times been a member of its official board. Mr. 
Yeomans has not only visited several European countries, but has seen much of Ameri- 
ca, having twice with Mrs. Yeomans visited the Pacific coast, spending three months 
in California, and later visited Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. His several 
other excursions include New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and all of the States of the 
American Union except Texas. Between 1836 and 1845 he held, part of the time, the 
office of town clerk and postmaster; and subsequently justice of the peace for about 
sixteen years. Previous to holding the latter office litigation was quite common, though 
by h ; s method of administration it was so checked that only five or six suits were con- 
tested in his part of the town during the whole period of his official service. He was 
supervisor of Walworth in 1849 and 1850, and is understood to be the only person liv- 
ing who was supervisor either of those years. 

The following year, 1851, he was elected member of assembly, serving two years in 
succession ; he can learn of but two others now living who were members of that hon- 
orable body in 1851, viz.: Hon. William H. Feller, then of Dutchess county, and now of 
Minnesota, and Hon. Hamilton Harris, of Albany. 

He has voted at fifty-nine consecutive annual elections, and in the good old times 
from 1836 to 1846, when elections were held three days at different places in each town, 
he was in the habit orattending all three days at the polls. His first vote was cast for 
Gen. William Henry Harrison in 1836, and he had the pleasure of helping to elect him 
in 1840 ; it is needless to say that he was among the enthusiastic supporters of the old 
General's grandson in 1888. He was a delegate to the Republican National Convention 
in 1884 which nominated James G. Blaine for president. 

Mr. Yeomans' eldest son, L. T. Yeomans, was member of assembly from Wayne 
county in 1872 and 1873 ; his youngest son, Francis O, was two years member of 
assembly in the State of Washington. 

When the rebellion broke out in 1861, and President Lincoln called for 75,000 volun- 
teer soldiers, Mr. Yeomans offered to pay each man who enlisted from Walworth three 
dollars per month extra pay, and paid them through their colonel, Joseph W. Corning, 
of the 33d Regiment, U. S. Vol. 

Under a subsequent call for " 300,000 more " he went to New York city and procured 
enlisted men to fill the quota for Walworth (seventeen or eighteen men). 

About 1840 Mr. Yeomans offered a liberal prize for planting shade trees on the streets 
and public grounds of the village, and an extra prize of twenty-five dollars to the person 
who would plant the greatest number within three-fourths of a mile of the village. 
The result was the planting of many hundreds, which have become in later years the 
ornament and pride of the place. 

The village of Walworth has abundance of nice flag stone and cement walks, a large 
portion of which were provided by Mr. Yeomans, including those about the hotel and 
churches. He took an active part in organizing Walworth Academy more than fifty 
years ago, and has been one of its trustees from the first, and the largest contributor to 
its finances. 



26 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

The town of Walworth is noted for its general neatness and orderly character, which 
may be attributed in some degree to the fact that no license to sell intoxicating drinks 
has been granted there for about sixty years ; and it was the first town in the State to 
refuse such license. 

The public are accommodated with a beautiful and commodious hotel, " The Pacific," 
built and owned by Mr. Yeomans; and since its construction in 1877 has been nicely 
kept on strictly temperance principles, an honor to the town. It is unnecessary to say 
that Mr. Yeomans has been a prime actor in securing and maintaining the public senti- 
ment which favors this desirable condition of things, so beneficial to the community. 

It is only natural that a man of his ability, experience and usefulness, should be a 
great power politically and otherwise in the town and county where he has resided for 
so many years, and where the whole of a busy manhood has been passed. Neverthe- 
less it is rarely the case that for so many years in succession the people of any commu- 
nity trust their affairs to so large an extent to one man. Mr. Yeomans may well feel 
proud of the fact that for so many years his voice and influence have been so decisive 
in the selection of candidates for office, and the choice of delegates to the various gath- 
erings of the Republican party, as well as to the many public interests of the commu- 
nity. 

It shows the confidence with which he has been able to inspire two, or even three 
generations of his fellow townsmen ; and is a most fitting testimonial of the worth and 
sterling integrity of the man. 

The portrait of Mr. Yeomans published herein is copied from a photograph taken 
when he was eighty years of age. 



GEORGE W. COWLES. 

Hon. George W. Cowles was born in December, 1824, in the town of Otisco, Onon- 
daga county, N. Y. He entered Hamilton College, and was graduated in 1845. For 
six years after completing his college course he engaged in farming. He then studied 
law, and was admitted to the bar in 1854, and began practice in Clyde, Wayne county, 
where he has since resided. In 1863 he was elected county judge of Wajme county, 
and again in 1867. In 1868 he was chosen member of congress and earned an enviable 
record in that body. In 1873 he was again chosen county judge, and was re-elected to 
the same position in 1885. He is now practicing his profession at Clyde. 



NEWELL E. LANDON, M. D 

Newell E. Landon, M. D., eldest son of Zera N. and Sarah A. (Adams) Landon, was 
born in Newark, this county, March 3, 1852. Zera N. Landon, son of James, was a na- 
tive of Washington county, N. Y. He was a teamster and subsequently a farmer, and 
about 1850 settled in thetown of Arcadia, where* he died November,9, 1893, aged 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 27 

nearly seventy-four. His wife's death occurred May 18, 1894, in her sixty-second year. 
She was a daughter of William Adams, who died in Palmyra in 1863, at the age of 
seventy-seven, after a residence in the town of about forty years. Their children 
were Dr. Newell E. ; William A., of Newark ; Charles S., who died in 1892 ; and Eudora 
A., of Newark. 

Dr. Newell E. Landon was reared on the farm and acquired his literary education in 
the common schools and in the Newark Union Free School and Academy. At the age 
of three years he removed with his parents to the town of Palmyra, where the family 
remained until 1864, when they purchased a farm about two miles from Newark vil- 
lage. Here the remainder of his boyhood days were passed. Having determined to 
adopt medicine as his life work young Landon entered the office of Dr. Charles G-. 
Pomeroy in Newark in October, 1872, where he thoroughly prepared himself for his 
chosen profession. He became a student in the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 
New York city (the Medical Department of Columbia College) and was, graduated from 
that institution with the class of 1876, receiving a hospital appointment. By the advice of 
Dr. Pomeroy, however, he declined the post, returned to Newark, and accepted a part- 
nership with his preceptor, which continued four years. In January, 1880, Dr. Landon 
married Miss Mary Easton and soon afterward located in Rochester, where he remained 
a year and a half. Owing to the ill health of his wife he returned to Newark, where 
he has ever since resided. Mrs. Landon died in December, 1882, and in October, 1886, 
he married Miss Alice Russell, daughter of L. C. Russell, 1 of Port Grtbson, Ontario 
county. 

Dr. Landon for several years was connected with the State Custodial Asylum for 
Feeble Minded Women of Newark, first as attending physician and afterward as con- 
sulting physician and surgeon. He is now Division Surgeon for the West Shore and 
Northern Central railroads, a member of the Wayne County Medical Society, New York 
State Medical Association, Central New York Medical_ Society, American Medical As- 
sociation, and National Association of Railway Surgeons, and medical examiner for the 
New York Life, New York Mutual Life, Massachusetts Mutual Life, Northwestern 
Mutual Life, and John Hancock Life Insurance Companies. He is also a member of 
Newark Lodge, No. 83, F. and A. M., and Chapter 117 R/A. M., and a member and 
examining surgeon of the K. 0. T. M. and E. K. 0. R. Besides these he has served as 
president of the village one term and health officer of the town several years. 

Thoroughly devoted to his chosen calling Dr. Landon is a close student, critical and 
quick in comprehension, unusually accurate and keen in diagonsis, and clear yet scien- 
tific in treatment. He has established a large and successful practice, and is justly 
conceded a prominent place among the leading physicians of Western New York. As 
a surgeon he is skillful and unerring, and has performed nearly all of the more difficult 
operations in his locality during the past dozen years. He also takes an active interest 

1 Capt. Russell was for many years a very prominent citizen of that locality. He carried on an 
extensive grain and produce trade, was a large dealer in general merchandise, ran a packet on the 
canal before the days of railroad travel, and served some time as postmaster. For nearly half 
of a century he was the principal business man of Port Gibson. He died in September, 1876, aged 
seventy years. 
D 



28 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

in local affairs, particularly in educational and social matters, lending his aid and influ- 
ence in promoting every good cause. In all of these he is ably seconded and assisted 
by his estimable wife, who is actively identified with many local organizations. 



JACOB FISHER. 

Jacob Fisher was born in the grand duchy of Baden, Germany, October 29, 1831. 
His father, Sebastian Fischer, was a mechanic and died in his native land. The mother, 
Margaret Fischer (Americanized Fisher), came with her son Jacob to America in the 
spring of 1853. She settled in Rochester and subsequently came to Lyons, where her 
death occurred in 1885 at the age of eighty years. 

Jacob Fisher inherited in full measure the unswerving honesty of purpose, the native 
ability, and the simplicity of earnestness which characterized his parents, and before 
leaving his fatherland had acquired a good practical education in the public schools. He 
early became inured to hard labor and acquired habits of thrift and frugality which 
guided the whole of his after career. His first work in this country was on a farm near 
Rochester ; later he was employed in a furnace in that city. Neither of these occupations 
suited his tastes and he therefore directed his efforts into other channels. In 1857 he began 
to learn his trade in the Rochester pottery, where he remained until December, 1872, 
when he came to Lyons village, which has since been his home. Upon his arrival he 
leased of Thompson Harrington the Lyons pottery (established in 1825), which he con- 
ducted until about 1880, when he purchased the establishment and has since been prac- 
tically its sole owner. Excepting a partnership with George Lang, covering about two 
years, he has carried on the business alone. 

When Mr. Fisher first leased the Lyons pottery it was a very small concern with a 
single kiln. In 1885 he put in another kiln of more than double the capacity of the 
original one, and about two years later built a brick addition known as the " blue room." 
Subsequently a second kiln replaced the first one, making two now in operation ; a large 
brick building 28 by 80 feet was erected, and steam power with all the latest improve- 
ments and conveniences was added, increasing the original capacity more than six-fold. 
About thirty-five persons are employed and the weekly pay roll amounts to some $300. 
Stoneware of all kinds is manufactured and shipped to all parts of the United States. 
The capacity of the plant is about seventy-five kilns of 9,000 to 10,000 gallons per 
annum. 

Mr. Fisher is well known in every village in Western New York. His business has 
brought him into wide prominence and has earned for him an enviable reputation for 
honesty and fair dealing. Observing with a keen discernment the needs of his exten- 
sive trade he has constantly increased it by legitimate innovations and modern improve- 
ments, adding to the capacity of his plant as necessity demanded and pushing his wares 
into new territory whenever an opportunity was presented. His long connection with 
the pottery trade has made his name a synonym for excellence, reliance, and substantial 
worth. In politics not only himself but his family are staunch Republicans, but all 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 29 

have eschewed political preferment. During one term, however, Mr. Fisher served as 
village trustee. In religion the family are German Methodists, to which denomination 
all have contributed liberally of both time and means. 

In July, 1858, Mr. Fisher married Miss Theresa Burger, of Rochester, by whom he 
has had four children, all living. Edmund Fisher, the eldest, is the principal traveling 
salesman for his father, being assisted on the road by Eben Bourne. William F. is cap- 
tain of the boat Louisa (named from his youngest daughter), which is used in shipping 
goods to all points along the Erie Canal. The daughters are Amelia and Louisa, the 
latter being the bookkeeper and cashier of the works. 



HIRAM GILBERT HOTCHKISS. 

Hiram G. Hotchkiss, the subject of this sketch, son of Leman and Theodosia (Gil- 
bert) Hotchkiss, was born in Oneida county, N. Y., June 19, 1810. Leman Hotchkiss 
was a merchant, and in 1811 removed with his family to Phelps, Ontario county, where, 
with David McNeil as a partner, he opened a general store, the first in the~town. The 
firm of Hotchkiss & McNeil became one of the best known mercantile establishments 
in Western New York, doing a business of over one hundred thousand dollars per 
annum. In 1816 Leman Hotchkiss started a store in Lyons, under the firm name of 
Leach & Demmon, which continued business many years. In 1822 Hotchkiss & 
McNeil started the fir.<t general store in what is now Newark village, then called Mil- 
ler's Basin, in which they placed Hiram G., then twelve years old, as clerk, he being the 
first clerk employed in a store in that place. 

Although the educational facilities of Western New York at this early day were limited 
Mr. Hotchkiss's education was not neglected, and he grasped every opportunity which 
was presented to educate and fit himself for the life that was to follow (i. e. a successful 
merchant. At the age of eighteen he, with his brother Leman B., and a cousin, William 
T. Hotchkiss, opened a general store in Phelps and successfully operated two mills in 
Phelps and one in Seneca Falls, the combined capacity being over 500 barrels daily. 

In 1837 while engaged in this business, Mr. Hotchkiss began buying oil of pepper- 
mint of farmers along with their wheat, which was then produced in very small quan- 
tities ; and having accumulated a quantity of this essential oil he sent it to the New 
York markets, but without success. The business at that time was wholly in the hands 
of adulterators and his oil being pure he was obliged to recall it. But nothing daunted, 
Mr. Hotchkiss bottled his oil and consigned it to London and Rotterdam, where it al- 
most immediately sprung into general favor. His label soon gained a wide reputation 
and became a substantial guarantee for purity and strength. In 1837 he [disposed of 
his store and began the manufacture of American essential oils in Phelps, and so rapidly 
did his business increase that it required his entire attention and has since become his 
life work. In April, 1844, Mr. Hotchkiss disposed of his milling interest and with his 
family removed to Lyons, purchasing a large tract of land and beginning the cultivation 
of American essential oils on a large scale. Here he has ever since resided. 



30 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Mr. Hotchkiss may be truthfully regarded as the father of the essential oil business 
in America. He began in a very small way, selling less than 1,000 pounds the first 
year. He boldly and unswervingly adhered to a high standard of beauty and purity, 
and by strict honesty and fair dealing rapidly built up a trade covering not only all 
portions of the United States but commanding the markets of the civilized world, un- 
til now the output of American essential oils under the H. G. Hotchkiss brand is over 
100,000 pounds per annum, and which has largely increased the value of the essential 
oil lands of this county. 

The manufacture includes oils of peppermint, spearmint, wintergreen, wormwood, 
sassafras, pennyroyal, and tansy, the first two, however, being of paramount importance. 
These oils lead the world, control the largest markets of the globe, and bring to Lyons 
thousands of dollars annually. It is the only brand that maintains any credit on the 
London and Continential European exchanges. In 1878 Mr. Hotchkiss visited Europe 
and was everywhere received and entertained in the most complimentary manner by 
the leading merchants of the old world. In London he was escorted.to the floor of the 
world-renowned London Exchange, and then and there complimented on the standing of 
his brand of essential oils, an honor, to say the least, that has been extended to but few 
Americans. Since 1851 Mr. Hotchkiss has taken the first prize medals and diplomas on 
his brand of oils at the following World's fairs, viz.: At London in 1851 and 1862; at 
New York in 1853 ; at Paris in 1856, 1867, and 1878 ; at Hamburg in 1863 ; at Vienna, 
Austria, in 1873; at Philadelphia in 1876; at Chicago in 1893; and others besides of 
a local nature, and it is through this business that Mr. Hotchkiss has become the most 
widely known man in Wayne county. In fact there is not a town in all the civilized 
world large enough to support a drug store or confectioner's shop but what the name 
of H. G. Hotchkiss, the Peppermint King, is a household word. 

On January 3, 1833, Mr. Hotchkiss married Mary Williams Ashley, daughter of Doctor 
Robert Ashley, of Lyons. To them were born three sons and nine daughters: Ellen O, 
widow of the late Col. Alexander D. Adams; Mary, deceased, wife of Thomas P. Attix, 
of Brooklyn; Emma T., widow of the late Rev. Charles H. Piatt, of Binghamton, N. Y. ; 
Theodosia, died in infancy ; Lisette, widow of the late Henry C. Parshall, of Lyons ; 
Annie, deceased, wife of Charles H. Dickerson, of Detroit, Mich.; Leman, deceased, 
the first Democrat elected member of Assembly in the 2d district of Wayne county ; 
Adrianna D., wife of Rev. William H. Williams, of Lyons; Clara, died in Albany at 
the age of twelve years ; Calvin and Hiram G., jr., now associated with their father in 
the essential oil business ; and Alice M. A., wife of William G. David, of New York 
city. Mrs. Hotchkiss died in 1886. 

Mr. Hotchkiss, through an honorable connection with the essential oil trade, is best 
known. He has made his own name and that of his town familiar to all countries and 
climes. For many years he has led an active life, and now, at the age of eighty-five, 
we find him hale and hearty with his mind and body unimpaired, and with prospects of 
of a useful life before him. As a business man he has been eminently successful, and 
in local matters affecting the welfare of his town he has always taken an abiding in- 
terest. In religion he is an Episcopalian and in politics a Democrat, but in no sense has 
he ever been an office seeker. Public spirited, liberal, and kind hearted, he is emphatic- 
ally a local benefactor. 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 31 

FREPERICK WINTER GRIFFITH. 

Every person born into the world fills a peculiar niche in the great sea of human 
activity, and when a single individual, through his own exertions, attains the distinction 
of a successful man his career, even though it be incomplete, becomes a matter worthy 
of permanent record. Genealogical data, when traced back into centuries gone by, 
often presents gaps almost unconnectable, yet it is none the less interesting, for cer- 
tainly some light will be thrown upon facts rapidly passing out the cotemporary biogra- 
pher's reach. 

The Griffith family is of Welch origin and the branch under consideration dates its 
lineage from one Joseph, whose father settled in Virginia early in the eighteenth cen- 
tury. Joseph Griffith, after having served in the Eevolutionary war, became a resident 
of Luzerne county, Pa., whence he removed to Phelps, Ontario county, N. Y., in 1803 
being one of the pioneers of that now rich and fertile locality. There his son John was 
born, and there he lived and died. There John W., son of John, was born March 25, 1830. 
All were quiet, substantial farmers and good business men. Joseph and John (his son) 
were early and active members of the Presbyterian Church at Oaks Corners, about two 
miles east of Phelps, which was the first religious organization in that town. John W. 
Griffith, however, united with the Methodists as soon as an M..E. church was established 
in the village, and lived and died in that belief. He possessed unusual natural ability, was 
a remarkably keen observer of human nature, was well read and posted on all current 
topics, and without advantages obtained a knowledge at once broad, thorough, and com- 
prehensive. He was an ardent and staunch Republican, but eschewed all political prefer- 
ment. He married Charlotte E. Malette ' and died at Clifton Springs, N. Y., Novem- 
ber 21, 1891. They had seven children, of whom six are living, viz.: Frederick W. ; 
John C, a lawyer in Buffalo; James M., of Geneva; Mary E., of Palmyra; Frank A. 
on the old homestead in Phelps ; and Helena M., of Palmyra. 

Frederick W. Griffith, the eldest of these children, was born on the family homestead 
in Phelps on December 17, 1858, and spent his early life on the farm and in the district 
schools, supplementing his preliminary education with a brief attendance at the Phelps 
Union Classical School. At the age of eighteen he began the trade of a printer with 
his uncle, James Malette, on the Geneva Courier, where he remained until 1881, being 
associate editor during the last year of his residence there. Returning to Phelps he 
prepared himself for college at the Union and Classical School, and in the fall of 1882 en-' 
tered Hamilton College, from which he was graduated as a bachelor of arts and as a 
high honor man with the class of 1886. His entire education was obtained wholly 

1 The lineage of the Malette family is traced back to Pierre Malet, who was born in France in 
1695. Following the edict of Louis XV, which deprived all Protestants of legal rights in the courts 
and made their property subject 10 confiscation by the crown, he sailed to America in 1724 or 1725 
with his wife and son Pierre, and other Huguenots. He located in Baltimore as a shipbuilder, but 
soon removed to Reading, Conn., where he engaged in farming. He was distinguished for his 
piety, and his wife possessed decided energy of spirit. His posterity were (2) Pierre, or Peter, 
born in 1720 ; (3) Philip, born in 1751 ; (4) Levi, born in 1786 ; (5) Isaac ; (6) Charlotte E. (Mrs. John 
W. Griffith) ; (7) Frederick W. Griffith, the subject of this sketch. The orthography of the name 
Malet was long since Americanized into the modern Malette. 



32 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

through his own exertions. His father's limited means afforded him only small assistance 
in a pecuniary way, and the struggle was all the more severe because of the apparent afflu- 
ence of classmates. He is, in consequence, a self-made man in every sense of the term, 
and exemplifies the courage, perseverance, and single-mindedness of true American 
youth and manhood. With an ambition born of purpose and constancy he schooled 
himself not only in the vast field of literary and mathematical research but in all the 
requirements of life and advantages derived from a diversified knowledge. Leaving 
college he was for one year an instructor in Greek and Latin in Kirkland Hall, a boys' 
preparatory school at Clinton, N. Y., and in 1889 his alma mater conferred upon him 
the honorary degree of A. M. 

In the autumn of 1887 Mr. Griffith came to Palmyra and associated himself in busi- 
ness with 0. J. Garlock and Eugene Nichols, both men of exceptional ability and pecu- 
liarly adapted to the work which has since proved so successful. The firm, which was 
organized by these three gentlemen in September of that year, adopted the name of 
The Garlock Packing Company, which it still bears, manufacturing packings for steam, 
water, and ammonia. The business started with little cspital and with an output of 
$1,500 monthly. It has steadily increased in volume and now produces about $350,000 
worth of goods per annum. The firm has offices under their own name in all the piinci- 
pal cities of the United States and also a branch factory in Rome. Ga. It is one of the 
leading manufacturing establishments in the county. 

October 1, 1889, Mr. Griffith married Miss Mary E. Adams, daughter of M. C. Adams, 
a native of Oneida county and a farmer of Phelps, N. Y. They have one child, Fred- 
erick Adams Griffith, born September 7, 1894. Mr. Griffith is an elder in the Presby- 
terian church and thoroughly identified with every movement of public importance. 



CHARLES H. FORD. 

Charles H. Ford, son of Harvey W. and Nancy (Little) Ford, now residents of 
Oneida county, was born in Utica, N. Y., October 19, 1861. He is the eldest of three 
children ajid spent his boyhood in the place of his birth. His education was acquired 
in the public schools, in Boonville Academy, in Whitestown Seminary, and in the 
Utica Business College, institutions which thoroughly equipped him with a practical 
knowledge of all the English branches and many of the classics. His first employment 
was as a clerk in a store. In 1877 he went to Auburn to fill a responsible position in a 
large wholesale tobacco house, where he remained four years. In 1881 he came to 
Clyde, Wayne county, where he has ever since resided, and where he engaged in busi- 
ness for himself under the firm name of Smith & Ford, wholesale tobacco dealers, a 
partnership that continued untilSeptember, 1893. Since then Mr. Ford has conducted 
the business alone. 

During the period of fourteen years which Mr. Ford has spent as a citizen of this 
county he has become thoroughly identified with both public and business affairs. His 
private commercial operations have placed him among the leaders in finance and execu- 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 33 

tive management, while his active connection with other enterprises distinguishes him 
for rare ability and unerring judgment. He was one of the originators of the Clyde 
Electric Light and Power Company, of which he has been president and is now a direc- 
tor and a large stockholder. He is a Democrat in politics and has always taken a fore- 
most part in all political movements. He has served as trustee of the village of Clyde 
one term and as supervisor of the town of Galen two years. In the latter capacity he 
was instrumental in changing the sheriff's office to its present status, drafting the bill 
and fathering it to a passage and a law, thus fixing the extremely low salary now paid. 
He was influential also in changing the county clerk's office as it now exists. Both 
these changes have proven inestimably beneficial to taxpayers. He was appointed 
canal superintendent by Governor Hill and re appointed by Governor Flower, serving 
in all nearly three years, and in this capacity attained a large circle of acquaintances 
and great political power. He resigned this office in May, 1893, and in March, 1894, 
was appointed sheriff of the county to fill the unexpired term (to January 1, 1895) of 
Walter Thornton, deceased. He has frequently been a delegate to county and district 
conventions and represented his constituents in this capacity at the Democratic State 
conventions of 1S91 and 1894, In all these positions Mr. Ford served with rare ability, 
with strict fidelity, and with shrewd political tact. He is in every sense of the term a 
public spirited citizen. 

He is a member of the Wheeler Rifles (Auburn) N. G. S. N. Y. and of Wayne En- 
campment, I. 0. 0. F., Newark. He is past grand of Clyde Lodge, No. 300, 1. 0. 0. F., 
captain of Canton Galen, No. 49, Clyde, and for six years was foreman of Protective 
Hook and Ladder Company, Clyde. 

November 30, 1886, Mr. Ford married Miss Emily W. Gilbert, daughter of the late 
Horace Gilbert, who was connected with the post-office at Auburn for nearly a quarter 
of a century. They have had one son, Vivian C, born November 20, 1890. 



MARVIN I. GREENWOOD. 

Marvin I. Greenwood is a son of Ira and Clarissa M. (Moseley) Greenwood, natives 
of Madison county, near Hamilton, and was born January 31, 1840, near _Chittenango, 
N. Y, The father was of Scotch origin while the mother sprung from English ancestry ; 
they were farmers by occupation, the former being, however, a carpenter by trade. 
They moved with their family to the town of Marion, Wayne county, in April, 1840, 
but five years later settled in Palmyra. In the spring of 1855 they removed to Arcadia, 
where both died — the mother in December, 1863, and the father in December, 1884, 
December being also the month of their marriage. 

M. I. Greenwood was educated in the common schools of Wayne county, in the 
Walworth Academy, and in the Newark Union Free School and Academy. Leaving 
the farm, on which he had been reared, he commenced reading law in the office of Hon. 
L. M. Norton in Newark, and in December, 1868, was admitted to the bar at Rochester, 
General Term. Mr. Norton was elected county judge and surrogate in November, 



84 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

1869, and Mr. Greenwood remained in his office during his term of four years, or until 
1875, when he began the practice of his profession alone, in which capacity he has since 
continued. Born in the Harrison year of 1840 he has always been a steadfast Republi- 
can, and in various capacities has served his party with distinction and ability. He has 
been a justice of the peace several terms, and from 1877 to 1879 inclusive was district 
attorney of Wayne county. 

In the Masonic fraternity perhaps no man in Western New York is better known or 
more properly distinguished than is Mr. Greenwood. His connection with the order 
dates from February, 1865, when he joined Newark Lodge, No. 83, F. ard A. M., 
which he served as master during a period of fourteen years. He has risen to Knight 
Templar and a thirty-second degree Mason, being a member of Zenobia Commandery, 
No. 41, K. T., and of Rochester Consistory thirty-second degree. Besides holding all 
the minor offices he has been high priest of Newark Royal Arch Chapter twelve years, 
member of the commission of appeals of the Grand Lodge of the State three years, 
grand scribe and grand king of the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of the State of New 
York each three years, and prelate of Zenobia Commandery, K. T., four years He is 
now deputy high priest of the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of the State and the repre- 
sentative of the Grand Lodge of West Virginia in the Grand Lodge of New York. 

November 16, 1862, Mr. Greenwood united in marriage with Miss Laura F. Wads- 
worth, a native of Phelps. N. Y., and a daughter of Joseph Wadsworth of that place. 
They had two sons, Frank M. and Will W. Frank M. Greenwood was born May 4, 
1864, graduated from the Newark Union Free School and Academy, and was accident- 
ally killed on the West Shore Railroad in Newark early on the foggy morning of Novem- 
ber 3, 1883, while performing his duties as timekeeper and clerk for Ryan & McDonald 
contractors. He was a very promising young man and a general favorite every- 
where. Will W. Greenwood was born April 14, 1870, and is now the manager for 
the firm of George A. Horn & C, manufacturers of garment fitting machines in 
Newark. He served a term of three years in the Seventh Cavalry U. S. Regular 
Army and was orderly sergeant at the time of his discharge at Fort Hancock, Texas, in 
September, 1893. He participated in the fight at Pine Ridge Agency and two or three 
days later was wounded in the leg at the battle of Wounded Knee, South Dakota. 



JAMES W. DUNWELL. 

The ancestors of this sketch have been Americans for five generations. 

The first of his father's family to come to this country was an English soldier, who 
served under General Wolfe in the campaign that terminated with the fall of Quebec. 
The advent of his mother's ancestors in this country, who came from Holland, antedates 
the Revolution, during which members of the family bore arms in the army of General 
Schuyler. Subsequently they settled in Connecticut and in the eastern counties of 
New York, some of whom migrated later to Western New York. His father's family 
settled in Wayne and his mother's family in Cayuga county. 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 35 

Almerin Dunwell, the father of James W., was born in Sodus, Wayne county, in 
1815, and died at Lyons in 1866. He was a mechanic and at different periods of his 
life pursued the occupations of farmer, manufacturer and contractor. He married 
Elizabeth H. Storms of Mentz, Cayuga county, whose death took place at Lyons in 
1884. They had two children, Charles T. Dunwell of New York city, a lawyer by 
profession, and James W. Dunwell, the subject of this sketch. 

James W. Dunwell was born at East Newark, Wayne county, N. Y, December 19, 
1850. He acquired a good education, beginning in the district schools, later attending 
the Lyons Union School, and finishing with parts of three years (1869-71) in Cornell 
University. He left the university in June, 1871, to finish his law studies in the office 
of Col. Joseph Welling of Lyons. But it must not be inferred that this was the be- 
ginning of his law studies. He began when he was seventeen years of age in the office 
of John T. Mackenzie of Lyons, and followed him to New York city when he went 
thither to become a partner with the late General James W. Husted. 

After two years of study with Colonel Welling, succeeding his course in the univer- 
sity, Mr. Dunwell was admitted to the bar at the General Term in Buffalo in June, 
1873. During his studies he had begun to engage in the trial of cases in Justice's Court 
and to conduct appeals arising in his cases in County Court, his talents as a trial lawyer 
being thus early developed. 

As soon as he was admitted to practice Mr. Dunwell formed a partnership with 
Colonel Welling, which continued about two years, and with gratifying success. Fol- 
lowing this period he practiced alone about two years and down to the time in 1877 
when he became associated with the late Hon. John H. Camp in that harmonious and 
most successful partnership which closed only with Mr. Camp's death in 1892. 

Mr. Dunwell is a trial lawyer. It is in active, spirited litigation, where the stakes 
are large and the interests great, that he feels most happily situated. For routine office 
work he has little taste except as it is connected with his litigated cases. With his 
partner he acted as attorney for the New York Central and West Shore Railroads, and 
since Mr. Camp's death the legal interests of the R. W. & 0. road have been placed in 
his hands. He has recently acted as attorney for the county of Wayne and village of 
Lyons in highly important litigation, and is regularly retained by other corporate and 
individual interests in the territory over which his practice extends. He possesses in a 
high degree the intuitive faculty for anticipating the course of his opponent in a case 
and the best plan with which to meet it — a qualification which, when coupled with his 
large general knowledge of law, acquired by years of experience in litigation, his 
thorough preparation, his quick and alert perception of every weak point in his adver- 
sary's case, and his power in impressing court and jury, render Mr. Dunwell a foeman 
at the bar by whom it is honorable even to be defeated. 

Mr. Dunwell has never held a public office. Not for the reason that he might not if 
he had so aspired, for he is one of the most efficient and practical workers in the ranks 
of the Republican party ; but his aim to achieve a high standing in his profession has 
precluded all thoughts of political preferment. He serves on committees of his party 
and at conventions with the most delightful facility and with that broad influence that 
always follows the efforts of those whose single purpose is to promote their party's 

E 



36 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

cause. Political jealousy is an unknown sentiment to him, for his party service has 
always inured incidentally to the upbuilding of the political fortunes of others, without 
reward to himself except the delight he shares in his friends' prosperity. 

He was working in caucuses and speaking at conventions by the time he reached his 
majority, and he has been at it ever since. As a delegate to county, district, assembly, 
senatorial and congressional conventions he has served constantly. He was a delegate 
to the National Republican Convention at Minneapolis in 1892, and at the State Con- 
vention at Saratoga in 1894. These 'valuable services his fellow citizens stand ready to 
reward substantially whenever he will accept public preferment. 

Socially, Mr. Dunwell is the courteous gentleman always. Peculiarly outspoken and 
open in his personal communications with his fellows; fluent and easy in conversation, 
his words always bear weight and render him an agreeable companion, whether for an 
hour or a day. 

Mr. Dunwell married on May 22, 1873, Mary Ella Groat, daughter of Hon. Richard P. 
Groat, a prominent citizen of Newark. They have one daughter, born in February, 
187C 



THE GAYLORD FAMILY. 

This family traces its ancestry back to the Huguenots who emigrated from France 
and settled in England. Dr. Levi Gaylord, the first of the family to settle in 
Wayne county, was a son of Chauncey, who came from Bristol, Conn., and settled at 
Otisco, N. Y. He was a member of Washington's staff in the Revolution. Dr. Gay- 
lord was a graduate of Yale, came to Sodus in 1823, and engaged in the practice of 
medicine. He was known throughout the State as one of the leading Abolitionists 
and temperance workers of the day. He married firs^, Dotia Merriman, by whom he 
had one son, Levi M., who studied medicine and located in Sodus. where he died in 1890. 
Dr. Gaylord married second, Artimesia Squires. She studied medicine, and for many 
years enjoyed an extensive practice. Dr. Gaylord died in 1852 and his wife in 1893, 
aged nearly ninety-five. Their children were Willis T., Charles D., Orrin F., and Dotia 
C, Artimesia G., Cornelia M. and Sarah S. Dotia married S. P. Hulett; Artimesia 
married Dr. Alfred P. Crafts and settled in Wolcott; Cornelia married Prof. S. D. 
Hillman, of Carlisle, Pa. ; Sarah married a Mr. West of this town ; Willis T. on arriv- 
ing at manhood became a clerk, and in 1851 engaged in the dry goods trade in Sodus, 
and throughout his long and successful business career has maintained a reputation for 
the utmost integrity. He is a prominent member and officer of the Presbyterian church, 
with which he has been identified over forty years. He married first Elizabeth Landon, 
and had two children : Carlton D. and Elizabeth H. In 1864 he married second Mary 
Preston, by whom he had three children, only Willis T. surviving. Charles D. Gaylord 
moved to Lyons on arriving at manhood, where he held a clerkship. In 1855 he went 
to Milwaukee, where until 1861 he conducted a hardware business. Returning to 
Sodus he engaged in the same line until 1881, when he retired and was succeeded by 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 87 

his son, Frank D. In that year, with S. P. Hulett, he established the banking house of 
Hulett & Gaylord, which partnership was severed by the death of Mr. Hulett in 1884, 
and Mr. Gaylord has since continued the business alone. He was supervisor in 1876, 
is a member of Sodus Lodge No. 392, F. & A. M., and of Wayne Chapter, and also 
belongs to the R. T. of T., and has been a prominent member and officer of the Presby- 
terian church for over twenty years. In 1857 he married Jennie R. Gaylord of Lima, 
and their children are : Frank D., Charles W. and Dora T. Orrin T. Gaylord settled in 
Oswego and was a partner for several years with Irwin Sloane & Co., and later a mem- 
ber of the firm of Gaylord, Downey & Co., extensive grain dealers of that city. 



LAMOTT M. BLAKELY. 

Lamott M. Blakely, mayor of the village of Lyons, was born in Perry, Wyoming 
county, N. Y., November 19, 1828. His father, Jason^ Blakely, a native of Vermont, 
settled on a farm in that county about 1816, and died there. t Ezra Blakely, the father of 
Jason, was a Revolutionary soldier and lived and died in Manchester, Vt. Jason married 
Mary Ward, the daughter of a veteran of the Revolution; her mother, a Miss Butler 
was a cousin of the late Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, of Massachusetts. Mrs. Blakely died 
in Lyons April 22, 1879. 

Lamott M. Blakely obtained Jiis education in the district schools of his native county 
and in Honeoye and Richmond Mills in Ontario county, finishing in the academy at East 
Bloomfield under that celebrated instructor, Professor Clark, author of Clark's Gram- 
mar, etc. He inherited the Scotch characteristics of his father andthe English stability 
of his mother, which, combined, make one of the strongest individualities known in 
human nature. In 1848 Mr. Blakely came to Lyons, but soon afterward went to Iowa 
and Illinois, where he engaged extensively in the lumber trade, becoming a heavy shipper 
from various places on the Mississippi River in Iowa to all points below St. Joseph on 
the Missouri. He continued the northwestern lumber enterprises until the breaking out 
of the Rebellion, which closed all traffic for the time on the Missouri River. The business 
brought him into wide prominence and into contact with representatives of immense 
interests everywhere. In 1862 he was sent as a delegate to the Iowa Republican State 
Convention at Des Moines. In 1864 he settled in Lyons,]where he has ever since main- 
tained a legal residence. 

His great activity craved broader fields of operation, and at the close of the Civil war 
he engaged in the cotton business at Atlanta, Ga., where he handled large quantities of 
that product. From 1866 to 1870 he also carried on the trade at Washington, N. C, and 
at other places, including Newbern and Greenville. At one time he handled a large 
portion of all the cotton received at those points. In the meantime he resumed the 
lumber business and soon became one of the largest operators in the South, the principal 
varieties handled being pine, juniper, and cypress. These operations extended over a 
period of nearly twenty years, and brought him into personal contact with all the lead- 
ing men of the time. Georgetown, S. C, and Washington and Newbern, N. C, were 



38 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

the principal seats of these enterprises, which extended many miles inland. No man 
sustained a better or a wider reputation throughout the States of North and South 
Carolina and Georgia. His name became almost a household word, and his integrity 
and responsibility were never questioned. He won the good will and profound respect of 
every southern family and still counts many of their members on his long list of warmest 
friends. He disbursed hundreds of thousands of dollars among the inhabitants, and 
generously performed and received many acts of kindness. Scarcely a southerner passes 
through Lyons without halting for a visit to their old-time friend and co-laborer. His 
great business ability, his universal popularity, his steadfastness and unswerving 
integrity, his irreproachable character, his uniform kindness and liberality, his genial 
temperament and rare social qualities are both recognized and remembered, and are 
cherished in the hearts of thousands of people in every station in life. 

In 1888 Mr. Blakely rebuilt his house in Lyons into the present handsome residence, 
and since then has made that village his permanent home. He has during these few 
years taken a deep and active interest in public affairs and always lends his influence in 
promoting ever}' good movement. His southern life compelled him, in a measure, 
to avoid political preferment, yet he staunchly maintained principles of right and ever 
possessed the courage of his convictions. In the village of his residence, however, 
he has freely mingled in politics, and being a Republican has served his townsmen in 
various positions of responsibility. In 1892 he was an alternate delegate to the National 
Republican Convention at Minneapolis, and has served two years as village trustee. In 
March, 1894, he was elected mayor of Lyons, an office he now holds. His administra- 
tion has been characterized by many public improvements and the economical expendi- 
ture of money. Mr. Blakely is a vestryman in Grace Church, and in the broadest 
sense of the word a highly respected, progressive and public-spirited citizen. 



DE WITT W. PARSHALL. 

Hon. De Witt W. Parhsall was born at Palmyra, March 23, 1812. His father, 
Nathan Parshall, of French origin, and a descendant of the Huguenots, was a native of 
Orange county, from whence he removed to Palmyra in 1790. In 1806 he married 
Mary Ann, daughter of James Galloway, a native of New York city, who had also re- 
moved to Palmyra with his family about 1790. Of this marriage were born four chil- 
dren, who lived to mature age, Elizabeth, the late Mrs. Cullen Foster, of Lyons ; 
De Witt ; Hendee, who still resides on the old family homestead at Palmyra ; and 
Schuyler, now a resident of Alabama. De Witt after a few terms at the Canandaigua 
Academy, where for a time he was a class and roommate of Stephen A. Douglass, chose 
the law as a profession, and entered at Lyons the law office of the late General William 
H. Adams. Young Parshall industriously pursued his law studies, and was admitted to 
the bar in 1838, having, since leaving his father's house and including his attendance at 
the academy, entirely supported himself t by his own exertions. Teaching, surveying, 
writing at odd spells in the county clerk's office, etc., were the means by which he met 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 39 

his living expenses. He first started a law office on his own account at Lyons ; but in 
1839 formed a law partnership with the late Judge Theron R. Strong, of Palmyra and 
removed to that village, In 1840, feeling that he could make for himself a better field 
at the county seat, at his own request the partnership with Judge Strong was dissolved, 
and he returned to Lyons, where he has since remained. In addition to his law prac- 
tice he soon became extensively engaged in real estate, and down to the present time 
has continued to be the most extensive dealer in and owner of real estate in his county, 
the village of Lyons owing much of its prosperity to his enterprise and public spirit. 
In 1852 he started " The Palmyra Bank of Lyons," in 1854 changed its name to '' The 
Lyons Bank ; " and again in 1865, converted it into "The Lyons National Bank," under 
which name it is now enjoying a large and successful business. In April, 1838, Mr. 
Parshall married Susan Hecox, a lady of rare intellectual and moral excellence. Mr. 
and Mrs. Parshall have had three children : Henry, who died at the age of thirty-five, 
leaving a wife and three children ; De Witt, who died at the age of twenty-five ; and 
Catherine, now Mrs. D. S. Chamberlin. Mr. Parshall has served as supervisor of the 
town, president of the village, and in 1868 represented the first Assembly district of 
Wayne county in the Assembly. He died in May, 1880. 



BYRAM GREEN, 

Hon. Byram Green was born iu Windsor, Vt., April 15, 1786. This family of 
Greens emigrated to America in 1638. Byram being a descendant of the early Plym- 
outh colonists of, that name, one of whom was Samuel Green, who in the seventeenth 
century was a successor of Steven Day in the first printing establishment introduced 
into the colony. His father emigrated from Plymouth county to Windsor on the Green 
Mountains, became a farmer and held the office of selectman for many years. In 1800 
he moved to Williamstown to educate his children. He was captain of a company in 
the Revolution, in which war he served until the surrender of Cornwallis. He was 
offered a pension, but declined it. Hon. Byram Green entered Williams College in his 
eighteenth year and graduated in 1808. After leaving college he studied for the minis- 
try at Andover, preached for a time, but owing to his ill health was compelled to give 
up the ministry, and accompanied by his brother, Dr. Joseph Green, he went to the 
island of Beaufort, S. C, in 1810, where he taught in the Beaufort College for one term, 
when he resigned (declining a brilliant offer to stay), and with his brother embarked for 
Western New York. The brothers finally decided to settle in Sodus and while their 
log house was building, made their home in a buttonwood log that measured seven feet 
at the base. In these days they endured the hardships incident to those early times, 
but were energetic and prospered. In 1827 Judge Green helped to draw the timber for 
the first Presbyterian church in that region, and he and family were faithful attendants 
thereafter. In 1812, during the war with Great Britain, he engaged in a skirmish at 
Sodus Point at the time it was burned but escaped uninjured. He was supervisor of 
Sodus in 1827-40-42, assessor in 1813, juetice of the peace in 1827, school commissioner 



40 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

in 1813-17-21-28-39-40, Softool inspector in 1814-15-16-17-20-26, State senator in 
1823-24, member of the Legislature several years, member of Congress in 1845-46, and 
was deputy United States collector in 1835, under General G-ould, of Rochester, mak- 
ing his headquarters at Pultneyville. He held this position several years. He was 
chairman of the committee on Erie Canal while in the State Senate, and rode on the 
first canal boat that went through from Albany to Buffalo. Dewitt Clinton and other 
distinguished persons were also on board. Judge Green was a warm personal and politi- 
cal friend of Martin Van Buren, who, while president, offered Judge Green the position 
of minister to Naples. This, however, was declined for several reasons. Byram Green 
was one of the originators of foreign missions. While attending Williams College, at 
Williamstown, Mass., he with four other young men of his class became much inter- 
ested in this cause, and one day in 1806 they went into a field near the college for a 
season of prayer. While so engaged a heavy thunder storm came on, and they moved 
for shelter to a haystack near by and continued their devotions. In after years Byram 
Green, then the only surviving member of his group, passed through Williamstown and 
identified the spot where the haystack had stood. A monument was afterwards 
erected to commemorate this haystack prayer meeting, and his name with names of the 
other four students was engraved upon the monument as the originators of foreign 
missions. 



CHARLES B. SHERMAN. 

Charles B. Sherman, born in Phelps, Ontario county, December 21, 1804, was a son 
of John and Chloe (Dickinson) Sherman, natives of Massachusetts, who were early set- 
tlers of Phelps, and came to Rose Valley in 1811 where they died. Mr. Sherman 
served in the Revolutionary war. Father of subject was a child when he came to Rose. 
He was a farmer and at his death owned 111 acres, where the family now reside, and 
the farm is now carried on by Ezra A. Sherman. His first wife was Lucinda Allen, by 
whom he had five sons and one daughter. His second wife was Charlotte J. Tyler, a 
native of Oneida county and a daughter of Chester and Harriet Strong, he a native of 
Bridgeport, Conn. They came to Oneida in an early day where Mr. Tyler died August 
20, 1831, and his wife died in Hannibalville. Mr. Sherman and second wife had three 
children, Chester T., who married Harriett C. Kimberly of Auburn, by whom he has one 
daughter, Marion C. He was educated in Rose Union School, Auburn Academy and Roch- 
ester Business University, from which he graduated May 27, 1885. He is now clerk of 
the Board of Revision, Pension Bureau, at Washington, D. C, resigning the offices of 
assessor and excise commissioner of Rose when he received the appointment; Ezra A., 
born in Rose January 27, 1866, and educated at the Rose Union School. He is a 
fanner and makes a specialty of breeding Hambletonian horses, and at present owns 
Ezra A., which has a record of 2.27 1-2. Mr. Sherman has been town clerk one term ; 
and Harriet E., wife of Mauley G. Fowler of Rochester, and who lias a son born on 
September 10, 1894. 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 41 

M. HOPKINS. 

M. Hopkins, attorney, was born in Ontario, September 13, 1835. He was reared on 
a farm and attended the common schools, later studying law with H. K. Jerome, and 
D. B. Mclntyre of Palmyra, being admitted to the bar in December, 1860. After the 
war Mr. Hopkins began practice in Palmyra. In 1892 he took into partnership F. E. 
Converse, a native of Palmyra, who had studied law with him and was admitted to the 
bar in 1890. In addition to his practice, Mr. Hopkins also has large farming interests, 
raising trotting horses, short horn cattle, and Shropshire sheep as specialties. His 
father, Joseph, was born in New Jersey in 1800, came to this town about 1824, and 
died December 25, 1889. Mr. Hopkins was district attorney three years. In 1873 he 
he married Rebecca S., daughter of Martin Butterfield, formerly a member of Congress, 
from this district, and of their two daughters, one survives. 



PART III. 

FAMILY SKETCHES 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 



Terry, George H., was born in Elba, Genesee county, November 11, 1865, was edu- 
cated in the common schools, and finished at the select school of E. G. Thrall, of Ba- 
tavia, after which he established a manufacturing business in Toronto. Selling out in 
1886, he traveled six years and January 1, 1893, bought the wallpaper, window shades, 
room and picture moldings business of Jacob Sees in Lyons, to which he has added 
largely, and is now carrying the finest line of his goods in Wayne county. He also 
does a large wholesale trade, shipping goods to all parts of New York State and Can- 
ada. At the age of eighteen he married Myrtle V., daughter of Calvin S. Loomis, of 
Batavia, N. Y. Our subject is one of the most active business men in his town, iden- 
tified in advancing its best interests, and is recognized as a man of sterling integrity 
and worth. 

Taylor, E. P., was born in Lyons February 27, 1833. His father, Elijah, was a na- 
tive of Northampton, Mass., and came to Lyons in 1822 and followed the manufactur- 
ing of leather for fifty-three years. The same business is now continued by the son 
William in Lyons. E. P. Taylor was educated at the Lyons Union School and then en- 
tered the tanning business. In 1869 he bought the A. F. Redfield tannery at Clyde in 
connection with his brother Lathrop, continuing up to 1884, when he disposed of his 
interest to his brother George J. In the same year he bought the Oliver Penoyer 
farm four miles north of Lyous of 125 acres, raising fruit, hay, grain and stock. At the 
age of twenty-five he married Juliette Paton, daughter of James and Mehitable Dunn, 
of Lyons, and who are the parents of two children : Elijah D. and Mrs. Lettie M. 
Langdon. Our subject has been prominently identified in advancing the best interests 
of the town of Galen, having been trustee of School District No. 4 in 1875 and 1876, 
building the south side school house during his term of office. He was supervisor in 
1877-1878 and was appointed county treasurer by the Board of Supervisors for the 
year 1879, taking an active interest in educational and religious matters, having been a 
member of the M. E. Church thirty-five years, and is recognized as a man of sterling 
integrity and worth, whose life has proven his word to be as good as his bond. 

Townsend, Jonathan, was born in Hebron, Conn., December 13, 1787, and died at 
Palmyra, N. Y., September 15, 1853. He was the eldest of six children. Early in life 
he removed with his father to Brattleboro, Vermont. They were merchants in that 
place for several years. From Vermont they removed to Marcy, Oneida county. N. Y., 
and purchased a large dairy farm. It was on this farm his father was killed by a bull 
October 8, 1820, aged fifty-eight years. He married Ruth Hubbard, of Trenton, 
Oneida county, N. Y., March 13, 1827, who was born in Middletown, Conn., April 15, 
1791, and died at Palmyra, N Y., May 27, 1860. From Marcy he removed to Ashta- 
bula, Ohio, where he was engaged in the hardware business for a short time. From 
that place he came to reside in Palmyra, N. Y., in 1836, and bought a farm of one 
hundred acres. They had two children : Mary Elizabeth Townsend, born in Marcy, 
Oneida county, N. Y., October 21, 1830, and died at Palmyra, N. Y., September 7, 



4 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

1872. She was married to John Pitkin, of Hartford, Conn., November 29, 1855; 
George Hubbard Townsend, born at Marcy, Oneida county, N. Y., November 3, 1833, 
died at Palmyra, N. Y., January 5, 1892. November 22, 1862, he married Isabella 
J. Johnson who was born at Palmyra, N. Y., October 20, 1839, daughter of David 
Johnson by his second wife, Juliana Case (maiden name Kelsey), who was born in 
Portland, Conn., March 1, 1804, died at Palmyra, N. Y., July 7," 1877. They had two 
children: Jonathan, who died August 25, 1864, aged three months, and George John- 
son Townsend, born at Palmyra, N. Y., August 26, 1868, and is now living with his 
mother on the farm near Palmyra. 

Talcott, Benjamin Arad, was born in Huron on the farm he now owns September 
10, 1862, the son of Joseph Talcott, born on the same place in 1821. He was the son 
of Arad Talcott, a native of Coventry, Conn., who came to Huron with an ox team in 
1817, and settled on the farm now owned by our subject, where he and wife spent the 
rest of their days. Joseph is now a retired farmer, living in the town of Wolcott. 
His wife is Celestia Chapin, and their children are: Cornelia, widow of Jacob Gurnee, 
of Huron ; Mary Ella, wife of William Baker, of Wolcott, and Benjamin A. At the 
age of twenty-one our subject began for himself on the homestead farm, making a 
specialty of fruit growing. In January, 1891, he married Nellie, daughter of Judson 
and Electa Boynton, of Wolcott, who was born in 1S66, and they have one child, Lois 
E., born April 11, 1894. Our subject is a member of the Wolcott Grange, and is a Re- 
publican. 

Thacker, William H., senior member of the firm of Thacker Bros. & Co., of Wolcott, 
was born June 26, 1833, at Owasco, Cayuga county, N. Y. He came to Wolcott in 
1840, and until forty years of age his principal occupation was farming. He moved to 
Wolcott village in 1873. In 1875 the present business was established in copartnership 
with his brother, Albert B., and has grown to be the most important retail business of 
Wolcott, with dry goods, boots and shoes and groceries as specialties. September 5, 
1855, he married Augusta M. Rice, of Wolcott. In 1868 they united with the Presby- 
terian Church of Wolcott. Mr. Thacker has held many positions of trust in Wolcott, 
attesting the esteem and confidence in which he is justly held. Among them might be 
mentioned twenty-five years of service in the Board of Education of Leavenworth 
Institute, and Wolcott Union School. 

Traver, Asa, was born in the town of Galen, January 16, 1837. His father, Daniel, 
came to Wayne county in 1830. He was a prominent farmer of his town and died 
July 5, 1870, aged eighty-five years, Asa Traver was educated in the common schools, 
to which he has added through life by reading and close observation. After leaving 
school he returned to his father's farm, and at the age of twenty-five married Lovina, 
daughter of Heman Shepard, and they are the parents of one son, Heman D. Traver. 
In 1869 he came to Clyde and purchased the Myers property; in 1872 purchased the 
Melzer Whittlesey farm, having 112 acres, raising fruit, grain and stock. 

Thomas. Andrew A., was born in Huron November 16, 1856, son of William Henry 
Thomas, of Huron, a native of Cayuga county, born April 25, 1823. The grandparents 
were Alexander and Ruth (Hart) Thomas, of Amsterdam. The father of our subject 
was bound out at the age of seven years to learn the weaver's trade. When eighteen he 
came to Huron and engaged in the business for himself. His wife was Emeline 
Graham, of Rochester, and their children were: Andrew and Eliza Jane, deceased 
wife of Henry Kline, of Huron. Our subject has devoted his life to farming. In 1883 
he married Matie A., daughter of Lewis and Rebecca Kline, of Huron. He and his 
wife are members of the Huron Grange. 

Terry, Fred H., was born in Clyde, August 3, 1854. His father, Alfred F. Terry, 
was a native of Long Island and was one of the first settlers in the village of Clyde. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 5 

Fred H. Terry, after leaving school, entered a drug store in Clyde, where he remained 
a short time and then, in 1872, went to Sioux City. Here, in connection with his 
father, he ran a steamboat in the U. S. government employ, carrying Indian supplies 
from Sioux City to Fort Benton, Montana, and freighted the first cargo of lumber and 
building materials that reached the city of Bismarck on the Missouri river. He re- 
turned to Clyde in 1S73 and entered the employ of Dr. -J. E. Smith. In 1876 he 
bought out J. P. Pardee and succeeded him in the drug business. Mr. Terry is now one 
of the leading druggists in the town. He married Miss Katie Wood, daughter of Henry 
Wood, and to them one child, Viva, has been born. 

Turner, Dr. Jennie, was born in the town of Manchester, a daughter of John Turner, 
who was a prominent farmer of that town. At the age of fifteen she entered the 
Academy at Newark, obtaining a teacher's certificate at sixteen, teaching in that school 
for two years. In 1872 she entered the Cortland Normal and graduated in 1874, and 
in the fall of the same year took charge of the school at Dryden, Tompkins county, as 
one of the principals, resigning in 1877. The same year she entered the medical depart- 
ment of the University of Michigan, graduating in 1879. Afterwards a year was 
spent in the New England Hospital for Women and Children at Boston. Willi this 
ripe experience she came to Lyons in 1881 and at once took a prominent part in prac- 
tice. During the past five years she has been secretary of the Wayne County Medical 
Society, and she is frequently called in consultation by leading physicians of the county. 
She was a partner during the first three years of her practice at Lyons with Dr. C. C. 
Hall. Dr. Turner is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and an active worker in all 
movements for the uplifting of society. While at college and at school she distin- 
guished herself as a fine student and her career as a physician has been marked by 
severe study and laborious practice. 

Thayer, Aldrich, was born in Macedon, May 16, 1800, the fifth often children of 
William and Chloe (Preston) Thayer, natives of Massachusetts, who came to New 
York in 1800, and settled in Palmyra (now Macedon), being pioneers of Wayne county. 
The grandfather, William, also of Massachusetts, came to Macedon and spent his last 
days with his son, William. He died at about eighty years of age. William Thayer, jr., 
came to Ontario about 1820, and bought land on the Lake road. He died in 1822, 
and his wife in 1838. Aldrich was reared on a farm, and has always been engaged in 
farming. He now has about seventy-six acres, and has given his sons about 140 acres. 
His son, William, now carries on the business on both farms. Mr. Thayer has been 
twice married, first to Hulda Olcott, by whom he had eight children, two sons, one liv- 
ing, and two daughters living. She died in 1837, and he married second, Mary Ann. 
daughter of Josiah and Electa (Rogers) McKee, by whom he has had five children, three 
sons, two living, and two daughters, now living. In politics Mr. Thayer is a Repub- 
lican, and Mrs. Thayer is a member of the Methodist church. 

Taylor, Emcgene, daughter of the late Arthur Bowen, of Fulton, was born there in 
1845, and came to Red Creek with her parents when five years of age. January 1, 
1860, she married Bennet Taylor, who entered the Union army in 1864, and lost his 
life at Newbern, N. C, at the age of thirty. He left two daughters : Minnie, now Mrs. 
Robert Worden ; and Libbie, the wife of Fred Owen. In 1874 Mrs. Taylor built the 
commodious hotel, known as the Taylor House, conducting it in person, and with much 
satisfaction to her patrons. 

Tyrrell, J. S., was born in 1838 at Plainfield, Mass., and is the son of Ezra Tyrrell, a 
manufacturer of wooden ware at that place. The Tyrrells are conspicuous for lon- 
gevity, Ezra being now ninety-five years of age. His wife, Lucy (Lowden), died in 
1864, leaving six children, of whom our subject is the sole representative in Wayne 
county. J. S. Tyrrell is a man of original thought and indomitable will, and has hewed 



6 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

his own way to success in life, having been dependent upon the public schools of New- 
England for his educational advantages in youth. His various business enterprises in 
real estate, crockery, and evaporated fruits, do not wholly engross his energies, as he 
also operates three farms, one of which is conducted by his youngest son. George F. 
His wife was Cynthia E. Leonard, of Northampton, Mass., and they were married 
September 26, 1859, and had five children : Mary A., Walter V., George F., Mabel L., 
and Leila B. Mr. Tyrrell is a staunch Republican, and has been honored with various 
positions of trust. He and his wife and children are members of the Presbyterian 
church. 

Thomas, Byron, was born in Berlin, Rensselaer county, December 12, 1843. The 
family came to Newark in 1857, where our subject received his education in the Union 
school and the academy. He first taught school, and later was a clerk in the post- 
office. He then entered the First National Bank of Newark as a clerk, was promoted 
through the several grades to the position of cashier, which he held for a number of 
years. In 1884 he was elected county clerk, and removing to Lyons, took possession 
of the office January 1, 1885, serving three years. He Avas also trustee of the village of 
Lyons two years, clerk of the village of Newark, and trustee also of the railway com- 
missioners of the town. May 23, 1871, he married Ellen C. Smith, of Newark, and 
they have one daughter, Martha A., a student in Utica. Rowland, father of Byron, 
was also born in Berlin, February 23, 1807. He went to Hancock, Mass., where he 
read medicine with his cousin, Dr. P. H. Thomas, then took a course in Berkshire Med- 
ical Institute at Pittsfield, the medical department of Williams College, graduating in 
1831. He then attended lectures in Albany for three years, and began practice at 
Petersburg, N. Y., with Dr. Hiram Moses, remaining nine years. Returning to Berlin, 
he practiced with distinguished success until 1857, when he removed to Newark for the 
purpose of educating his son. He was always interested in educational matters, and 
was a member of the Board of Education for a period of twelve years. He was a Re- 
publican in politics. His wife was Adeha M. Hinsdill, of Bennington, Vt,, and their 
children were: Byron, and a daughter, who died in infancy. He died June 13, 1892, 
and his wife, June 7, 1893. A sister, Martha, now 85 years of age, survives him and 
resides with Byron at the old homestead in Newark. 

Van Buskirk, Jacob Tremper, was born at Buskirk's Bridge, N. Y., May 5, 1823. at 
which place he passed the earlier years of his life. In 1842 he came to Clyde, and re- 
sided here from that date until his death, June 2, 1891. He was postmaster at Clyde 
during President Taylor's administration from 1849 to 1853, and served as deputy- 
postmaster for more than twenty years. Upon the completion of the New York Cen- 
tral Railroad, in 1854, he was appointed the first ticket agent in Clyde. He was 
amongst the first to volunteer his services in the Rebellion, enlisting as first lieutenant 
of Company B, 111th N. Y. Volunteers, and on his departure to the front he was pre- 
sented with a handsome and valuable sword by the citizens of Clyde. This sword is 
now the property of his eldest son, a cherished emblem and revered heirloom. At the 
surrender of Harper's Ferry, in 1862, Lieutenant Van Buskirk was taken prisoner, 
parolled, and afterward honorably discharged. In 1869 he was elected a justice of the 
peace, and held the position continuously by re-election until his death, covering a 
period of nearly twenty- four years. He also served one term as justice of sessions. 
Mr. Van Buskirk was an active member of Snedaker Post, No. 173, G. A. R., serving 
as its commander and adjutant. He was prominently connected with the Presbyterian 
Church, being an elder therein from 1868 to 1880, and superintendent of its Sunday 
school from 1859 to 1872. In all positions in life he conscientiously discharged his 
duties with characteristic fidelity; he was honored with many offices of trust, which 
he ably filled to the lasting benefit of his constituents. April 5, 1849, he married Phoebe 
S. Lyron, who died February 14, 1886. Five children survive them, viz. : Albert M., 
of Clyde; Amelia L., and Barton W., of Rochester; George A., of Massilon, 0., and 



FAMILY SKETCHES: 7 

Henry J., of Toledo, 0. Albert M. Van Buskirk was the first superintendent and 
local manager of the Clyde Water Works, and held the position until his resignation in 
1891, when he removed to Greencastle. Ind., and took charge of the water works at 
that city. He subsequently returned to his native town, and resumed newspaper work 
on the Clyde Times, with which journal he has been connected for twenty years, suc- 
cessively serving as apprentice, journeyman and local editor. In the spring of 1894 he 
was elected a justice of the peace for the town of Galen. 

Taber, Henry R., born in Lewis county, January 21, 1829, is the youngest of four 
children of Silas and Susanna (Bristol) Taber, he a native of Dutchess county, born 
October 9, 1789, and she a native of Sand Lake, Rensselaer, born August 25, 1788. He 
died in Palmyra, June 5, 1875, and his wife April 30, 1876. Our subject was educated 
in the common schools, Marion Academy, and Palmyra Classical Union School, and 
studied law with Charles McLouth, of Palmyra. He was admitted to the bar in 1865, 
since which he has followed his profession. He was elected justice in 1858, and except 
one and one-half years has since filled the office. He has been justice of sessions sev- 
eral times, and is now serving his eleventh term as supervisor. Mr. Taber married, 
May 14, 1850, Thankful M., a daughter of William and Mary (Srope) Bilby, of Marion. 
Her parents died, October 30, 1861, and December 1. 1864, respectively. Mr. Taber 
and wife have had one child, Elida J., who resides with them. 

"Van Duyne, EzraM., living two and one-half miles north of the village, is the son of 
Abraham W. and Sarah Van Duyne, of Phelps, N. Y., was born in Palmyra, Wayne 
county, 1ST. Y., September 19, 1849, he being one of eight children, two living in Wayne 
county, Ezra and Smith Van Duyne, the latter living at Butler. Ezra was educated at 
the Phelps Union School, attending winters and working on the farm during the sum- 
mer months; was married, February 11, 1874, to Hattie A., oldest daughter of Daniel 
Harrington, of Savannah. The years intervening 1874 and 1883 were passed in But- 
ler. Mrs. Ezra Van Duyne now occupies the home in which she was born, rebuilt, bow- 
ever, in 1864, where her parents settled in the year of 1847, it being at that time a 
wilderness. Her great-grandfather, William Harrington, was the first white settler in 
Butler. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Van Duyne, are: George H., born November 12, 
1874, Delia A., who died in infancy, and Bertha, born August 17, 1882. Mr. Van 
Duyne is a Republican, and both he and his wife are members of the church of the 
disciples at Butler. The parents of Mr. Van Duyne. are both dead, his mother dying 
March 26, 1881, his father coming to Savannah at the death of his wife to reside. In 
May, 1887, he was severely injured in a railway accident, from which he never fully 
recovered, his death occurring September 2, 1887. 

Vanostrand, Fred L., a native of Marion, born August 29, 1834, is the second of nine 
children of Charles and Sally (Sanford) Vanostrand. Her father, Stephen Sanford, one 
of the pioneers of Marion, came from Tiverton, R. I., and settled in Marion when 
twenty-one years of age. The grandfather was Charles, who spent most of his life in 
Saratoga county and died aged ninety-four years. The father was bound to millwright 
trade at the age of fourteen, and at the age of twenty-one went to Canada. He built 
the first saw mill in Mexico, and put up the first thrasher in Western New York. He 
died in Marion in 1874, aged seventy-seven. The mother still survives. Subject was 
reared on the farm and educated at the Marion Institute. He married in 1858 Lydia, 
daughter of Daniel and Hannah Dean, of Marion, and they have one son and one daugh- 
ter : Byron D. and Mary H. Byron married Eva Brown, and is county superintendent 
of public schools in Marion, Kan.; is a graduate of Cornell University, and is also a 
practicing lawyer. He is superintendent of city schools of Marion, Kan. Mr. Van- 
ostrand has always followed farming, his home being in Marion, but has spent some 
time in Kansas. He carries on general farming and fruit growing, also dairying. He 
is a member of the Grange, also a member of the A. 0. TJ. W., and of Marion Lodge 
No. 296. * 



8 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Ure, Hosea, of Savannah, was born in 1825, at Pompey, Onondaga county, a son 
of William and and Susan (Drake) Ure, of Pompey. In 1826 they moved to Volney 
(now Palermo), Oswego county, where the subject's boyhood was spent. His parents 
being poor, and being left an orphan at the age of seventeen, he received only a com- 
mon school education. He became a Christian in 1843, was licensed to preach, and ap- 
pointed to the Truxton Circuit in 1848, joined the Onondaga Conference of the Metho- 
dist Protestant church in 1849, was ordained in 1852, and was in the active work of the 
ministry the most of the time until 1890, Wolcott being his last change. He has 
preached as pastor in Cortland, Oswego, Jefferson, Lewis, Herkimer, Otsego, Cayuga, 
and Wayne counties, represented our conference as delegate to the General Conference 
in Pittsburg, Pa., in 1870. He married in 1847 Rhoda A. Howard, of Mexico, N. Y. 
The mother of Darius D. Ure, boni in 1858, is now in Nebraska. Rhoda died in 1849, 
and in 1851 Mr. Ure married Ruth Blanchard, of Wayne county, and their children 
were : Charles S., born in 1852 ; Rhoda, born in 1855 ; Lineus, born in 1856 ; Frank 
S., born in 1858; Mary E., born in 1862 ; Nellie, born in 1868 ; and Hosea, jr., born in 
1870. In 1882 Mr. Ure was again bereaved of his wife, and in 1883 married Charity 
Dean, widow of Alonzo L. Dean, and now lives quietly on Clyde street in Savannah. 

Van Duser, Sylvester B., was born at Fairville, October 1, 1846. His early life was 
spent in his father's mill and on the farm, and received his education from the public 
schools. In 1863 he enlisted in Company F, Second Mounted Rifles, N. Y. Volunteers, 
and was mustered into service February 4, 1864. He participated in all the engage- 
ments from Spottsylvania Court House to the siege of Petersburg, and was honorably 
discharged at Buffalo, August 10, 1865. He is a member of Vosburg Post No. 99, G. 
A. R., department of New York, and has held the position of commander three years, 
and was re-elected to the office of chaplain last December. Upon his return from the 
army in the fall and winter of 1865-66 he attended Marion Academy, and then occu- 
pied the position of clerk for E. P. Soverhill and for Soverhill & Nicholoy. February 
22, 1872, Mr. Van Duser purchased E. P. Soverhill's interest and a copartnership was 
formed with W. H. Nicholoy, under the firm name of Nicholoy & Van Duser. This 
continued twenty years, when Mr. Van Duser purchased Mr. Nicholoy's interest and is 
conducting the general dry goods business on his own account with success. January 
2, 1872, he married Ellen A. Eddy, of Taunton; Mass., and ihey had six children: S. 
Eddy, died in infancy, Sylvester B., jr., Orville B., Elizabeth E., Douglas H., and G. 
Rhodes. Mr. Van Duser's father, Robert Van Duser, was born February 9, 1821. For 
the greater part of his life he was a miller, but later took up farming. September 22, 
1840, he married Phebe Rose of the town of Arcadia, and to them the following chil- 
dren were born: Elizabeth, Frances A., Sylvester B. (as noted above), Charles E., 
Emma O, Robert A., and Hiram A. Mr. Van Duser died March 16, 1882, but his wife 
is still living. Mr. Saul Eddy was born in Taunton, Mass., February 16, 1819. He was 
educated in the common schools of his town and then learned the mechanics' trade. 
His wife was Abby Clark, of Taunton, and the following children were born to them: 
Emma C, Abby A., Ellen A. (above noted), and Alice E. Mrs. Eddy died in 1857; 
her husband survives and resides at the old home. Mr. Sylvester Van Duser is an of- 
ficial member of the M. E. church an J one of its trustees. Mrs. Van Dnser is a mem- 
ber of the Baptist church. 

Van Valkenburg, C. F., was born at Victory, Cayuga county, November 6, 1848. 
When eighteen years of age he learned the jeweler's trade at Port Byron, and in 1869 
established himself at Red Creek, where he remained five years. In 1874 he came to 
Wolcott as a partner for six years with W. D. Campbell, and in 1880 established an in- 
dependent business, now conducted by his son Lee. September 1, 1874, he married 
Alida Williams, of Red Creek, and they have two children : Lee, born July 14, 1875, 
and Genevieve, born July 4, 1878. Mr. Van Valkenburg was appointed postmaster of 
Wolcott, April 1, 1894. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 9 

Veeder, Major A., A.M., M.D., was born at Ashtabula, 0., November 2, 1848, lived at 
Schenectady, N. Y., from 1850 to 1871, graduating from the classical department of the 
Union School in that city in 1866, and from Union College in 1870, was principal of 
Ives Seminary at Antwerp, N. Y. several years. Studied in Leipzig University, Ger- 
many, and graduated in medicine from the Medical Department of the University of 
Buffalo in 1883, then entered upon general practice at Lyons, N. Y., for three years in 
association with Dr. E. W. Bottum and subsequently alone. Dr. Veeder is a member in 
good standing of the Wayne County and Central New York Societies and has read and 
published many papers upon medical topics. He is also a member of the American So- 
ciety of Microscopists and has been employed as an expert to give evidence of this class 
in medico-legal and other cases. He was one of the earliest investigators to adduce 
positive evidence that freezing does not purify water from the presence of living mi- 
croscopic organisms, a point whose importa nee has since come to be very generally 
recognized. His contributions to Sanitary Science have won for him recognition, and 
he has recently been honored by a request to prepare a paper to be read at the Inter- 
national Congress of Hygiene and Demography to beheld at Buda Pesth, Austria. Since 
1887 he has been a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science 
and has presented to that body the results of his own original researches respecting 
certain phases of meteorological science, which are beginning to attract wide spread at- 
tention. These results have been set forth somewhat in detail in a series of papers which 
he read before the Rochester (N. Y.) Academy of Science and which have been publish- 
ed by that institution, entitled "The Forces Concerned in the Development of Storms," 
"Thunderstorms," "The Aurora" and "The Zodiacal Light." As the result of 
the interest aroused by these and other articles, he was invited to prepare 
papers which were presented at the International Congress of Meteorology 
held at Chicago in 1893 on the following topics, "Periodic and Non-periodic 
Fluctuation in the Latitude of Storm Tracks" and "An International 
Cypher Code for Correspondence respecting the Aurora and Related Conditions." These 
researches have led to the organization of a system of concerted observatories of the 
aurora in which the Arctic explorers,Lieut. Perry and Dr. Nansen, are co-operating with 
observers scattered throughout every part of the earth where this phenomenon is en- 
countered at all. The results of these organized efforts have been to establish an anpar- 
ect relation of the aurora, not only to the disturbances of the earth's magnetismwith 
which it has long been known to be associated, but also to thunderstorms, and to certain 
very definite solar conditions in a manner not heretofore suspected. If these results, 
which now seem highly probable, are verified completely by the earnest efforts being 
made to that end, it will revolutionize meteorology absolutely. In connection with the 
studies above indicated Dr. Veeder has become a contributor to many journals both in 
this and other countries and has entered into active correspondence with investigators 
connected with various societies and institutions in all parts of the earth. He is also a 
member of the Holland Society of New York, whose members are required to be de- 
scendants in the direct line of Hollanders who came to this country previous to 1675, he 
being a descendant at the eighth generation of Simon Volkertse Veeder, who was 
purser of the ship Prince Maurice of the Dutch navy, and who settled in New Amster- 
dam (now New York) in 1644, and who was a member of the pioneer party who went 
from Beaverwyck (now Albany) in 1662, for the purpose of founding what subsequent- 
ly became the city of Schenectady. Dr. Veeder at the age of twenty-four married Mary 
E., daughter of Peleg Wood of Schenectady, and they have four children, Albert F., 
Willard H., Sarah E., and Martha A. Veeder. 

Vrooman, W. R., D.D.S., was born in Dixon, 111., December 5, 1858, where his father, 
S. A. Vrooman, was engaged in the mercantile business. He is a direct descendant of 
the old Knickerbocker stock, amongst whom were the several Vrooman brothers who 
came from Holland to the United States and settled in the Mohawk Vailer about 1760. 
At an early age he removed to Canada where he was educated at St. Catharine's 

h 



10 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Collegiate Institute and Toronto University; and, graduating from Toronto Normal 
School, taught for a number of years in Ontario successfully, also a graduate of the 
Dental Department of Toronto University, member of the Royal College of Dental 
Surgeons and honor graduate of the Pennsylvania College Dental Surgery, receiving 
the honors of his class of 300 members. In 188She carne to Clyde and established him- 
self in his profession in which he is actively engaged. At the age of thirty-two he 
married Jessie B., daughter of the late Hon. J. S. L'Amoreaux, of Clyde. They are the 
parents of one daughter, Marjorie Roselle. Thoroughly scientific in his attainments, he 
employs nothing but the latest and most scientific methods in his profession. A close 
student and lover of science, he is now pursuing a course of medical studies in Jefferson 
Medical College, Philadelphia, from which institution he expects to graduate at an early 
date. He is prominently identified with the Masonic order, being a member of Clyde 
Lodge, F. & A. M., Gnswold Chapter, R. A. M., and Zenobia Commandery Knights 
Templar of Palmyra, N. Y. 

Yan Etten, J. W., was born in Lyons, March 11, 1833. His father, Cornelius W., 
was a native of Sussex, N. J., and removed to the town of Wolcott in 1835. He died 
in the prime of manhood at the age of thirty-five. His wife Esther, daughter of Jacob 
Westbrook, of Sussex county, N. J., and four children were left : Margaret, Henry, 
John W., and Mary J., of whom John W. is the sole survivor. He was educated in the 
common schools, the Lyons Union School, and took business course at the Brvant & 
Stratton College at Buffalo, graduating in 1856, after which he read law with William 
Clark of Lyons, and was admitted to the bar in 1862, and subsequently admitted to the 
United States District Court as attorney and counsellor thereof. At the age of thirty- 
seven he married Sarah, daughter of George S. Zeilley, of Fort Plain. Subject is and 
always has been a Republican, and was appointed postmaster at Lyons, N. Y., in 
August, 1869, holding the office to February, 1879, also takes an active interest in edu- 
cational and religious matters. He is identified in advancing the best interests of his 
town, and is of conservative character and recognized worth. 

Yanalstine, H. O. is the son of John J., who was a very prominent man in this 
vicinity, holding for a period of thirty- five years the position of justice of the peace. 
He died in 1891, leaving a family of seven children, of whom only Henry and Jesse are 
now in Wayne county. Henry was well known as a builHerfor twenty-five years, and 
more recently as the proprietor of the Red Creek Hotel, purchased and converted from 
the Hotel Wood in 1883. Mrs. Yanalstine was before her marriage Cordelia Bogert, 
a daughter of Samuel Mason, of Manchester, Ontario county, N. Y., and has one 
daughter, Mary C. Bogert, now the wife of George Cairns, of Colorado Springs. 
Cordelia Bogert was widowed May 19, 1874, and five years later became the wife of 
Henry Vanalstine. Their hotel is headquarters for traveling men in Red Creek, and is 
justly renowned for the excellence of its cuisine, which is under the personal super- 
vision of Mrs. Yanalstine. 

Van Der Yeer, H. E. — The subject of this sketch is of Holland descent and traces the 
genealogy of his family for seven generations to Cornelius Jans Van Der Veer, who 
emigrated in the ship Otter in the spring of 1659 from the province of Alkmeer, Hol- 
land, and settled in Flatbush, Kings county, N. Y., and was the ancestor of the Van 
Der Veer family of New Jersey and Long Island. The grandfather of our subject was 
Garrett Van Der Veer, a native of New Jersey, born in 1765, who married Rachael 
Covenhoven, a native of Monmouth county, N. J., on whose father's farm the battle of 
Monmouth, of Revolutionary fame, was fought, when she, with others of the family, 
offered their help by furnishing water, and other offers of kindness during the battle 
and after it was over. Garrett Van Der Veer, the father, was born in Montgomery 
county, May 9, 1813. married Mary Allen, who was born June 4, 1814, removed to 
Wayne county in 1847, and settled ai Marion. She died December 1, 1890. Mr. Van 
Der Veer has devoted much of his time in later years to the manufacture of machines of 



FAMILV SKETCHES. 11 

his own invention, for packing evaporated apples. He also kept a temperance hotel at 
Marion for several years. Henry E. Van Der Veer, the only child, was born in .Mont - 
gomery county, April 27, 1843, was reared in the village of Marion, where he received 
his education at the Marion Collegiate Institute. At an early age he commenced busi- 
ness as clerk for F. & J. B. Reeves, which he followed in that place and Palmyra. He 
was also clerk daring the war in the commissary department at Fort Gibson, Indian 
Territory, and also traded and acted as clerk for Indian traders in Southern Kansas and 
Indian Territory. In 1866 he returned to Marion and engaged in the drug business for 
himself. In 1873 he removed to Ontario, where he has since conducted a successful 
business. He is a Democrat, and was appointed postmaster in 1803. He is a member 
of Wayne Lodge No. 416, F. & A. M., also of Cyrene Tent No. 203, K. 0. T. M., in both 
of which he holds positions of honor. February 22, 1870, he married Annette L., 
daughter of Jonathan and Clarissa (Jennings) Pratt, who were among the first settlers 
of the town of Williamson. Mr. Pratt settled in the northwest corner of the town of 
Williamson in 1811, where he became one of the largest land owners in the town. They 
reared a large family, and the oldest son, Aaron W., was the second male white child 
born in Williamson. In 1841 he sailed on a whaling ship under Captain Roise, and was 
on board the ship that first discovered the northwest whaling grounds. Another son. 
William W., was a whaler and merchant man for forty years. Of a large family that 
grew to maturity, none remained on the land for which their ancestors endured the 
vicissitudes of pioneer life. 

Willoughby, S. E., was born in the city of St. Albans, near London, England, April 
18, 1826, came to Clyde from London in 1848, and having learned the painter's trade, 
established the same business in Clyde, the firm in London keeping the position open 
for him if he should determine to return to England. For forty years the house has 
been the leading decorators in Wayne county, and is now carrying a large and fine stock 
of wall paper and house furnishing goods. At the age of twenty -four, subject married 
Mapelet, daughter of Jeremiah Finck. He is one of the oldest merchants in the town, 
taking an active interest in educational and religious matters. 

Wells, Hon. E. B., was born in Prattsburg, Steuben county, April 22, 1834. His 
fathe, Ira Wells, was a manufacturer of fanning mills, and was one of the best known 
residents of Steuben and Wayne counties. He married Miss Pamelia Taylor, daughter 
of Elijah Taylor, and they were the parents of seven children, who lived to mature age. 
Mr. Ira Wells died in 1882 at the age of eighty-seven. E. B. Wells, after leaving 
school, learned the marble cutter's trade, and in 1855 went into business in Cherry 
Valley, N. T. He afterward sold out his business there, went to Fort Plain, N. Y., 
and in 1860 came to Clyde and established his present business as dealer in granite and 
marble cemetery work. He handles both imported and domestic stock and has 
acquired a well- deserved repuatation for fine work. At the age of thirty-two he mar- 
ried Miss Alice C. Gregory, daughter of Aaron Gregory, formerly of Mexico, Oswego 
county, N. Y. Mr. Wells has been very prominent in public affairs, having been post- 
master for two terms, supervisor for three years, and member of assembly two terms, 
1872-1873. 

Williams, Samuel, is a citizen of more than ordinary ability and prominence. He . 
was born July 10, 1833, at Copake, Columbia county, and his parents were Thomas 
and Polly Williams, both deceased. He lived at his birthplace until twenty- three 
years of years of age, received a good common school education, and after engaging in 
the grocery business at South Butler for several years, located in 1861 on a farm of 200 
acres, five miles northwest of Savannah, and upon which he has erected an elegant 
residence. February 23, 1859, he married Henrietta, daughter of John and Polly Gor- 
ham, of South Butler, N. Y., and they had these children : Anna, born December 12, 
1859, and wife of Millard Miller of South Butler; John G., born February 20, 1862, 



12 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

now operating the homestead farm. He married, August 20, 1893, Minnie Shoecraft 
of Butler ; George R., born August 19, 1864, now engaged in hardware business at 
Butler; Mary E., born April 16, 1867; and Hattie, born February 6, 1874, died June 

19, 1884. 

Whitman, Irving A., was born in Lyons July 20, 1865. His father, William, also of 
Lyons, with H. S. Moor, now deceased, established a drug business in 1863, and was 
one of the prominent business men of his town. Irvin A. was educated in the Lyons 
Union School. Taking up the study of stenography and typewriting, he served under 
Hon. George W. Cowles when surrogate, and afterwards entered the law office of 
Camp & Dunwell, and was private secretary to Hon. J. H. Camp for four years. While 
there he made the study of pension and war claims a specialty, and the first claim prose- 
cuted was granted by the Bureau of Pensions, and which commenced payment July 

20, 1865, the day, month and vear of his birth. He has achieved a success that is recog- 
nized throughout the United States, practicing in the bureau of pensions, the patent 
department and the treasury department. He also has been notary public for the past 
six years. In 1884 he invented an automatic freight car coupling device, which was 
patented July 21, 1885, and was submitted to a severe test by the Master Car Builders 
Association in September, 1885, at Buffalo, which was successful in meeting all re- 
quirements. In June, 1886, it was tested before the railroad commissioners at Albany 
and was again successful. At the age of twenty-three he married Mary Ellen, daugh- 
ter of Garrett Flavahan, of Lyons, and they have three sons ; Stewart C, Irvin Y., 
and Burnard C. 

Wood, Charles, was born in Butler, June 25, 1838. His father, Horatio N. Wood, a 
native of Oran<re county, came to Wayne county in 1821 and died in 1861, aged fifty - 
eight years. He was a prominent farmer in his town, which he represented several 
years on the Board of Supervisors. Charles was educated in the common schools, and 
finished at Red Creek Academy and Falley Seminary at Fulton, N. Y., afterwards 
coming to Savannah, where he established his present business of lumber, coal and 
grain, potatoes, apples, etc., of which he handles large quantities. He is a Democrat, 
and was elected supervisor from 1872 to 1875. At the age of twenty-eight he married 
Louise C. Bell, daughter of Charles Bell, of Jordan, Onondaga county, by whom he has 
three children : Charles II., of Syracuse; Helen Mabel, a graduate of Syracuse Uni- 
versity, and at present a teacher in Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, Pa.; and Marielle 
Ruth, a student at the same institution. 

Whitlock, Levi J., was born in Lyons December 3, 1855. His father, Benjamin, was 
also a native of Lyons. The family came from Orange county in 1814, and bought the 
Peter Yan Etten property. Benjamin married at the age of twenty-one, Jane, daugh- 
ter of Philip Swartwout of Orange county. Levi J. was educated at the Lyons Union 
School, after which he returned to his father's farm. At the age of twenty he married 
Grace, daughter of Cornelius Cuddeback, of Phelps, and they are the parents of four 
children, Cornelius A., Neva C, Hope and Grace. Our subject is now occupying the 
old Whitlock homestead, which has been in the family eighty years, raising hay, grain 
and stock and making a specialty of pure Jersey butter, and was one of the first to 
introduce the custom of dehorning cattle (in Wayne county). The subject is an active 
energetic man, identified in advancing the best interests of the town. 

Willits, E. D., born in Ontario, August 11, 1843, is a son of Jonathan and Hannah 
(Knowles) Willits, he is a native of Farmington, Ontario county, and she of Albany 
county, N. Y. The grandparents came from New Jersey to New York and settled in 
Ontario county, where the grandfather died. The grandmother then came and lived 
with her son, Jonathan, in Ontario. Jonathan came to Ontario when a young man and 
purchased a farm, part of which subject now owns. Mr. Willits resided on this farm 
over fifty years. He was a Republican in politics, and in religion was a Friend. He 



FAMILY SKETCHES. i:i 

died 1880, and his wife, 1878, E. D. was reared on the farm and educated at the com- 
mon and select schools. He has for twenty-six years followed teaching winters and 
worked his farm summers. He is engaged in fruit growing, having a general variety of 
fruits. His wife is Sarah (Allen) Willits, whom he married February 18, 1869. She 
was a daughter of Freeman and Betsey Allen, of Ontario. In politics Mr. Willits is a 
Republican, has been justice sixteen years, justice of sessions sixteen years, and is now 
notary public. At present he is supervisor of Ontario. He is a member of the G. A. 
R., M. M. Fish Post, No. 406. In religion Mr, Willits is a liberal Christian. 

Woodhams, R. A., was a native of England, born December 11, 1835, and came with 
his parents to America in 1850, and settled in Ontario, Wayne county, near Furnaceville. 
When they came to America the family consisted of Mr. Walter Woodhams, his wife 
Francis (Walters) Woodhams, and three sons and four daughters. They removed from 
Furnaceville to the Ridge on the farm now owned by Mr. Howk, where they resided 
till his death, December 27, 1878. His first wife died in June, 1873, and he married in 
1875, Hannah Hutson, who now resides with our subject. He and wife were Wesleyan 
Methodists, and a son, Roland, is a presiding elder of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
and resides at Bay City, Mich. Walter Woodhams was a member of the 8th 
New York Cavalry, and was killed near Harper's Ferry in 1864. Subject commenced 
as a farm hand when about fifteen years of age, and has been very successful. He 
now owns three hundred acres in Ontario, where he lives retired. He married in 1862 
Dorcas C. Sabin, born April 13, 1837. She is a daughter of H. M. Sabin, a native of 
Connecticut, who came with his parents Samuel and Elizabeth (Gleason) Sabin, settled 
in Macedon and then in Ontario, where he died December 19, 1832, and his wife in 
1846. Mr. and Mrs. Woodhams have no children, but reared an adopted son and 
daughter, George and Lizzie, who is the wife of C. E. Pound. Mr. Woodhams in 
early life was engaged in teaching. Her mother was Mary Ann, daughter of Isaac 
Hodges, one of the pioneers of Ontario. In politics Mr. Woodhams is a Republican, 
and is a member of the South Shore Grange, No. 513. 

Winspear, Charles W., was born in Elma. Erie county, July 6, 1856, was educated in 
the public schools and reared on a farm. January 1, 1877, he was appointed clerk in 
the Erie County Alms House and Insane Asylum, and at the expiration of a year was 
promoted to the position of deputy keeper, which office he held sixteen years, during 
ten of which he was a special agent for the State Board of Charities. In 1893 he re- 
signed these positions to accept the superintendency of the New York State Custodial 
Asylum for Feeble Minded Women, at Newark. In politics he is a Democrat, and is 
a member of Washington Lodge, No. 240, of Buffalo, F. and A. M., and is also a mem- 
ber of the Acacia Club (Masonic), and the Audubon Shooting Club, of Buffalo. His 
wife, Gertrude E , is a native of Lancaster, Erie county, where she had a large expe- 
rience in teaching. She has the distinction of having passed with the highest percent- 
age over all contestants in the examination in the higher grammar grades in the public 
schools of Buffalo. 

Weed, Luther, born in Galen, on the homestead, in 1835, son of Selleck Weed, a na- 
tive of Connecticut, whose father was Abram, a lumber manufacturer in Washington 
county, who was accidentally killed in his mill by a cake of ice falling on him. Selleck 
came to Galena in 1812, and married Temperance Owens. Their children were : Lu- 
cinda, Selleck, Lydia, Ann, Rhoda, Harry, Benjamin, Lewis and Luther. In 1853 our 
subject purchased a farm in Oneida county, and two years later returned to Galen, 
where he conducted the homestead farm until 1865, when he came to Huron, where he 
has since resided. In 1853 he married Catharine, daughter of John and Catharine Wit- 
beck, born in Columbia county, in 1835. Their children are : Charles R,, Ella (de- 
ceased), Stella, wife of Mortimer Cox, of Wolcott; and Cora, wife of Charles H. Wood- 
ruff, of Huron. Mr. and Mrs. Weed have two grandchildren, Bertha E. Weed and 
Harry (Weed) Woodruff. Subject is a member of the Masonic Fraternity, and has 



14 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

served as commissioner of highways, and he and wife are members of the Huron 
Grange, which was organized in their house in 1873. 

Wheeler, Justus J., was born upon the site of his present home, October 24, 1834. 
He is one of a family of five children, of whom only himself and one sister now sur- 
vive. His mother, Clara, died in 1857. and his father, Willaid, two yeais later. Justus, 
until about forty years of age, was a carpenter and joiner, but has for twenty-one 
years devoted himself to the culture of the old homestead purchased in 1872. July 11, 
1864, he married Alice, daughter of Elisha and Icy Woodruff, of Frankfort, Herkimer 
county, N. Y. Alice was born March 4, 1848. They have two children, Jennie, born 
September 21, 1865, and Claude J., born May 30, 1872. Jennie was engaged for sev- 
eral years in teaching school, until July 2, 1893, when she married Andy W. Whitbeck, 
of Savannah, N. Y. Claude, also a school teacher, is now at home engaged in farming 
and the evaporation of fruits. Having developed considerable mechanical genius, in 
1893, he secured a patent upon a fruit bleacher of his own invention and construction, 
which has proved to be of peculiar merit. 

Wadsworth, Philip, whose birthplace is still his domicile, is the son of Danford and 
Eliza A. Wadsworth, who took up residence in Butler, in those days when "Amid the 
forest solitude his echoing axe the settler swings," and none bore a stouter heart than 
the young pioneer from Vermont, hewing out a home from the provincial wilderness. 
Danford Wadsworth died June 19, 1861, when but fifty-one years of age, and Philip 
is his only son. November 4, 1863, Philip married Mary T. Rice, of Butler, and their 
children are : Velona J., the wife of Lincoln Doty ; Henry D. Harvey R., Lemuel G., 
and one daughter, Sarah M., who October 19, 1887, aged twenty-two years. 

Willard, William G., was born in Ontario, December 23, 1855, the eldest son of nine 
children of George and Adelaide (Gibbs) Willard. George Willard, son of William and 
Sarah Willard, was born in the parish of Salehurst, Sussex county, England, Septem- 
ber 4, 1829, and emigrated to the United States of America March 13, 1849. Adelaide 
Gibbs, daughter of Joseph and Amy Gibbs, born in Whichford , Warwickshire, England, 
July 6, 1831, and emigrated to the United States of America April 3. 1850. In 1852 
they were untited in marriage and came to Ontario, and in 1856 settled on the farm 
where Mrs. Willard now resides. George Willard died December 16, 1890, The chil- 
dren of Mr. Willard and wife were as follows: Harriet A., born October 13, 1853 ; Wil- 
liam G., born December 23. 1855 ; Frank E., born September 26, 1857; Avise M., born 
August 28, 1860; Lorenzo P., born November 26, 1862; Annie E., born May 31, 1867; 
Peter J., born May 21, 1869; May S., born June 11, 1871; Carrie A., born December 
17, 1876. Harriet died September 21, 1854. They are all married except Carrie and 
May S. Our subject was educated in Chili Seminary. He followed farming until 
1883 when he came to Lakeside and engaged in the mercantile business, where he has 
been very successful. He carries a full line of boots and shoes, hardware, crockery, 
paints, oils, dye stuffs, glass, drugs, medicines and fane)' goods, also hats and caps. He 
married, March 29, 1883, Emma A. Ray, a native of Canada, and daughter of John and 
Mary (Fowler) Ray. He and family attend and support the M. E. Church of Lakeside. 

Williams, Henry, a native of Manchester, Ontario county, N. Y., born December 25, 
1830, was the youngest of two sons of John Williams and Nancy Williams, he a native 
of New Jersey, and she of New Jersey. Henry learned the blacksmith trade when a 
young man, but farming has been his chief occupation. He married Jane, daughter of 
James and Honor Barker, he a native of England, and she of England. Mr. Barker 
came to America in 1829. He bought the farm now owned by the Williams family, 
when it was a wilderness, and cleared it and made many improvements. Mr. and Mrs. 
Williams have had four sons and four daughters, of whom one son and two daughters 
are deceased: Honor, wife of Rufns Schemmerhorn, of Ontario; Cora, wife of James 
V.Allen, Rochester; Roy, at home; B. II., and Wallace, are now carrying on the 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 15 

farm, engaged in general farming and fruit raising, also evaporating fruit. Wallace 
married, January 18, 1888, Eliza Bean, daughter of Albert and Emma Jane (Hurley) 
Bean, of Ontario, and they have one daughter, Susie, born March 30, 1893. Mr. Will- 
iams commenced farming in Ontario about 1858 on the Barker farm, then bought a 
small place, where he lived seventeen years. On the death of Mr. Barker he bought 
the farm where he resided until his death, December 20, 1890. Mrs. Williams still "re- 
sides on the homestead, aged fifty-nine years. Her father, James Barker, died 1864, 
and her mother 1876. The family are of very strong temperance sentiments, and in 
religion are Methodists. 

Wilder, F. S., was born in Russell., St. Lawrence county, N. Y., June 19, 1850, the 
son of Brutus a n d Lucy Townsend Wilder, he born in Orwell, Oswego county, October 
13, 1828, and she in Philadelphia. Mr. Wilder came to Philadelphia in 1844, and 
engaged as clerk in a drug store until 1849, when he came to Russell and began farm- 
ing. He came to Williamson in 1865, and engaged in farming, and now owns a small 
farm. He was assessor in Russell for five years. Our subject was reared on a farm, 
and educated in Marion Academy. He learned the tinsmith trade, and bought out a 
tin shop in Marion, then went to Newark, and was in partnership there with his 
brother, John P., in the hardware business. In 1879 Mr. Wilder came to Williamson 
and engaged in the hardware business, and has been very successful. Mr. Wilder has 
been town clerk since 1887. He is a member of the Pultneyville Lodge, No. 159, F. & 
A. M., the K. O. T. M., and the Protective Life Association of Rochester. In 1879 he 
married Eliza Howell, a native of Marion, and daughter of Israel Howell, and they 
have had two children, Lula M., Elmer B. 

Waldurff, Peter, was born in Taghkanick, Columbia county, N. Y., February 5, 1810. 
His father, John Waldurff, was one of the first settlers in Rhinebeck, Dutchess county, 
and the family was of German extraction. Peter Waldurff was educated in the com- 
mon schools, and at the age of twenty-five he married Hannah, daughter of Andrew 
Nichols, and of this union ten children were born, eight of whom are now living, five 
sons, Martin V. B., who owns a farm adjoining his father's, Reuben, who owns a farm 
in Wolcott, Stanton E., who owns a farm in Rose, Eugene C, who is a physician of 
Buffalo, N. Y., and Frank L., who lives on the homestead farm, and three daughters, 
Hannah, who married Harrison Malley, of Homer, N. Y., Nettie, who married Rev. 
R. E. Burton, of Syracuse, N. Y., and Helen, who married John M. Mackie, of Galen, 
N. Y. In 1848 he bought the William Garlic property of 144 acres, and in 1855 he 
bought the adjoining farm, known as the " Riverdale farm." He has 217 acres of some 
of the best farm lands in Wayne county, raising fruit, hay, grain and stock. In 1883 
his wife died, since which time he has been living with his youngest son, Frank L. 

Weed, Hon. Oscar, was born in Galen in 1822, a son of Henry, a native of Washing- 
ton county, born in 1797, who was the son of Abram Weed a native of Canaan, Conn., 
and an early settler in Washington county, where he engaged in the lumber business. 
He was killed in his saw- mill by a cake of ice falling on him. His wife was Sarah Sel- 
leck, and their children were: Selleck, Abram, Henry, Hester, Sallie, Hannah, Betsey, 
and Nancy. Henry, father of our subject, moved to Wayne county in 1813, with his 
mother a r _d sisters. His older brother, Selleck, had moved to Wayne county the 
previous year. He was a Republican and served as assessor and commissioner. He 
married Mahala King, of Galen, and their children were : Samuel, who was a prominent 
physician in Clyde, Oscar. Abram, William, and Sarah Ann, wife of Oliver Stratton. of 
Galen. Mr. Weed died in 1862, and his wife in 1881. Our subject was educated at 
Clyde High School, and remained on the farm, teaching school winters for about nine 
years. In 1848 he married Rebecca, daughter of Joseph O, and Ruth Watson, of 
Galen, and they had these children: Watson, Oscar D., Mary E. a teacher in Drew 
Ladies' Seminary, Carmel, N. Y., Garhardus and Ruth (both deceased). Mr. Weed 
moved in 1850 to Huron, and purchased the farm of 300 acres, where he has since re- 



16 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

aided, engaged in farming and fruitgrowing. In the latter he enjoys the reputation of 
being the most extensive and successful in the town, the proceeds for the year 1893 
being about $6,500. He has served as assessor and supervisor several terms, and in 
1881-82 was elected by the Republicans to the Assembly, has also been delegate to 
many county and State conventions. His living children are all graduates of Cornell 
University. Mr. and Mrs. Weed are members of the Clyde Grange. His son, Wat- 
son, is a Unitarian minister in Scituate, Mass. Addison is in New Hartford, engaged 
in gardening, fruit growing and civil engineering. Oscar D., practicing law in New 
York city. 

Wood, Anson Sprague, was born in Camillus, Onondaga countv, October 2, 1834. 
His father, Alvin, was of English ancestry, and his mother, Fanny Woodworth, of New 
England descent. Early in the forties Alvin Wood removed with his family to Butler, 
Wayne county, where he continued to reside until his death in 1874. Anson S. was 
the youngest of a large family of children, three others of whom are still living and resi- 
dents of Wayne county : Mary, wife of William Fowler; Frances, wife of Christopher 
C. Cay wood, of Butler ; and Benham S. Wood, of Wolcott. Anson S. Wood was edu- 
cated in the district schools, and also attended the Red Creek Union Seminary. In 1853 
he began the study of law in Syracuse, which he continued later in Clyde in the office 
of C. D. Lawton, and afterwards of Judge L. S. Ketchum. In the winter of 1854 he 
engaged in teaching. In the fall of 1855 he attended the Albany Law School, and was 
admitted to the bar in December of that year. During the early part of 1856 he re- 
sided at South Butler, and was elected town superintendent of common schools. In 
July, 1856, he removed to Lyons, where he formed a copartnership with Hon. William 
Clark. He continued to practice law in company with Mr. Clark and Hon. Dewitt 
Parshall until September, 1862, in the meantime (1858-1859) serving two years as town 
clerk of the town of Lyons In the fall of 1862 he responded to the call for volunteers 
to defend the Union, and was commissioned as first lieutenant in the 138th N. Y. Vol- 
unteer Infantry, afterwards known as the 9th N. Y. Heavy Artillery. After the regi- 
ment reached Washington Lieutenant Wood was assigned to duty as adjutant. In June, 

1863, he was promoted to a captaincy and detailed to duty at the draft rendezvous at 
Elmira, N. Y., and was for some time assistant adjutant- general at that post. In May, 

1864, at his own request, he was returned to his regiment and to the command of his 
company. He was engaged in the battles of Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Monocacy, Win- 
chester, and Fisher's Hill. In October, 1864, he was placed on the staff of General J. 
B. Ricketts, who commanded the third division of the famous Sixth Corps. General 
Ricketts was severely wounded at the battle of Cold Harbor, and was succeeded in com- 
mand by Gen. Truman Seymour, with whom Captain Wood continued as judge advo- 
cate of the division. In February, 1865, he was promoted to major of his regiment, and 
as such participated in the taking of Petersburg and the capture of Lee's army. For 
meritorious service before Petersburg he was brevetted lieutenant colonel. The regi- 
ment was mustered out in May. 1865, when Colonel Wcod returned to Wayne county, 
purchasing a farm in Butler. In 1866 he was elected supervisor of that town. In 1867 
he became assistant assessor of the United States Internal Revenue, a position which 
he resigned in the fall of 1869 to accept the Republican nomination for member of as- 
sembly from the first district of Wayne county. In the meantime he had removed to 
Wolcott and resumed the practice of law. Colonel Wood was elected to the Assembly 
that fall, and reelected the following year. Janu: ry 1, 1872, he was appointed deputy 
secretary of state under G. Hilton Scribner, holding the oflice two years, when he again 
returned to his home at Wolcott and his law practice. In 1879 Gen. Joseph B. Can- 
was elected secretary of state, and he called Colonel Wood back to Albany to his former 
desk as deputy secretary, where he continued six years. In 1883 he was one of the 
secretaries of the Republican State Committee. In 1885 Colonel Word was the unan- 
imous nominee of the Republican State Convention for secretary of state, but was de- 
feated with the rest of the Republican ticket. lie remained in Albany for over a year 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 17 

engaged in the practice of law, when he again returned to Wayne county, taking up his 
residence at Wood's Island, Port Bay, in the town of Huron, and resuming his law prac- 
tice at Wolcott, which he has continued since. At present he is associated with Hon. 
George S. Horton. Colonel Wood, in addition to the other public positions, has filled 
the office of president of the village of Wolcott, trustee of the Wolcott Union Free 
School, justice of the peace, and supervisor of the town of Huro: . He was the moving 
spirit in the organization of William Button Post No 55, G-. A. R., at Wolcott (subse- 
quently changed to Keesler Post No. 55), of which he has been commander several 
terms. He has also served as assistant quartermaster-general of the G. A. R., depart- 
ment of New York, and has been a member for many years of Wolcott Lodge No. 560, 
F. & A. M. Colonel Wood has been repeatedly a delegate to Republican State Conven- 
tions, and his services as a speaker have long been in great demand in political cam- 
paigns. He has spoken in every county in this State, and has been called upon by the 
National and State Committees to make speaking tours of Maine, Massachusetts, Ver- 
mont, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa. In 1858 Colonel Wood 
married Martha Louise Vickey, of Youngstown, Niagara county. Mr. and Mrs. Wood 
have two children living, William Clark Wood, M.B., and Robert Alvin. Br. Wood is 
a graduate of the Albany Medical College (1880), and is a successful practitioner at 
Gloversville, N. Y. Robert A. is a graduate of Union College (1881), a lawyer and 
newspaper contributor, and resides at Albany. 

Wall, William, was born in Webster, September 2, 1824. He was the oldest of four 
children of Elisha M. and Lois (Savage) Wall, he a native of Vermont, born in 1800. 
He settled in Webster and afterward came to Ontario in 1840, where he died in 1891. 
Subject came to Ontario when a mere boy. He married in 1854 Hannah A. Wray, a 
native of Ontario and daughter of George Wray. The latter was born in Fort Ann, 
Washington county, January 8, 1792, and married Almira Brown of Granville, Wash- 
ington county, April 11, 1821, by Rev. Andrews. He was a blacksmith by trade. He 
came to Wayne county in 1827, and bought the place known then as the Shingled 
House (shingles being used instead of clapboards). He built the first blacksmith shop 
in town, and two years after bought thirty-six acres two miles east of that, cleared a 
spot of ground and built another shop and moved into that. The same year (1829) he 
built a frame house, in which he lived until his death. His wife died in June, 1872. 
and he in October, 1872. They had three children, Almira Jane, Hannah Ann, and 
George Leonard. Mr. Wall and wife have had two children, Ida, wife of William 
Eddy, and has three children, Raymond, Leland and Vera ; Emma C, wife of William 
Patten, who has one child, Ruby. Her first husband was Irvin Cudderback, by whom 
she had one child, Myrta G. Mr. and Mrs. Wall moved to Michigan in 1856, and re- 
turned to the Wray homestead in 1866, where they still remain. William R. Patten 
was born in Ontario on the farm his father settled, in 1850. He is the youngest of 
nine children of John and Eliza (Bancroft) Patten, he a native of New Jersey, born in 
1799, and she of Walworth, born in 1810. They came to Ontario in 1830, where he 
died in 1865, and his wife in 1889. Mr. Patten was a shoemaker and tanner by trade, 
but after coming to Ontario followed farming. He owned 100 acres, which he cleared. 
Subject was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools and Macedon 
Academy. He has always been a farmer, has fifty acres of land, and follows general 
farming and fruit raising. He married in 1890 Emma Wall, a native of Michigan. She 
is a daughter of William Wall. Mr. Patten and wife have had one daughter, Ruby E., 
born Becember 15, 1893. 

Waters, George F., was born in Williamson August 30, 1849. His parents were 
Zeniri and Alice (Brewer) Waters. The family consisted of two sons and three daugh- 
ters, who grew to maturity, the daughters being now deceased. W. H. Waters, brother 
of the subject, is in the town of Miller, South Bakota, in the banking business. Z. 
Waters was reared on the farm and always followed farming. He was an anti-slavery 



18 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

advocate, and died September 4, 1870. The grandparents of our subject were William 
Waters, born in England in September, 1779, and Mary (Sampson) Waters, born in 
June, 1783. They had three sons and five daughters, all deceased but two daughters, 
who are in Michigan. William Waters emigrated to America and settled in William- 
son, being one of the pioneers of that town. He engaged somewhat in land speculat- 
ing, buying and selling several farms, but his principal occupation was farming. Mrs. 
Waters died January 14, 1856, and he died March 18, 1864. George Waters was edu- 
cated at Pultneyville under Prof. Clark. His first business enterprise was as pay- 
master's clerk in the United States navy, but his principal occupation has been farm- 
ing. He has 130 acres of land and makes a specialty of dairying, having special city 
customers for his dairy products. He also has fine fruit orchards. He married, Janu- 
ary 10, 1883, Helen May, daughter of Evelin and Mary (Palister) Cornwall, of Will- 
iamson. They have one daughter, Alice E., born June 8, 1884. Mr. Waters has been 
eleven years deputy collector of customs. 

Warner, R. K., was born in Cortland county July 19, 1825, son of Ira and Asenath 
Warner, natives of Massachusetts and early settlers of Cortland county, where they 
lived and died. Subject was educated in the common schools, followed farming in 
Cortland county until 1858, when he came to Palmyra and in 1865 to Marion, and con- 
tinued farming until 1884, since which time he has lived in Marion. He married in 
1848 Ramonia Vail, a native of Cortland county, born October 25, 1829. daughter of 
Henry Vail, a native of Dutchess county, who died in Madison county, N. Y. Subject 
and wife had five children : Erotus, who married Ella Wake, and has three children, 
Melvin E., F. May, Oscar Z., Lewis W., who married Amelia E. Allen, daughter of 
Abram and Emma Allen, natives of England, who came to Richfield Springs in 1844, 
and there Mrs. Allen died and Mr. Allen now resides. Lewis and wife have had three 
children: Lillian, died aged two years; Jessie and Carl; Mary E., wife of George El- 
bridge, of Homer, Cortland county, N. Y., and has one child, Marion Ramonia; Horace 
A., who married Minnie Potter, died January 25, 1891, and had two children, Ross and 
Myrtle. 

Wood, Noah, was born April 23, 1832, the son of Horatio Wood, a farmer of Butler 
who was also a man of local prominence, being a justice for twenty years, and who 
died in 1860. His wife, Angeline, the mother of seven children, died in 1886. Noah's 
education was received at Lima, N. Y., and the M. G. B. Institute at Concord, N. H. 
He graduated in 1860. His principal occupation has been farming. September 10, 
1861, he married Addie B., daughter of John Hall, of Cicero, N. Y., and both are 
prominent in the M. E. church of Wolcott. Mr. Wood is a man of much character and 
has filled many positions of trust and responsibility, such as president of the village, 
trustee of the Leavenworth Institute, and justice of the peace, holding the latter posi- 
tion twelve years. 

Wood, Major William, was born near his present home August 1, 1830, son of 
Horatio N. Wood. He is a graduate of Union College, of Albany Law School, was 
admitted to the bar in 1857, and practiced that profession two years with Hon. J. B. 
Decker. As captain of Company G of the 9th Heavy Artillery he achieved distinction 
on many a bloody field, promotion to the rank of major and for personnl bravery be- 
fore Petersburg, was breveted lieutenant colonel by President Johnson. A bullet 
wound in the face, received at Sailor Creek, necessitated his retirement from the 
service for some months, after which he was commissioned lieutenant colonel, and his 
battalion detailed for the protection of the city of Washington. Equally distinguished 
as a statesman in the county and State Legislature, having been a member of assembly 
in 1886, Major Wood finds in the retirement of his country home and the management 
of his farming and business interests, congenial occupation. In 1866 he married Mary 
Green, of Mt. Morris, N. Y., and their children are: George C, Horatio N. Angeline, 
Julia D., and Walter W. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 19 

White, Charles S., was born in Eensselaer count}^ September 5, 1833, educated in the 
district schools, and finished at private boarding school. He followed farming until 
1862. September 9, 1856, he married Frances S. Tifft, by whom he has one son, Fred. 
C. Mr. White came to this town in 1S74, having been in the mercantile trade at nis 
old home for twelve years, and this business he has successfully followed since 1875, in 
this town. Fred. C. was educated in the common schools, with a year in Troy, and in 
the Union School and Academy. In 1880 he became a partner in the business, under 
the firm name of C. S. White & Son. He married Minnie M. Horton, of East 
Newark, and they have a son, Elmer F. H. Mr. White's father, Jacob White, was 
born in Medway, Mass., in 1788, and was a manufacturer. In 1814 he married Prisa 
Lewis, of Walpole, Mass., and they had eleven children : Lewis, Sally, Prisa, Miranda, 
Philip, Jacob, David. William, Charles S., Martha, and Mary J. He came with his 
family to this State in 18 16, where he died in 1870 and his wife in 1888, at the age of 
ninety-four. Mrs. White's father, Sprague Tifft, was born in New York State in 1800, 
and married first a Miss Culver, by whom he had one daughter, Lydia M. He married 
second Sophia B. Watson, and had twelve children : George W., James E., W. Dewitt, 
Frances S., H. Cordelia, Melinda V., Amelia C, I. Nelson, Watson, Lucerne, Emerson, 
and Martha A Both parents are now living. Our subject is a member of Newark 
Lodge No. 82, F. and A. M. 

Yo'mgs, L. S., was born in Coxsackie, Greene county, May 4, 1832. His father, 
William, came to Wayne county in 1840, settled on the John Austin farm in the town 
of Arcadia, and was a large fruit producer. He died on the old homestead in 1884 at 
the age of seventy-six. L. S. Youngs was educated in the common schools, to which 
he had added through life by reading and close observation. At the age of twenty- 
three he married Emeline, daughter of Jacob Vanderbilt, who was called out to defend 
Sodus Point in 1812, and they are the parents of two children, Mrs. Stella E. Bradley 
and L. Armeda. In 1868 he bought part of the old Jacob Vanderbilt estate, which has 
been in the family for ninety years. Our subject is one of the substantial men of his 
town, taking an active interest in educational and religious matters. 

Zeluff, Charles E.. was born in Wolcott September 16, 1841. His father, Benjamin, 
was a native of Trenton, N. J., settled in Red Creek in 1838, and died in 1885, aged 
seventy-three years. Charles E. was educated in the common schools, after which he 
followed boating several years. In 1875 he established his present business, and is one 
of the largest dealers in fresh and salt meats in Wayne county. At the age of twenty- 
nine he married Mary E., daughter of Jonas Van Slyck, of Clyde, and they have one 
son, Czar E. Our subject is identified in advancing the best interests of his town. 

Young, Henry, was born near Menby on the Rhine, July 6, 1820. His father, Con- 
rad, came to the United States in 1831 and settled in Wayne county. He died in 
1861, aged seventy-five years. Henry Young was educated in Germany and the 
United States, and at the age of twenty-two married Ann Eliza, daughter of John 
Foist, by whom he has five children : George H., Darwin C, Charles F., Lydia A. 
(Mrs. Rooke), and Mary E. Rodenbach. In 1842 he bought the homestead of sixty- 
four acres, in 1850 bought the John Desmond property of sixty acres, and in 1855 
bought the J. Longee property of fifty acres, their joint property being 210 acres. 
They raise fruit, hay, grain and stock. Our subject is one of the largest farmers in his 
town, taking an active interest in educational and religious matters, having been trustee 
and class leader and superintendent of the Sunday-school and member of the M. E. 
church for fifty-two years. 

Smith, Ensign, was born March 10, 1830, Rensselaer county. His father, John D. 
Smith, died here in 1887, his wife, Priscilla, having died in 1865. They left three 
children, Ensign, Jesse (died in 1854) and Lydia (died in 1878). Ensign married Febru- 
ary 20, 1861, Charlotte, daughter of Edwin and Lucy M. Powers of Galen, the former 



20 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

of whom died in 1844 and the latter in 1879. The children of Ensign and Charlotte 
Smith are: Jesse, bom January 17, 1862, was murdered January 15, 1887, at Chatta- 
nooga, Tenn., by a fellow boarder, to whom he had loaned money, and upon demanding 
it, was stabbed to death; John E., born January 7, 1864, now operating the homestead 
farm; Jennie, born October 14, 1865, the wife of Charles Vanderpool of Savannah; 
Luther and Lucy, born January 14, 1869. Luther married Bessie Marriott of Galen and 
they live in Cleveland, Ohio. Lucy is the wife of Ethan Calkins of Lyons; Everett, 
born April 13, 1871 ; Herbert S., born April 30, 1872, now in Cleveland, 0., and Lester 
R., born March 14, 1877. 

Anderson, E. B., a native of Palmyra, was born in 1852, was educated at the Palmyra 
Union School, and went to Chicago in 1869. Here he remained three years in con- 
nection with the chief grain inspector's office of the Board of Trade, and for seven 
years was cashier in a wholesale house there. Returning to Palmyra in 1879, he married 
in 1884, Elizabeth H., daughter of Willis T. Gaylord, of Sodus, N. Y., and they have 
had two children : Gaylord W. and Edwin W. Mr. Anderson has served one year as 
village president, and three years in the Board of Education, and has been connected 
with the coal trade for fifteen years. 

Albright, John H., was born in Ontario, March 26, 1845, the son Abraham Albright, 
born in 1816, on the Atlantic Ocean while his parents were on their way from Holland 
to America. Abraham was reared on the farm and was a farmer all his life. The subject 
of our sketch was also brought up on the farm, and was educated at Sodus and Wal- 
worth Academies. He worked for his father until of age when he purchased a farm of 
seventy- five acres. He also has an interest in and charge of the homestead farm of 200 
acres. He has a twenty four acre vineyard of Niagara grapes and raises other small 
fruits. In 1874 he was married to Miss Joanna H. Johnson of Williamson, daughter of 
the late James Johnson, and they have one son, J. Stanley, born Octobsr 24, 1878. Mr. 
and Mrs. Albright are members of South Shore Grange, No. 552, and they attend the 
Presbyterian church at Ontario Centre. 

Austin, Orlando, was born in Williamson, April 3, 1826, a son of Pasqua and Mar- 
garet (Davis) Austin, natives of Washington county. The grandfather of our subject 
was Pasqua Austin, a native of Rhode Island born in 1765, who came to Williamson 
about 1771, and died in 1834. The father of our subject came to Williamson in 1824, 
and bought part of the farm now owned by Orlando, to which he added later, retiring 
from active life at the age of sixty- five. He died in 1886 and his wife in 1876. Orlando 
was reared on the farm and lived at home until the age of thirty. He then went to 
Iowa and superintended railroad work for a time, and then went to Wisconsin for a 
short time; thence to Chicago in 1856, where he invested in real estate. In 1858 he re- 
turned to this town, and three years later engaged as traveling salesman for nursery 
stock. Six years later he went west and engaged in the nursery business with Frank 
Norris, of Brighton, selling out to him after one year, and going to Iowa, where he en- 
gaged in the forest tree nursery business for four years. In 1876 he came to Williamson 
and married (1877) Clarissa M. Barker of Pittsford. They resided in Pittsford five 
years. He then engaged in the real estate business in Rochester two years, afterwards 
traveling in the interest of a soda and baking powder house for a year. He then re- 
turned to Williamson and bought the homestead, where he has since lived. The place 
consists of 100 acres of fine land, on which he has made many improvements. He is 
member of Pultneyville Lodge, No. 159, F. & A. M. Mr. and Mrs. Austin have one 
daughter, Lula C. 

Anderson, George, son of Peter and Pamelia Anderson, was born in Wayne county, 
April 21, 1859. Beside himself, there were Jennie and Lillie, who both died in 1884; 
John, now also resides in Savannah, and Kate, the wife of Charles Reade, jr.. of this 
place. Peter Anderson came from Seneca into Wayne county when a young man, and 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 21 

cleared a farm four miles northwest of Savannah. At this time he is seventy- five years 
of age, and lives a retired life at South Sodus. His wife, Pamelia, was a daughter of John 
W. Haddon, and died September 15, 1884. The boyhood of our subject was spent in 
Savannah, where he acquired an excellent education, and he married December 4, 
1878, Lottie, daughter of Charles Eeed of Savannah. They have three children : Cora, 
born September 15, 1880; Minnie, born May 9, 1882; Ross P., born February 22, 1887. 
Mr. Anderson is a man of so retiring nature that only intimate friends recognize his real 
worth and ability. He built in 1884 a very handsome modern residence. 

Allen, Joseph, a native of Mansfield, Conn., born June 19, 1820, came with his pa- 
rents to Oneida county the same year, and to Newark, Wayne county in 1839. Two 
years later he removed to Palmyra, and entered the machine shop of Eldridge Williams. 
In 1842 he began the manufacture of scales here, and in 1844 manufactured the Fair- 
banks scales comprising all the different styles. In 1855 he commenced selling dry 
goods and groceries, at the same time continuing the manufacture of scales and agri- 
cultural implements, having a general store, and this he has followed for the past thirty 
years. He has a large store, fifty-six feet front and 110 feet deep, comprising two and 
a half stories. 

Alborn, Edward F., was born in Waddington, Eng., January 22, 1846, the fifth child 
of ten children born to Edward and Elizabeth (Green) Alborn, natives of England. 
Edward came to Ontario in 1854, but soon moved to Walworth, and there the father 
died in July, 1892. His wife survives him and resides in that town. Edward was nine 
years of age when his parents came to Ontario. He was reared on a farm, educated in 
the common schools, and has been a contractor and a miner of iron ore in Ontario for 
ten years. At present he is a farmer, and owns 115 acres of land. In addition to farm- 
ing he is interested in stock and fruit raising. Mr. Alborn is a Prohibitionist, and is a 
member of of the Presbyterian church of Ontario Centre. On February 18, 1874 he 
married Eliza Lolley, a native of Ontario, and daughter of Thomas and Sarah Lolley, 
natives of England, he from Yorkshire and she from Kent. Seven children were born to 
Mr. Alborn and wife : Edward T , Joseph A., Cora B., Charles W., Floyd A., Lewis P., 
and Clarence L. Indian relics have been plowed up on the farm Mr. Alborn now 
owns. 

Alden, Hiram, was born in Kenosha, Wis., January 25, 1847. His father was a 
native of Wayne county, moved to Wisconsin and died there in 1847. Hiram was 
educated in the common schools and finished at the Sodus Academy, after which he re- 
turned to his grandfather, Ede Alden, At the age of thirty- two he married Mattie E., 
daughter of George W. Peterson of Sheboygan county, Wis., and they are the parents 
of one son, E. Leroy and one daughter, Myrtie I. In 1875 he bought the Alvah Brun- 
dage estate of seventy-six acres, raising hay, grain and stock and small fruits, taking an 
intelligent interest in educational and religious matters. 

Allen, Charles E., was bern in Ontario, May 1, 1861, the son of Jeremiah and Maria 
Grant Allen, natives of Ontario. Jeremiah Allen was a farmer. He and his wife were 
members of the M. E. church. He died in September, 1882. Our subject was reared on a 
farm, and educated in the Rochester Union Schools. He has always been a farmer and 
owns seventy-five acres of land. January 22, 1883, he married Ada Coyer of Oswego, 
and they have two children, Bertha M. and Clifford F. Mrs. Allen is a daughter of 
Benjamin and Eliza Coyer, who resided in Oswego many years, where both died when 
Mrs. Allen was a child. 

Allen, F. S., was born June 22, 1857, the son of Jeremiah and Maria Grant Allen, 
mentioned in this work. The subject of this sketch was reared on a farm, and educated 
in the common schools, and he now owns twenty-five acres of land and raises small 
fruits. He married Addie Cone, of Ontario, daughter of George B. Cone, who died in 
1882. Mr. and Mrs. Allen have one son, Jay M., bora July 17, 1881. 



22 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Allen, Henry C, was born in the town of Root, Montgomery county, February 8, 
1837, and is the oldest of five children of Abram P. and Emeline (Yorhees) Allen. The 
grandfather was Prince Allen, and the grandmother, Ruth (Pratt) Allen, were both born 
in Washington county, N. Y., and in an early day settled in Montgomery county, where 
they lived and died. The father of our subject came to Marion in 1856. where he 
resided until his death, January 4, 1859, and his wife in October, 1868. Of the family 
there are three sons and one daughter now living. Elisha P. was in the Rebellion, and 
was wounded at Gettysburg, where he died from his wounds and was buried in the 
national cemetery. Our subject was reared upon the farm and has always followed 
farming and carpentry. He also buys and sells apples and is quite largely engaged in 
fruit growing. He married, in 1862, Louisa M., daughter of J. H. Bilby. They have 
one son, Elmer J. Allen, who resides with them and works the farm. His wife is 
Carrie N. Pulver, of Marion, and they have one son, Wayne. Mr. Allen has been 
supervisor of the town, and is a member of the A. 0. U. W. of Marion. 

Austin, William C, born in Williamson, May 21, 1822, is the son of Nathan L. and 
Dorcas (Congdon) Austin, natives of Washington county, who came to Williamson in 
1819. He died February 19, 1872, and his wife June 7, 1879. The grandfather was 
Pasqua Austin, born June 3, 1765, and died August 5, 1834. His wife was Penelope 
Lee, born in 1777, and died November 22, 1830. Subject was educated in the common 
schools and at the Marion Academy, and followed farming until twenty years of age, 
when he engaged in speculating in stock, which he followed sixteen years. He then 
engaged in the mercantile business in Marion, and built the store now occupied by Mr. 
Peer. He was appointed postmaster, and held the office six years. He engaged in the 
undertaking business and continued until April 1, 1894, when he sold to Scott B. 
Curtis. He was deputy sheriff a short time, but resigned and was justice of peace for 
four years. He married, in 1850, Armina Boyce, a native of Washington county, and 
daughter of Peter and Eunice (Davis) Boyce, who came from Washington county to 
Marion and went West, and Mr. Boyce died in Morley, Mo., and his wife in Chicago, 
111. The maternal grandfather of subject was John Congdon, a native of Rhode Island 
who came to Washington county in an early day, where he died. 

Aikin, John B., represents one of the pioneer families of the locality. His parents, 
John and Margaret (Young) Aiken, came into Butler county sixty years ago, and their 
original domicile was a log house, a residence which, however, seemed conducive to 
longevity, as they reached and adorned age. John B. acquired a good education during 
the palmy days of the old academy at Red Creek, and upon the attainment of his major- 
ity became a tiller of the soil. As commissioner of roads, and of excise, he has demon- 
strated public office to be a personal trust. In 1864 he married Josephine Wadsworth, 
of Butler, by whom he had two children, who died in infancy, and a son and daughter, 
who remain : William J. and Nellie M. 

Barker, David E., of Macedon, was born in Monroe county, May 23, 1853, a son of 
William G., who was born in Canada June 24, 1809, and came to the United States at 
an early age. He settled in Dutchess county and engaged in farming, which he followed 
all his life. William G. married Caroline Cornell, daughter of William Cornell, and 
they had eight children, four now living. She was of the family of Friends. David E. 
was the youngest child. He was educated at the Macedon Academy, and married 
Fannie Baker. He, like his father, has always followed agriculture. He married 
second, Alice Green, of Michigan, November 1, 1883, by whom he has two children : 
Adda and William. Mr. Barker is a Granger, and a Republican in politics. 

Bradley, William, was born in Lyons, April 7, 1819. His father, Thomas, was a 
native of Londonderry. Ireland, came to the United States and settled in Alloway 
(a. small hamlet in South Lyons), and entered the employ of Captain H. Towar. In 
1818 he married Miss Louanna Bradley, who came from Litchfield, Conn., and soon 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 23 

after bought what has been known since that time as the Bradley Farm on the old 
Pre-emption road in South Lyons. William was educated in the common schools, to 
which he has added through life by reading and close observation. At the age of thirty- 
six he married Catherine J., daughter of William A. Teller, and they are the parents of 
five children, three of whom, H. Seymour, Charles W., and Mrs. Rosie Horn, are now 
living. Mrs. Maggie A. Ternouth died at Albany in 1884. Rev. David L. Bradley was 
a very highly educated man, had served as pastor two years at Cape Vmcent, had com- 
menced his third year when at twenty-eight years of age, he received a summons from 
the master he served and loved so well, to lay down his burdens, to receive his reward. 
Our subject is one of the prominent farmers in his town. In 1857 he bought the 
William Ennis property of sixty-eight acres in South Lyons, to which he has added, 
taking an active interest in educational and religious matters. 

Blaker, Benjamin C, of Macedon Center, was born in Monroe county, July 24, 1830, 
a son of Petrocles Blaker, a native of Pennsylvania, boin in 1800, who came to New 
York State at an early day and settled in Henrietta, Monroe county, where he took up 
farming. He never came to Wayne county to reside. He was a mason in early life, 
but in his later years devoted his attention to farming. He married Matiah tarter, of 
New Jersey, by whom he had these children : Mary J., Benjamin C, Thomas, Elizabeth, 
Beulah, Martha, and Ruth A., the latter and Elizabeth being deceased. In 1858 our 
subject married Mary Fritts, of Monroe county, and they have four children: Minnie, 
who died, aged nineteen years; Clarence, who is married and resides on the homestead; 
Nellie, a graduate of Macedon Academy ; and Dora, also a graduate of the Chautauqua 
Literary and Scientific Circle. 

Brown, Elisha, a native of New Jersey, was born in 1807, and at the age of seventeen 
years came to Williamson, where he lived some time. He then bought a farm in 
Marion, and resided there several years, and then located in Palmyra in 1846, and there 
spent the remainder of his life, dying in December, 1893. His first wife was Cyntha 
Hoag, by whom he had three children: Alfred, now of Illinois; William, who died 
young ; and Frances, now Mrs. J. W. Guerney, of Palmyra. Mrs. Brown died, and he 
married second. Mary, daughter of Stephen Durfee, by whom he had four children : 
Garrison, now of Illinois; Emily, wife of William H. Nichols, of Iowa; Joseph S., 
who resides in Nebraska ; and Edwin D., who lives on part of the home farm. The 
latter was born in 1858, and was educated in Palmyra, where he has always lived. In 
1891 he married Alida L. Harrington, daughter of Hiram Harrington, a native of Wash- 
ington county, and they have one child, Raymond H., born August 31, 1892. The mother 
of our subject died in 1881. His father's farm consists of 162 acres, purchased of 
Stephen Durfee, and of this Edwin D. owns fifty acres. 

Bryant, Lewis J., was born in Newark, February 1, 1835, educated in the Union 
school and academy, and his early life was spent on the homestead farm, and later in the 
nursery business and market gardening on the farm, near the village. The homestead 
comprises fifty-five acres. February 23, 1859, he married Jane C. Church, formerly of 
Madison county, and they had two sons : L. Rae, who married Elizabeth Hoeltzel, of 
Newark, and has one son : L. Henry (the fifth generation on the home farm) ; and 
Lynn T., who assists his father in the business. James Y., father of our subject, was 
born in Essex county, N. J., September 6, 1801, and his parents removed to Cayuga 
county in 1804, and to Newark in 1806. October 29, 1828, he married Betsey Darland, 
of Newark, and they had three children : Lydia A., Lewis J., and Francis Y. He died 
in January, 1871, and his widow survives at the age of ninety years. Simeon, grand- 
father of Lewis J., came here in 1806. and bought the home farm from Phelps & Gor- 
ham's land office in Geneva. Mrs. Bryant's father, Benjamin Church, was born in 
Madison county, September 2, 1816, and married Sarah Osborne, a native of England, 
and they had four children : Charles, Jane O, George W., and Adeiia S. He died, 
December 9, 1880, and his widow resides with her daughter, Mrs. Bryant. 



24 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Bartle, Andrew C, was born in Wayne county December 2, 1828, and received his 
higher education at the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary at Lima, and at Clinton Libera] 
Institute. In early life he served as clerk in a wholesale hardware store in New York 
city. In 1853 he came to Newark, and engaged in lumbering with B. F. Wright, 
under the firm name of Bartle & Wright, which continued two years. From 1855 to 
1868 he carried on the business alone in Newark with a branch in Clyde, then took as 
partner Mr. Eames, this firm still continuing in Newark. May 10, 1854, he married 
Mary A. Mulford, of Hulberton, Orleans county, they have one daughter, Charlotte. 
Mr. Bartle's father, James P., was born in Freehold, Greene county, July 3, 1791, 
and was a colonel in the war of 1812. While a young man he came to Newark, and 
married Louisa B. McNeil, of Deerfield, Oneida county, by whom he had five children : 
Antoinette A., Andrew O, Louisa T., Adelaide O, and Alice S. James P. Bartle was 
the first supervisor of Arcadia, and represented the district in the Legislature, and was 
also the first postmaster in Newark, continuing until 1840. He was the first worship- 
ful master of Newark Lodge No. 83, F. and A. M., and the first high priest of Newark 
Chapter No. 117, R.A. M. He died January 24, 1863, and his wife January 6, 1873. 
Andrew C. is a member of Newark Lodge No. 83, F. and A. M., and of Chapter 117, of 
Newark, R. A. M., also of Monroe Commandery, Rochester, No. 12, K. T., and also a 
member of the A. 0. U. W., No. 116. First two stores for general merchandise, dis- 
tillery, boat-yard, produce business and various other branches of business, and identi- 
fied with village improvements, erecting churches, hotels, printing offices and building 
roads and bridges. 

Burnham, Hon. Edwin K., was born in Randolph, Vt., September 8, 1839, educated 
in the common schools and the Royalton Academy and completing his studies at the 
Orange County (Yt.) Grammar School. In 1862 he enlisted in Company C, 15th Ver- 
mont Infantry, and was at the battle of Gettysburg, being honorably discharged as 
sergeant in 1863. In the spring of 1864 he graduated at the Albany Law School, and 
was admitted to practice in the courts of the State. In June of the same year he came 
to Newark and entered upon the practice of his profession as a partner of James E. 
Briggs, a native of his own State. In September of the same year he re-enlisted into 
the army, and October TO, 1864, was commissioned captain of Company D, 111th 
Regiment, N. Y. Infantry, and went with his regiment, participating in the engage- 
ments in and around Petersburg until taken prisoner April 2, 1865. He was returned 
to his regiment April 9, the day of Lee's surrender, and honorably discharged June 4, 
1865. Returning to Newark he began the practice of law, and in 1872 he founded the 
Newark Union. In the fall of 1884 he was elected to the Legislature, and was largely 
instrumental in the passage of a bill establishing the Custodial Asylum for Feeble-Minded 
Women at Newark, which is now a nourishing State institution, and of which he is 
secretary aud member of the Board of Trustees. In June, 1889, he was appointed 
superintendent of public buildings, which position he filled with credit and honor. One 
of the first innovations made by him was the rule that the national flag should lloat 
from the staff on the capitol every week day through the year, which was the origin of 
the movement to display the Hag on public school buildings. Mr. Burnham owns a half 
interest in the Wayne County Preserving Company at Newark, and has twenty acres 
devoted to fruit and vegetable growing. He has served as justice of the peace eight 
years and as super isor four terms. August 31, 1865, he married Nancy A. Dillingham, 
a niece of Governor Dillingham, ami of their four children one daughter died in infancy, 
the others are George A., Edwin D, and Helen E. Mr. Burnham is a member of Vos- 
burgh Post No. 99, G. A. R., of which he has been commander four terms. He is also 
a member of Newark Lodge No. 83, F. & A. M., and also of the I. O. 0. F. No. 250, of 
the A. O. U. W. No. 17, and of the Grange. 

Brink, A. C, born May 20, 1863, at North Wolcott, is the son of Emmons Brink, who 
is a producer and shipper of small fruits at that place. He received his education at 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 25 

Red Creek Seminary, prosecuted the study of law in the office of Anson S. Wood, and 
was for four years in the office of Freeman & Green, of New York. In 1882 he se- 
cured admission to the Wayne county bar, and began practice in Wolcott. Mr. Brink 
is a Republican and a successful lawyer. He has traveled extensively through the west, 
being engaged for several years in the negotiation of real estate upon the Pacific coast, 
and also in Chicago, 111. 

Barnes, R. R., was born in Van Buren, Onondaga county, November 21, 1849. His 
father, Asa Barnes, was a prominent farmer of that town. He died in 1870, aged 
eighty- two years. R. R. Barnes was educated at the Baldwinsville Academy and Caze- 
novia Seminary, after which he returned to his father's farm. March 1, 1872, he came 
to Clyde and purchased the business of R. R. Mattison, being associated with Eugene P. 
Reed. In 1874 he purchased Mr. Reed's interest, and is now carrying one of the largest 
and best selected stocks of clothing and men's furnishing goods in Wayne county. At 
the age of twenty-five he married Edna A., daughter of Henry W. Le Vanway, and 
they are the parents of three children: Bertram W., Le Van R., and Curtis B. Our sub- 
ject is one of the longest established merchants in his town. 

Bastian, George B., was born in the town of Galen, Wayne county May 29, 1852. 
His father, Michael, a native of Alsace, Germany, came to the United States in 1835, 
and settled in Oneida county, removing to Galen in 1837. George B. received a com- 
mon school education. At the age of twenty-one he married Carrie, daughter of George 
Ehresman, of Lyons, and they are the parents of four children : George H., Ella B., Eva 
L., and Meda Belle. In 1881 he and his brother purchased 320 acres of land about a 
mile and a half south of the village, afterwards dividing the property, each taking one- 
half. He is one of the leading farmers of the locality, and is engaged in raising hay, 
grain, fruit, stock, etc., also runs a milk dairy, averaging 200 quarts daily. Our subject 
takes an active interest in politics, being a Democrat. He was elected town assessor in 
1886 and served three years. 

Bennett, Charles, was born in Williamson, January 20, 1822, and is a son of Josiah 
and Ruth Bennett, mentioned in this work. Our subject was educated in the Palmyra 
and Marion Academies. He has always been a farmer and owns eighty- five acres of 
land, on which his father settled. Mr. Bennet was a Whig, and assisted in organizing 
the Republican party, of which he has since been a member. He has been collector one 
year and assessor nine years, and also trustee of the school for several years. He was a 
member of I. O. 0. F. Mr. Bennett married twice ; first, Delia Warner, of Sodus, they 
had six children, of whom five are living : J. Warner, who has been a postal clerk for 
fifteen years and is now a druggist in Williamson, he married Lelia Brown, of Richville; 
Josiah, died in infancy ; Ellen W. ; C. Fred ; Edward A. ; Mamie C. Mrs. Bennett 
died in 1871, and Mr. Bennett married for a second wife Mrs. Phebe I. Bishop, of Rich- 
ville, N. Y. She had two children by a former husband, Mattie I. and Errie R. Bishop. 
There was born to Mr. and Mrs. Bennett one daughter, Jennie D., now married to Mr. 
I. Brasser, of Buffalo, 

Bishop, John Calvin, was born February 7, 1829, a son of Captain Chauncey Bishop, 
of Rose, being the eighth generation in America, from John Bishop, who emigrated to 
Guilford, Conn., in 1639. Necessity compelled an early departure from home of some 
of the children to earn their own support, and John C. began teaching in the town of 
Lyons, November 2, 1845, before he was seventeen. He was successful and continued 
teaching and attending school for the next ten years. He graduated at Normal school 
at Albany, April 4, 1850. At Albany he was attacked by cholera and just escaped 
death. He studied surveying and engineering under Prof. George R. Perkins, and 
though he has lived on a farm his chief occupation is engineering. His wife was Mary 
Skilton Avery, a descendant in the seventh generation from Christopher Avery, who 
emigrated from England in 1630. She is of the family known as " The Averys, of 
d 



26 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Groton." The most distinguished member of the family from Wayne county was the 
late Hon. John H. Camp, of Lyons, a descendant of Christopher Avery. The Skiltons 
were an old Connecticut family. The children of John C. and Mary Bishop were all 
born at Pilgrimport, their present residence. The first born, Anna, died in 1870, aged 
fifteen. Charles Avery, the oldest son, is a farmer in Tyre, Seneca county. His wife 
was Jane E., daughter of William Smart, who came from England to Lyons about 
1854. Their home is five miles south of Savannah village. They have five children. 
He is a representative man of the best type of young American farmers. Lincoln, the 
next son, also a farmer, resides at Pilgrimport. His wife was Francis Louise, daughter 
of William Barrett, who is a grandson of Elder Barrett, the Rose Baptist preacher of 
seventy years ago. John C. and Lincoln live as one family, Lincoln doing considerable 
surveying every year, being a competent and skillful engineer. The youngest daughter, 
Sarah, is at home unmarried. The youngest son, John Skilton, born September, 1861, 
was educated in the Lyons Union School, Union University and the Albany Law 
School. He had seven diplomas of graduation, and had been admitted to the bar in 
Albany on a Supreme Court examination before he finished his course in the law 
school. He went to Lincoln, Neb., in 1887. The Western Banker, a commercial pub- 
lication of Chicago, issue of May 15, 1894, contains a portrait and sketch of his life and 
character. June 20, 1894, he married Cora L. Knapp, of Rose Valley, N. Y. She is 
the eldest daughter of E. H. Knapp, esq., who belongs to the family of Knapps residing 
in Butler. They are of Connecticut stock, and date back to colonial times. 

Benjamin, William, was born in the town of Westmoreland, Oneida county, in 1800, 
a son of Benjamin Benjamin, who was a blacksmith, with limited means and a large 
family. William, together with two older brothers, worked and paid for eighty acres 
of land for their father. At the age of thirty-two years William married Nancy Shaver, 
and moved to Butler, Wayne county, on the farm he had previously bought. At this 
time the town was nearly an unbroken wilderness, only a small clearing around each log 
house. Selling this he moved to Rose, this county, where he continued to prosper, and 
at his death in his sixty-fourth year, had accumulated a large property. Both he and 
wife were devoted to charity and Christianity. Their son, Manley F., was born in 
Rose, this county, in 1837, and served his parents faithfully until his majority, when 
his father placed him in the position of financial manager of his business, which post he 
held until the latter's death. Soon afterwards he bought the entire estate, carrying it 
on up to 1875, when he sold the farm, and married Jennie Stewart, daughter of Wil- 
liam Stewart, of Clyde. They had two children : Roscoe, who died at the age of eight 
years ; and Carlisle. Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin are interested in all religious and educa- 
tional matters. 

Bradley, Judd B.. was born in Lyons, August 8, 1852. His father, B. J., came to 
Wayne county with his parents in 1805 and settled on the farm now occupied by Judd 
B., who was educated in the common schools and finished at the Lyons Union School. 
Afterward he returned to his father's farm, which he bought in 1881, and which has 
been in the family since 1803, having two hundred and twenty-five acres, raising hay, 
grain and stock, making a specialty of Jersey stock. At the age of twenty-four he 
married Elda A., daughter of H. W. Palmer, of Port Gibson. Our subject is one of 
the largest farmers in the town, identified in advancing its best interests. He is in pos- 
session of deeds transferring some of the land from the English government to his 
grandfather, Judd B. Bradley. 

Burnett, William, was born in Phelps, Ontario county, January 20, 1824. His father, 
James, was a native of Little Britain, N. Y. The family originally came from Scotland 
and celebrated their one hundred and fiftieth anniversary in 1890, on the old farm. 
James Burnett and his father came to Phelps about 1800 and was a well known man and 
prominent farmer in that town. William was educated at Marion, Lyons and Clinton, 
and in 1848 entered in sophsmore class at Union College, Schenectady, and graduated 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 27 

in the classical course in 1851 ; after which he taught school nine years. In 186G he 
came to Clyde, engaged in the mercantile business, continued five years, and since then 
has been engaged in surveying and civil engineering. At the age of thirty- eight he 
married Loretta, daughter of Henry Van Tassel, and they have one daughter, Kath- 
erine D., who is a graduate of St. Lawrence University and of New York Medical Col- 
lege and Hospital for Women. Dr. Burnett is a practicing physician in Brooklyn, N. 
Y. Our subject takes an active interest in educational matters. 

Barrett, George D., was born in Hooksett, New Hampshire, January 9, 1846. His 
father, William H. Barrett, was a prominent contractor and builder of that town, pay- 
ing particular attention to railroad work. He was lieutenant-colonel of the Eighth 
New Hampshire Regiment, entering the service as captain, was promoted for bravery 
and meritorious conduct. He died in 1871, aged fifty-seven years. G. D. Barrett was 
educated in the high schools of Nashua, New Hampshire, entering Dartmouth Medical 
College in 1875, graduating in the class of 1828, and first opened an office in Boston. He 
then removed to North Abington, remaining until 1884, and the same year came to 
Marengo, remaining until 1893. He located in Clyde in November, 1894, and estab- 
lished a general practice. At the age of thirty-two he married Mary H., daughter of 
Alfred Randall, of Boston, and they have had two children : Grace M. and George C; 
the latter died in childhood. Our subject was formerly a member of the Massachusetts 
Medical Society, is now a member of the Wayne County Medical Society and health 
officer of the town of Galen. Dr. Barrett early developed a desire for travel. At six- 
teen years of age he took a three months' trip to the Bahama Islands and Gulf of Mex- 
ico ; in 1867 visited Canada, stopping among the Canadians over six months; in 1869, 
a trip to Mexico by way of Isthmus of Panama ; to Mazatlan, on west coast, nearly 
a year was devoted to that country, and five years to California and Nevada. 

Blackburn, John A., was born in Iredell county, North Carolina, October 14, 1828, 
and was educated in the common schools, to which he has added by reading and close 
observation. Afterward he established the hardware business in Hillville, Carroll 
county, Va , continuing four years. In 1855 he came to Lyons and purchased the fan- 
ning mill factory of S. D. Van Wickle, continuing the manufacture until 1863, when he 
established the agricultural implement business, which he continues up to the present 
time. At the age of thirty-two he married Margaret M., daughter of Jesse Smith, of 
Lyons, and they are the parents of three daughters: Mrs. Jesse Van Camp, Isabel and 
Grace. Our subject is one of the leading men in his town, taking an active interest in 
educational and religious matters, 

Bockoven, H. S., was born in the town of Galen, in 1834. His father, Samuel, was 
one of the prominent farmers of the town of Galen. H. S. Bockoven was educated in 
the common schools, and at the age of twenty-eight married Ada, daughter of Israel 
Roy, by whom he has two daughters : Edna R., and Gertrude A. He has ninety-eight 
acres of some of the best land in Wayne county, and raises mint, fruit, hay, grain and 
stock. Our subject is recognized as one of the representative men of his town, taking 
an active interest in school and church matters. 

Bean, Amos, was born in England, in 1843. He was the youngest child of a family 
of six children born to Samuel and Mary Bean, natives of England. May 28, 1856, he 
came to Ontario and settled on the farm, where he died in 1877, aged seventy-seven 
years. His wife died in 1894, aged eighty-nine years. Amos was thirteen years old 
when he came to Ontario, where he has since lived, and is engaged in general farming. 
Mr. Bean is an independent in politics. In 1870 he was married to Sarah Bean, widow of 
a brother, George Bean. By her first marriage she had two children, Mary and Willie 
(deceased). Of the second" marriage five children children were born : Hattie, Clara 
Martha, Minnie and Eva. 



28 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Bradley, Benjamin, was born April 1, 1828, in Lyons. His father. Thomas, was a 
successful farmer and prominent man in his town, and in business strictly honest, leav- 
ing at his death eight children, six boys and two girls, the oldest being seventeen, the 
mother having died several years before. The fact most worthy of mention was this : 
The six brothers grew up without contracting the habit of strong drink, tobacco or 
cards. The subject of this sketch received his education in the common schools, at- 
tending the Lima Academy for a short time. After spending a year in Wisconsin he 
returned to Lyons in 1853 and bought a small farm of forty-two acres from the Samuel 
D. Westfall estate. Afterwards, another part of the same estate, also three other ad- 
ditions from adjoining neighbors, possessing some of the best land in Wayne county, 
making a specialty of fruit and grain. At the age of twenty-seven he married Sarah. 
M., daughter of William A. Teller, and they are the parents of three children, two of 
whom are living, Matie A. Eck, of Toledo, Ohio, and Clayton T., of Phelps. Our sub- 
ject is one of the self-made men of his town, taking an intelligent interest in educa- 
tional and religious matters, of sterling integrity and recognized worth. 

Barber, William, carriagemaker, and dealer in wagons, sleighs, etc., at Red Creek, was 
a soldier of the late war, having served for two years without material injury. He 
enlisted in August, 1862, in the 138th N. Y. Vols., which was transferred to the 9th N. 
Y. Heavy Artillery. He was born at Victory, Cayuga county, May 23, 1839. He 
established his present business in 18G5 and still occupies the same location. In 1871 
he married Jean Barber, of Syracuse, and they have two sons, Edwin W., born 1872, a 
druggist in Syracuse, and Gay P., born 1873, who is engaged at wagon work with his 
father. 

Barton, Archibald, was born in Haverstraw, Orange county, June 4, 1833. His 
father, William, was a native of Connecticut. Archibald was educated in the common 
schools. In 1855 he came to Lyons and engaged in farming six years, and in 1861 
came to Galen. In 1866 he married Abbie N., daughter of Joseph C. Watson, and 
they have had five children : Dillwyn, Joseph W., Lynn, Olive V., and Nellie. In 1871 
he bought a part of the James Angell and the Skinner property of eighty-seven acres, 
and in 1890 bought what is known as the Philip Haugh farm of fifty-five acres, having 
195 acres of some of the best land in Wayne county, raising fruit, hay, grain and stock. 
Our subject was highway commissioner three terms, re-elected in 1894, and takes an 
active interest in education. 

Bates, Mary E., daughter of Edward and Lucinda Clark, of Red Creek, is the widow 
of William Bates, late of Westbury. Her father came here from Columbia county in 
1853, and is still located upon the farm then purchased, and is a much respected citizen. 
The maternal grandfather of our subject, Ezra Park, of Canaan, N. Y., was in many 
ways a man of note. He was ten years of age when Fulton's steamboat first plowed 
the waters of the Hudson, and was a witness of that scene. At his birth George 
Washington was still living, and the Burr-Hamilton duel was fought while he was a 
small boy. His Republicanism dated from the formation of the party, and he never 
missed an election from his majority until his death in 1892, reaching the unusual age of 
ninety-five years. Mrs. Bates is a lady of culture and refinement, widowed in early 
womanhood, has two children, Edna L. and George C. William Bates enlisted as a 
soldier of his country in Company F, 3d Regiment New York Light Artillery. He re- 
ceived an honorable discharge, but while in the service contracted disease which re- 
sulted in his death May 4, 1891. 

Button, William W., was born in Wayne county in 1856, and in 1882 married Minnie 
Penoyar, daughter of William H. Penoyar, of Lyons. Their children are : George 
Henry, William Edwin, Stanley Leroy, Clara Louisa, ami Howard. The latter moved 
from Lyons in 1888 to Palmyra. Both Mr. and Mrs. Button are natives of New York 
city, who came to this county in 1869 and located in the town of Sodus, moving to 
Peekskill, Westchester county, in 1889. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 29 

Brandt, J. S., M.D,. was born in Ontario, February 15, 1856. He is the youngest 
child born to J. W. and Sarah J. (Eddy) Brandt, he a native of Schoharie county, born 
in 1823, and she a native of Williamson, born in 1818. The grandfather of J. S. Brandt 
was Joshua Brandt, a native of Maine, and among the early settlers of Ontario, where 
he lived and died. The maternal grandfather was Joseph Eddy, a settler of William- 
son, and justice of peace many years. He died at the age of forty -six. The father of 
J. S. Brandt was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools; was graduated 
from the Buffalo Medical College, and practiced four years in Michigan. He afterward 
came to Ontario, and practiced his profession until he retired, about four years ago. 
Mrs. Brandt died in 1889. Dr. Brandt is a Democrat in politics, and was a surgeon in the 
war of the Rebellion. J. S. Brandt was reared on a farm, and received his early educa- 
tion in the common school. In 1873 he was graduated from the Rochester Collegiate 
Institute, and from the Bellevue Hospital Medical College of New York in 1878. 
Since that he has successfully practiced his profession in his native town, and is a mem- 
ber of the western division of the New York State Medical Society. Dr. Brandt is a 
Democrat. He is a member of the Walworth Lodge, No. 154, F. & A. M., and Pal- 
myra Eagle Chapter, No. 79, R. A. M. Dr. Brandt was married in 1883 to Kittie G. 
Maher, a native of Macedon, and daughter of Jeremiah and Mary Maher, both natives 
of Canada. Four children were born to Dr. Brandt and wife : Eldred S., Arthur W., 
Willard J., and Harold L. Dr. Brandt is one of the pension examining surgeons of 
Wayne county, appointed in 1893. 

Brown, Charles, was born in Galen, May 30, 1840. His father, Silas Brown, was a 
native of Vermont and came to Wayne county. He died in 1885, aged seventy-six 
years. Charles Brown was educated in the common schools, to which he has added 
through life by reading and close observation. At the age of twenty- one he married 
Alvira, daughter of Abram De Golia, and they have one child, Mrs. Emma Corrigan. 
In 1875 he purchased of his father fifty acres, where he now resides, and what was 
known as the Brush farm, raising fruit, hay, grain and stock. Our subject is a liberal 
supporter of schools, and the M E. Church of Clyde. 

Bennett, John P., was born in Williamson, July 10, 1824, and is the son of Josiah 
and Ruth Reeves Bennett, who came to America from England with his parents and 
settled in Hudson. Josiah Bennett was educated at Pittsfield, Mass., Medical College, 
and came to Williamson in 1815, and practiced his profession until his death in 1850. 
Our subject was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools and Marion 
Academy and Rochester Collegiate Institute. He engaged in farming, and in 1872 he 
began buying and selling grain, and at present is engaged in the lumber business. He 
has a large lumber yard and does a large business in making boxes for packing evapo- 
rated apples and other fruit Mr. Bennett has been justice nine years, and was a mem- 
ber of the Assembly in 1854-55, and in 1890. He was elected supervisor 1879, and is 
now serving his sixteenth year. He was sheriff 1862-63-64 and 1868-69 and '70. 
Mr. Bennett is a member of the Pultenyville Lodge, No. 154, F & A. M., and he and 
his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church. In 1861 Mr. Bennett married 
Sarah M.. daughter of William and Deliah Eddie Bradley, early settlers of Williamson, 
N. Y., and they have five children : William J., who married Mary Freeman, and has 
one daughter, Sarah P.; Albert B.; John D., died in infancy, R. May, and Samuel S. 

Baker, George 0., was born in West Monroe, which was then a part of Constantia. 
Oswego county, June 30, 1835. His father, Samuel P. Baker, was a native of Mar- 
cellus. Onondaga county, and removed to Oswego county at the age of twenty-one, 
where he engaged in the business of tanner and currier, and in the manufacture of 
boots and shoes. During the latter part of his life Mr. Baker devoted himself to farm- 
ing. He married Miss Mary H. Atherton, daughter of Samuel Atherton, and to them 
were born eight children. Samuel Baker died in 1888. at the age of eighty-eight 
years. George O. Baker, the fourth son, studied law and was admitted to practice at 



30 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Syracuse in 1S59, and came to Clyde in August of the same year, where he engaged 
in general practice. He married Miss Ellen Gregory, daughter of Aaron Gregory, of 
Mexico, Oswego county, and they are the parents of five children, two of whom are 
now living, William G. Baker, of Poughkeepsie, and Alice J. Baker. 

Booth, B. S.. son of Norman and Paulina Booth, of Huron, Wayne county, N. Y., 
was born in 1829. He acquired a business education at Lyons High School and in 1852 
engaged as merchant in Wolcott. He is now the senior member of the firm of Booth 
& Merrill, grocers and stationers, established in 1874. Mr. Booth was constable in 
1857 and 1858, the first Republican postmaster of Wolcott under the administration of 
President Lincoln in 1861, deputy sheriff from 1871 to 1877, under sheriff from 1877 to 
1880 and is now a notary. October 9, 1851, he married Margaret, daughter of James 
T. Wisner, and she died in 1857, and in 1858 Mr. Booth married Mary, daughter of 
Hiram Church, of Wolcott, and they have four children, of whom one son, William, is 
an engineer on the N. Y. C. & H. R. R. 

Brownell, M. Alice, M. D., was born in Shelby, Orleans county. She was first 
educated in the public schools, then in the Select School at Medina, at the Howland 
Institute in Union Springs, at the Normal School of Brockport, and the Granger Place 
School at Canandaigua. For nine years she was a successful teacher, during which she 
studied medicine and later entered the medical department of the Michigan University 
of Ann Arbor, from which she graduated in 1885, and practiced in Rochester five years 
with success. August 1, 1891, she was appointed resident and attending physician of 
the State Custodial Asylum for Feeble Minded Women, at Newark, by the Board 
of Managers of that institution, which position she now retains and has creditably filled 

for the past three years. 

v 

Bickford, Lyman, was born in East Bloomfield, November 1, 1820. Azariah Bickford, 
his father, was a native of Maine. His grandfather, Rev. James P. Bickford, went to 
Rochester in the year 1812, being one of the first settlers at that time. He afterward 
removed to Michigan, where he died, at the age of 84. Azariah Bickford was a black- 
smith by trade and started business in East Bloomfield. In 1819 he married Philana 
Perkins, of the town of Victor, and their family consisted of nine children, Lyman B. 
being the eldest. Azariah Bickford died in 1886, aged 84. Lyman Bickford is a 
machinist and has carried on business since 1842. At present he is retired. April 28, 
1842, he married Elvira Perkins and they are the parents of three children : Mary, 
who married Colonel Henry Underbill, dying in her 26th year, and two sons, deceased. 
Mr. Bickford is a member of the Masonic fraternity, Macedon Lodge 665. He is a 
member of the Universalist Church. In politics he is a Democrat and served as super- 
visor for five years. He was the founder of the Bickford & Huffman Company now 
doing business in Macedon village. 

Beardsley, David S., M. D., was born in Trumbull, Fairfield county, Conn., April 8, 
1810. He is the youngest of the five children of James and Ruth (Summers) Beardsley, 
natives of Trumbull, he born in 1758 and she in February, 1767. He was a Revolu- 
tionary soldier. The family is of English descent, Mr. Beardsley having come to 
America from Stratford-on-Avon, England, in 1635, at the age of thirty. He named the 
town of Stratford in Fairfield county, Conn., and one of his descendants came to Western 
New York and named the town of Avon. Dr. Beardsley is the seventh generation in 
America. He was educated in the common school and Cherry Valley Academy, studied 
medicine with Alonzo White, M. D, of Cherry Valley, Otsego county, and graduated 
from the Albany Medical College in 1840. He practiced his profession at Middlefield 
Center from 1842 to 1849, and in November of the latter year he came to Williamson, 
and to Puitneyville in 1854, on April 1, where he has since had a successful practice. 
He at present leads a retired life. November 24, 1841, he married Laura F. Carr, a 
native of ITartwick, born July 23, 1820, and a daughter of Ephraim and Sarah (Todd) 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 31 

Carr, natives of Connecticut, Avho died in Otsego county, where the grandfather of 
Mrs. Beardsley settled in 1790. Dr. Beardsley has been a life-long Democrat, and 
voted for Andrew Jackson in 1832. He is a member of the Pultneyville Lodge, No. 
159, and was a member of I. 0. 0. F. for many years. He and his family are mem- 
bers of the Presbyterian church. The father of our subject. James Beardsley, was a 
member of the assembly for eight terms, and a relative of Dr. Beardsley, who named 
the town of Avon, N. Y. 

Brockman, Lewis, a native of G-ermany, born June 8, 1853, is a son of Fred and 
Eliza Brockman, who came from Germany to America in 1881 with two daughters and 
settled in Rochester. They had a family of two sons and two daughters, all of whom 
came to America and all still survive. Mr. Brockman was a farmer, and in religion 
they are German Lutherans. Mrs. Brockman died in 1882, but he still lives in Roches- 
ter with a daughter, Sopha, wife of William Coward. Lewis Brockman came to 
America in 1874, having been educated in the common schools of Germany. He went 
to work as a farm hand, and was seven years employed by William Gould. In 1881 
he purchased the farm of eighty acres where he has since resided, carrving on general 
farming and fruit growing, also evaporating fruit. In 1877 he married Hattie Kier, of 
Ontario, by whom he has had these children : Bertha, William, Fred, Charlie, George 
and Nora. 

Breisch, F. L., was born in Hailbron, Wurtenberg, Germany, August 2, 1853. His 
father, Frederick, came to the United States in 1856 direct to Lyons, and settled on a 
farm at Alloway. He brought up a large family of ten sons and two daughters. F. 
L. Breisch was educated in the common schools to which he has added through life by 
reading and close observation. At the age cf eight he was bound out to a farmer, re- 
maining six years. At seventeen he learned the millers trade at Alloway, and in 1874 
came to the village of Lyons and entered the employ of Capt. C. Englehardt in the 
grocery business. In 1878 was associated with G. M. Hattler in the dry goods busi- 
ness, and in 1879 went with I. B Schuyler & Co. and established the original New 
York store in Lyons. In 1886 he entered into partnership with R. A. Hubbard in a 
general dry goods store, which connection terminated in 1889. Then in connection 
with P. T. Hartman re-established the business carried on by I. B. Schuyler & Co., 
known as the New York Dry Goods Store. At the age of twenty-nine he married 
Helen W., daughter of Henry Smith, of Lyons, and they have one son, Earle F. Our 
subject is a Democrat in politics and was elected town clerk for two terms, and while 
leading an active business life has found time to take an interest in school and church 
matters, being a member of the Lutheran Church, also a member of Humanity F. & 
A. M. Lodge No. 406. Our subject is recognized as a man of conservative character, 
whose life has found his word to be as good as his bond. 

Barnes, Harvey D., was born in Galen October 8, 1836, and was the son of Edward 
Barnes. His wife was Hannah Tindall and their children were: Charles H, Caroline 
E., wife of Peter Fisher, of Michigan ; Horatio V., and Mary Ella. Our subject left 
home when eleven years of age and has always followed farming. In 1861 he enlisted 
in the 44th N. Y. Vol. Ellsworth Regiment, Company K, and served three years. The 
principal engagements in which he participated were siege of Yorktown, evacuation of 
Centerville, Fredericksburg, Antietam, South Mountain and Gettysburg. He was dis- 
abled March 11, 1862, and discharged at Johnson's Island, where he had been detailed 
to guard prisoners. Since the war he has been engaged in farming, and owns ninety- 
six acres. In 1864 he married Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Catchpole, of Huron. 
Mr. Barnes is a member of the G. A. R. John E. Sherman Post No. 410, of Rose Val- 
ley, and he and wife are members of the Clyde Grange, No. 33. 

Burnett, A. C, was born in the town of Galen October 7, 1848. His father, W. H. 
Burnett, was a native of Junius, Seneca county, and was a prominent farmer of the 



32 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

town of Galen. He married Jane A. Collamer, of Ballston, Saratoga county, and died 
September 12, 188.'!, aged sixty-five years. A. C. Burnett was educated in the common 
schools, to which he has added through life by reading and close observation. He re- 
turned to his father's farm in 1X73, purchased one-half the homestead farm, and inher- 
ited the other portion in 1883, having 200 acres, raising fruit, grain and stock. His 
grandfather, Arch Burnett, was the first man to cultivate and distill mint in Wayne 
county, securing the first roots from the wild mint on the banks of the streams. A. C. 
Burnett married Alice, daughter of Spencer Yandemark, and they are the parents of 
one daughter, Jane A. He is a member of Clyde Lodge No. 300, of Wayne Encamp- 
ment, Newark, Galen Canton No. 49, and major on General Shafer's staff of Patriarchs 
Militant. 

Benton, William, was born in Columbia county August 11, 1827, and is the seventh 
of the eleven children of Jonathan and Kate Mclntyre Benton, he a native of Ver- 
mont, and she of Columbia county, N. Y. Both died in 1837. Our subject was reared 
a fanner, and came to Williamson in 1853, and now owns eighty acres of land and 
follows general farming. He is a Democrat. March 11, 1854, he married Angeline 
Clark, a native of Columbia county, and a daughter of John I. and Margaret Clark, 
now residing at Sodus Point. Mr. and Mrs. Benton have had eleven children: Arthur, 
Helena, Justina, Estella, Willie and Annie, deceased ; Charles, John, Margaret, de- 
ceased ; Ada and Fred. 

Brown, George A., son of Benjamin and Mary Brown, was born in the town of Ros- 
coemanor, Berks county. Pa., January 3, 1848. There he learned the trade of harness- 
maker, and for a few years followed it as a journeyman, but in 1872 he came to Clyde, 
where he has since resided. The year of his arrival here, Mr. Brown opened a small 
harness shop — the nucleus of his present extensive manufactory, and which has de- 
veloped into one of the largest industries of the kind between Syracuse and Rochester. 
April 30, 1874, he married Hannah, daughter of Abraham Knight, of Clyde. They 
have two children living, Ralph Robert and Aden George, and two deceased, Ella 
Pauline and Laura Hannah. 

Bevier, Fred, was born at Niles, Cayuga county, May 18, 1863. His father, Simon 
Bevier, was a man of prominence at that place, and died in 1877, at the age of fifty. 
Fred received a good academic education at Munroe Collegiate Institute at Elbridge, 
N. Y. He adopted undertaking as his chosen profession, and began his business life 
by association with N. G. Anderson of Syracuse. In 1892 he came to Wolcott, and 
established the business at No. 30 Main street, making a specialty of arterial embalm- 
ing, beside carrying a large stock of furniture. November 14, 1888, he married Cora, 
daughter of William Tanner, of Niles. Mrs. Bevier graduated from the State Normal 
School at Cortland, N. Y., in 1883, after which she spent several years in teaching. 

Benton, John W., was born on the old homestead, upon which he now resides, Janu- 
ary 21, 1823. He was educated in the public schools of Newark and at the Genesee 
Wesley an Seminary at Lima, N. Y. November 21, 1850, he married Harriet, second 
daughter of Austin and Sarah Roe, and they have two daughters, Frances Roe and 
Harriet. Frances R. married Arthur N. Hull of Greenfield, Mass., and they have two 
children, Lillian Preston and Roger Benton. Harriet married Rev. Francis Bellamy, 
now of Boston, and they have two sons, John Benton and David. Mr. Benton's 
father, Rev. Roger Benton, was born in Litchfield county, Conn., in 1770. He was a 
clergyman and belonged to the Baltimore conference, and traveled in Central New 
York as one of the pioneer Methodist ministers. He preached and travelled over large 
circuits until his voice failed him entirely, when to occupy his time he taught school in 
Canandaigua, hoping to regain his voice, but not recovering it, he decided to locate 
and found his way through the wilderness from Canandaigua to this locality by blazed 
trees with the aid of a pocket compass. He contracted for his farm in 1805, and built 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 33 

himself a log house on the spot where the subject of this notice now resides, making 
one of the rooms in it especially large to accommodate religious meetings, where the 
early settlers congregated regularly for seven years for public preaching and social 
meetings. After which he built a church on his own farm, where the cemetery now is, 
" the neighboring settlers aiding as they could by bees and labor." There was no vil- 
lage where Newark now is, nor any central point. There was a saw mill at Marble- 
town, and Geneva was the place where most of the business was done. Roger Benton 
married twice ; first Sally Jenks, of Seneca, on Geneva Lake, and they had one son, 
Lewis J. His second marriage was to Mrs. Frances (Beal) Oaks, formerly of Oaks 
Corners, Ontario county. They had one son, the above John W. Roger Benton died 
in 1846, and his wife in 1854. The ancestry of the Ben tons were English and Scotch. 
Mrs. Benton's father, Hon. Austin Roe, was born in Litchfield county. Conn., in 1802, 
and came to Wayne county with his parents when eighteen years old. He was a farmer 
by occupation and married Sarah Wisner, formerly of Orange county, and they had 
eight children : Deborah A., Charles, Harriet, Charlotte M., Austin L, Rebecca, Sarah 
and Albert H. He died in 1866, aged sixty-four years. His wife still survives him, 
aged ninety-two. The Roes are of English descent. Mr. and Mrs. Benton are mem- 
bers of the M. E. church. He is one of the trustees, and has held many of the offices 
of the church. He was superintendent of the Methodist Sunday school for thirty years. 

Burghdorf, Joseph, whose great-grandfather came when a lad from Germany, is the 
oldest son of Jacob J. and Miranda Burgdorf, who were life-long residents of Wayne 
county. They reared a family of nine children, of whom six are now living. Joseph 
was born at Auburn, October 28, 1836, and has been engaged in farming- the most of 
his life. October 27, 1859, he married Mary E., daughter of George Doolittle, of But- 
ler, who died October 19, 1874, leaving a family of four children : Harriet, wife of San- 
ger Case, a merchant at Sodus Point; Addie, wife of E. D. Ebray, of Sodus; Spencer, 
who married Sarah Stothard, and is a farmer of Victory, Cayuga county, N. Y. ; and 
Allan, who died when eight years of age. In 1875 he married Laura A., daughter of 
William H. Nichols, of Huron. Two children have been born to them : Paul M., who 
is now at home, and Otto, who died in infancy. 

Britton, John, son of Richard and Ann Britton, was born in Williamson, August 18 
1831. Our subject was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools. He has 
always followed farming and now owns eighty acres of land, which he settled on when 
twenty- six years of age. He resided there thirty -six years, and then sold and came to 
Williamson in 1891, where he now leads a retired life. He is a Republican in politics, 
and was excise commissioner for three years. Mr. Britton and wife are members of the 
Presbyterian church. January 18, 1857, he married Sarah D. Thomas, a native of 
Marion, born in 1831. Mr. Britton has one adopted daughter, Daisy, the wife of George 
Wamesfelder, of Ontario, and they have one daughter, Ruth. Mrs. Britton's mother 
lived with her daughter until her death, ten years before she died, January 13, 1888, 
at the age of eighty-one. 

Brant, Hamilton, the third of seven children of Joshua and Susannah Brant, was born 
in Schoharie county, August 3, 1809. He was reared on a farm and educated in the 
common schools. He taught school and took great interest in public questions, and was 
a good debater. He came to Wayne county about 1840 and bought the farm now 
owned by the family, where he died in 1868. Formerly a Democrat he became a Re- 
publican about 1856. He married in 1844 Frances B. White, a native of Saratoga 
county, who was born March 24, 1824, and daughter of Stephen and Sarah White, and 
they had ten children. Mr. White and wife came to Penfield, Monroe county, in 1831, 
and emigrated to Michigan, where he died in 1872, and his wife in 1869. Mr. Brant 
and wife have had four children : Mason, Amasa, Jennie, and William. Mason mar- 
ried Jane Church, of Ontario, by whom he has seven children : Sarah J., Hattie R., 



34 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Amasa, Amelia J., George, William H., and Edith. Amasa married Florence Sweed, of 
Penfield, and has two children : J. Hamilton and Leon. William married Carrie Ott, 
of Walworth, and has one child, Homer Hamilton. Jennie, William, and their mother 
reside on the homestead of 108 acres, and follow general farming, and are members of 
Ontario Center Grange 122. 

Barnard, Walter, was born in Schenectady county, February 26, 1847, was educated 
in the common schools and at Ballston Spa Academy. In 1871 he engaged in railway 
work, entering the employ of the Delaware and Hudson Company as freight brakeman, 
and later as passenger conductor. In 1886 he entered the employ of the West Shore 
Railroad Company as yard master at Newark, which position he has filled with ability 
since. October 19, 1876, he married Rosamond Griswold, of Castleman, Vt., and they 
have had two children : Nellie, who died young, and Lillian. Mr. Barnard's father, 
Morgan L., was born at Lowville, Lewis county, in 1812, and was a hotel keeper all his 
life. He married Catharine E. Hermanse, of Rensselaer county, and of their ten chil- 
dren five survive : Walter, Anna, Helen, Emily, and Bella. He died in 1888, and his 
widow survives him. Mr. Barnard is a Mason of Lebanon Unity No. 9. 

Clark, James 0., son of Dennis Clark and Amanda Reeves Clark, was born in Pal- 
myra, January 19, 1832. He married in 1856 Alinda, a daughter of Jamps T. Wisner, 
who died in 1859. In 1862 he married Anna M. Reeves, daughter of Austin Reeves, 
and their children are: Emerson D., who died aged thirteen years, and Hattie A. 
James 0. Clark's farm consists of 150 acres, and was purchased in 1860 of Newton 
Foster, a son of one the pioneers of the town. It was formerly a noted wheat farm, 
but dairying is now its leading interest. Mr. Clark taught school a few terms in his 
younger days, has been highway commissioner three years, and supervisor of Palmyra 
four years. In politics he is a Republican. 

Corrin, E. Q., was born on the Isle of Man, Janury 21, 1857, came to the United 
States, and located in Clyde in 1870, being then thirteen years of age. He lived with 
his uncle, Philip Grimsha, who was a farmer in the town of Galen. E. Q. Corrin was 
educated in the common schools, to which he has added through life by reading and 
close observation. He was appointed superintendent of the Gas Company in 1880 ; in 
1885 went into the grocery business with E. Sands, continuing that connection two 
years; in 1889 associated with E. N. Hughson and established his present business; in 
1892 purchased his partner's interest, and is now carrying a large stock of stoves, 
ranges, hardware and cutlery. At the age of twenty-four he married Laura, daughter 
of Edwin Sands, and they are the parents of three children: John G,, Louise, and 
Robena S. Subject was a member of the Republican County Committee four years, a 
trustee of the school district four years, a leader of the Presbyterian church choir, and 
one of the charter members of the Saxton Band. 

Carver, P. K., came into the town of Savannah in 1836, the house was then on lot 
99. The Monteznma turnpike road had cut off about two acres of land, which had 
been sold to some former owner of lot 12 in Tyre. The house was moved over the 
line in the fall of 1836, near the east bounds of lot 99, was an old Indian camping 
ground, numerous relics were found there in 1837. Some of the first settlers were 
buried on the lot, the ground being now used for farming purposes. The north line of 
Seneca county was surveyed by Joseph Annin in 1791, marked a tree near the marsh: 
Township No. 26, Lot 12. Annin surveyed Wayne county in 1798. making long and 
narrow lots on the south line of the county, lot 99 being 42 6 ', chains on the east line 
44 12 , chains on the west. The southwest corner of the town of Savannah is near the 
center of the road, about 44 chains 36 links south of the southwest corner of lot 89. 
The first settlers of the (now) town of Savannah came by the way of May's Point, and 
had to go that way to get to mills in Cayuga and Seneca counties. After the turnpike 
was made across Crusoe Island from Montezuma to Armitage, most of the farmers 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 35 

went to Port Byron and Troopsville to mill. There was a tollgate at the east end of 
the Seneca River bridge, farmers commuting and paying the toll by working on the 
road. P. K. Carver was married in 1855 to Sophia J. Burnett, of Lyons. Their family 
consisted of four children : Helen, Mary, Gardner (now deceased), and Elmer, who 
resides with his parents on their farm. 

Creager, John, was born in Lyons, August 6, 1825. His father, William, was a 
native of Frederick county, Md., and came to Lyons in 1802 with his father, Henry, 
who exchanged his farm in Maryland for a section of 640 acres in the town of Galen, 
now known as Creager's Bridge John was educated in the district school, which was 
on the Creager estate. His father died when he was twelve years of age, and he had 
to take the management, with the aid of his mother, of his father's farm. At the age 
of twenty-five he married Rachael' A., daughter of John Levans, of Galen, and they 
were the parents of one daughter, Sarah J., who died in August, 1892. In 1860 he 
bought the Cole Roy property of 123 acres, raising large amounts of hay, grain and 
stock, in 1867 removed* to Alloway, and in 1887 bought his present residence on Broad 
street in Lyons. He is a Democrat in politics, and has held the office of assessor six 
years, justice of the peace four years, and trustee of the school. 

Cone, Walter L., jr., was born in Lenox, Madison county, March 13, 1832, the fourth 
child of a family of six, born to Walter L., sr., and Caroline C. (Curtis) Cone, the father 
having been born in Oneida county in 1798, and the mother in East Haddam, Conn., in 
1803. They were married December 2, 1821. Mr. Cone died December 12, 1888, and 
his wife, December 5, 1885. Walter L., sr., settled on the farm owned by our subject in 
1837, cleared it, and there spent the remainder of his days. He was a Republican, and 
was captain in the State militia. Walter L., jr., our subject, was reared on the farm, 
educated in the common schools of Ontario, and engaged in farming, now owning 115 
acres of land. He is a Republican, and has served as assessor three terms. November 
11, 1858, he married Nellie Bennett, of that place. Mr. and Mrs. Cone have had two 
children : Glen C, who married Allen Cattien, and has one child, Ada B. ; and Kittie, wife 
of Floyd Gates, of Ontario. They have three children : Glen, Roscoe, and Elma M. 
Glen C. is a fruit raiser and farmer. He has served as clerk of the Board of Supervisors 
for three years. The grandfather of our subject was Walter R. Cone, of East Haddam, 
Conn., born November 26, 1764, who married Dorothy Palmer, March 26, 1789. He died 
November 22, 1829, and his wife in 1847. The father of Walter R. was Sylvanus Cone, 
of East Haddam, Conn., born January 21, 1731, who married, November 13, 1755, 
Hannah Ackley, born March 18, 1742. He died in Millington, Conn., May 3, 1812, and 
his wife, June 24, 1789. His second wife was Mary E. Graves, whom he married 
October 6, 1790. She was born in 1746, and died January 23, 1807. His third wife 
was Eunice Spencer, whom he married November 1, 1809. She was born in 1736, and 
died October 11, 1819. The father of Sylvanus was James Cone, who married Elizabeth 
Warner. He was born in East Haddam, August 24, 1698, and died December 7, 1767. 
He served as representative in 1747. He was married previously to this to Grace 
Spencer who died in 1727. James was the son of Nathaniel and Sarah (Hungerford) 
Cone, the former dying in 1731, and the latter in 1753. Nathaniel was the son of Daniel, 
the first of the family to come to America. He was born in 1626, and died in 1706. 

Craven, D. P., was born in Sodus, Wayne county, N. Y., October 17, 1841. He was 
the oldest son of James and Hannah Craven,, who were natives of Yorkshire, England, 
and came to America about the year 1835, settling in Ontario county, N. Y. Three years 
after they moved to Sodus; they moved to Ontario, in 1853, where they lived till the 
year 1867; leaving New York they settled in Jasper county, Iowa, where they resided 
until their death, which occurred in 1886 and 1884. Our subject was reared on the farm 
and educated in Sodus and Walworth Academies. He married Julia Bennett in On- 
tario, N. Y., November 8, 1865, daughter of John and Jane (Mason) Bennett, natives of 



36 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

New York and New Jersey. In April he took the advice of the sage Horace Greeley and 
went west and settling in Jasper county, Iowa, where he now owns 600 acres of as 
productive land as is in the United States. Mr, Craven is a Democrat in politics, as are 
also his five sons. He is agnostic in religion. He has held the office of supervisor for 
a number of years in the State of Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Craven are the parents of eight 
children, five sons and three daughters, all living. J. Edwin, born September 6, 1866; 
D. Homer, July 10, 1869 : John R., September 29, 1871 ; Thurman P., August 10, 1875 ; 
Galen R., June 22, 1877: B. Gabrielle, January 24, 1879; M. Genevieve, August 24, 
1881, and M. Guinevere, May 22, 1884. After an absence of twenty-sevetj years Mr. 
Craven moved back to Ontario, N. Y., where he now lives and owns the McConnell 
farm, situated midway between Ontario and Ontario Centre villages, leaving his three 
older sons to manage his western farm. 

Crandle, R. S., was born October 9, 1825, at the place where his home is now situated. 
His parents, Seth and Rebecca, came from Mentz, Cayuga county. They had eight 
children, of whom four now survive. Seth died September 21, 1871, and his wife Jan- 
uary 16, 1855. Our subject began farming when twenty-five and purchased the farm 
now his own in 1860. He married, January 14, 1864, Mary A., daughter of Loammi 
Beadle of Savannah, by whom he had four children: Elton, born January 8, 1867, who 
died aged fifteen, a youth of uncommon moral worth and studious habits; Everett, 
born January 12, 1869, who married Bertha Titus and lives in Savannah; Martha, born 
June 1, 1872, and Mary born September 25, 1874. 

Clark, Samuel, of English stock, located in Palmyra about 1794, having three sens: 
Samuel, jr., who removed to Michigan about 1840; Benjamin and Oliver, the two latter, 
buying land together across the creek from East Palmyra. This farm was afterwards 
divided, Benjamin taking the north and Oliver the south part. Here Benjamin died, and 
also his daughters, one remaining granddaughter removing to the west about 1838. 
Oliver was born February 14, 1767, and died January 21,1843. He came with the early 
settlers from Long Island, and was a tailor, as well as farmer. He had three sisters, one 
of whom became the wife of Gabriel Rogers, and later removed to Sodus. She was the 
mother of B. R. and James of Lyons, and Erastus of Sodus. Another sister married 
Solomon Franklin, and after his death, Luther Sandford. The other married Samuel 
Soverhill of Arcadia. Her children were Joel and Hiram, and Mrs. Henry Cronise. In 
1796 Oliver married Sarah Jessup, who died January, 1823. Their children were Maltby, 
born March 31, 1798; Matilda, born June 3, 1800, died April 2, 1827; Jerry, born 
September 16, 1802; Dennis, born March 21, 1805; Nelson, born May 7, 1827 ; Betsey 
J., born December 5, 1810 ; Hannah, born February 14, 1812, and Hiram, born April 
29, 1814, died January 11, 1835. Jerry, Nelson, Betsey J. and Hannah settled in Carlton, 
Orleans county. The mother of these children died January 8, 1823, and in 1828, Oliver 
married Susan Romyen of Galen, who died in 1857. Maltby, the oldest of the family, 
in 1821 married Maria Mason, who died the next year. In May, 1825. he married Jerusha 
Jagger, by whom he had eight children : Henry M., born March 6, 1826 ; Maria M., born 
January 25, 1829; Abigail J., November 3, 1831; Harriet E, August 8, 1834; Nelson, 
March 23, 1837 ; Lucius H, December 8, 1840 ; Oliver M., January 31, 1846, and Mary 
E,, January 28, 1850. Malty served in various town offices, was coroner six years, and 
county superintendent of the poor three terms. He died in June 1875. Henry M. re- 
sided with his parents until April 3, 1850, when he married Frances A. Foster. Their 
children are Edwin H., born January 3, 1852, who resides near his father; George W., 
born July 26, 1853, died September 30, 1875; and Julia F., born August 14, 1856, who 
married Edwin F. White. The first four years of Henry M.'s married life were passed on 
a part of his grandfather's home farm, which he afterwards sold, and bought the place 
where his son now resides. He was member of assembly in 1874, supervisor in 1880 and 
'81, and has been stated clerk of the Presbytery of Lyons for the last twenty-four years. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 37 

Carman, Truman, is a native of Monroe county, born in 1830, who came when a 
child, with his parents to Wayne county. He followed farming until about thirty- five 
years of age, then engaged in the real estate and stock trade in Rochester, Monroe 
county, for five years. He then returned to Wayne county and to Palmyra in 1884. 
In 1855 he married Emeline Miller, of this county, born in 1835, and they have three 
children : James, Jennie and Lee. The parents of our subject were Peter and Mary 
(Armstrong) Carman, were natives of Dutchess county, who moved to Wayne county 
about 1835, and died in Walworth. Mrs. Carman's father, Sylvester L. Miller was 
born in Herkimer county in 1804 and was a merchant at West Walworth for fifty years 
and there he died in 1879. He married Charlotte Chase, who was born in 1807 in 
Oneida county, and died in 1877. 

Clarke, F. Wake, M. D., was born in the town of Ontario, Wayne county, N. Y. 
June 1, 1850, the only son of John and Matilda Wake, his mother dying when he was 
an infant. He was adopted by his uncle and aunt, John and Mary Wake Clark, from 
whom he received the name of Clark. Dr. Clark was reared upon a farm and educated 
at the Marion Collegiate Institute and Walworth Academy. In the early part of the 
year 1877, he engaged in mercantile business in Williamson, first in partnership with 
Lewis R. Rogers, now of Albion, N. Y., until the spring of 1880, when he purchased 
Mr. Rogers' interest and conducted the business alone until January 1, 1886, when he 
sold out his business to Lofthouse and Norton. In the spring of 1887 he began the 
study of medicine with Dr. Peer, of Ontario, and in the fall of the same year he en- 
tered the New York Homeopathic Medical College and Hospital, from which he grad- 
uated with honor, receiving his degree of M. D. April 11, 1890, and in the same year 
located in Williamson, where he has since had a very successful practice. Dr. Clark is 
a member of the New York State Homeopathic Medical Association, the Western New 
York Medical Association, and is past master of Pultneyville Lodge, No. 159, F. and 
A. M. On February 18, 1874, he was united in marriage to Mary A., a daughter of 
Mason L., and Lydia P. Rogers, of Marion, N. Y. Dr. Clark and wife have had two 
children : Roger Wake, born December 6, 1874, a graduate of Marion Collegiate Insti- 
tute, class of '94, and Inez M., born August 21, 1879. 

Conklin, Clarence, is a son of William, born in the town of Niles, Cayuga county, 
October 15, 1827, was educated in the common schools, and his life was spent on a 
farm till 1882. February 2, 1852, he married Maria Brinkhoof, and their children 
were: Clarence, Laura, Mary, Ida, Ralph, William and Edward. In 1880 he moved to 
the town of Bristol, and four years later to Newark, where he established a lumber 
business and a box factory, making custom work a specialty The business was in a 
very prosperous condition when, in 1892, occurred the fire by which the firm were 
heavy losers, it then being William Conklin & Son. After the fire he sold his interest 
to his son, Clarence ; the latter married Alice Sheldon, of Cayuga county, and they 
have three children : Frank A., Neva M. and C. Leslie. The ancestry of the family on 
both sides can be traced to Holland. Jacob, father of William Conklin, was born in 
Dutchess county, and the grandfather, John, came to Cayuga county in 1810. Mrs. 
Conklin died May 20, 1875, and two daughters are also deceased, Laura and Mary. 

Chase, Dr. H. L, was born in Wayne county, January 16, 1853, educated in the 
Walworth Academy and studied medicine with Drs. Rose, of Walworth, and Ingraham, 
of Palmyra, later entering the office of Professor Hines, of Cleveland, 0. He gradu- 
ated from the Union University, in Albany in 1875, and began practice at Macedon, 
which he continued till 1890, since which time he has practiced in Palmyra. Lyman, 
father of Dr. Chase, came to Walworth, driving from Plattsburg in 1819, with his 
father and brothers. He was a cooper by trade, and married Martha Andrew, a na- 
tive of Massachusetts. Lyman died in 1864, and his wife in 1880. 



38 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Edward Curtis was born in Madison, Madison county, July 17, 1825. His father, 
Eli Curtis, was born in Stratford, Conn., in 1781, and died in 1861. His mother, 
Hulda (Tyler) Curtis, was also a native of Stratford, and was born in 1790, and died in 
1866. They were among the early settlers of Madison, and the street where they set- 
tled was named Stratford street, from the name of their native place in Connecticut, 
from where the first settlers had emigrated. Eight children were born to Eli and 
Hulda Curtis, of which Edward is the youngest living. Of the eight children only one 
sister besides now survives. Edward was educated in the common schools and at Au- 
gusta Academy. He was favored in being a pupil of David P. Page, first principal of 
the State Normal School, at Albany, and heard the lectures: "Theory and Practice of 
Teaching," afterwardwards published in a book. David P. Page was one of the ablest 
instructors in the State, and no educational work on school-teaching has ever super- 
seded his " Theory and Practice of Teaching." To the spirit inculcated and the lessons 
taught, in this book, E. Curtis credits largely the success of his forty years of teaching 
in the common and union schools. He commenced teaching at the age of seventeen, 
soon after receiving a State certificate. His best life energies were given to only five 
different schools, save acting as vice-principal of Marion Collegiate Institute. Tn 1845 
Mr. Curtis was married to Lura A. Dudley, of Augusta, N. Y., who was born June 21, 
1824. She was the daughter of Rev. Ira J. and Laura (Hurd) Dudley, natives of Hart- 
ford, Conn., and early settlers of Oneida county. Mr. Dudley died in Madison, Mad- 
ison county, January 25, 1881, where his wife now resides, aged ninety years. Mrs. E. 
Curtis died suddenly. October 24, 1893. She was well educated, was thoughtful and 
discreet, and graced the home sphere as few can. Four children were born to Mr. and 
Mrs. E. Curtis: Genevieve, who married Charles E. Allen, in 1875, and died August 
18, 1889; Evangeline, who survives her husband, C. Frank Radder, with two sons, Carl 
C. and Ray R.; Georgp, who died in Madison county, in infancy, and Rollo D., who 
was educated in Yates Polytechnic Institute, and married to Alice M. Platner, of Savan- 
nah, in 1885. This family was in the Marion Collegiate Institute four years, excepting 
Rollo D, who was publisher of the Jordan Intelligencer, at Jordan, N. Y. In 1880 
Rollo D. Curtis sold the Jordan Intelligencer, and in September 24, 1880, assisted by 
his father, Edward Curtis, established the Marion Enterprise. This business was pro- 
jected that the family might be together. It was not thought to be continued, but so 
well has it thrived, latterly, under the firm name of E. Curtis & Son, that to-day it is 
considered one of the leading journals of Wayne county. It has a building of its own 
and a well equipped office. The Enterprise Building is now almost a land-mark in the 
town of Marion. In 1881 the telephone line was built to Marion, chiefly by the ef- 
forts of Edward Curtis, and tne telephone office opened in the Enterprise Building 
continues under his management. 

Croncher, William, born in England (Sussex) February 14, 1830, is a son of Isaac 
and Mildred Croncher, natives of England, who came to America in 1845, and to 
Marion in 1869, where Mr. Croncher died, June 19, 1881, and his wife January 15, 
1878. William followed farming and threshing about forty- five years. He has dealt 
quite largely in real estate, but now owns only fifty acres. He bought the Marion 
mills in 1884, and has put in the full roller process. He has been a very industrious 
man, and by example has educated all his children, except Edward and Fannie, to be 
farmers and threshers. October 1, 1853, he married Clara Willie, born June 11, 1827, 
a native of England, by whom lie had the following children : Fannie M., born July 15, 
185S, who married Albert Smith, by whom she has one child, Jessie; George W., 
manufacturer of cigars at Newark, born August 4, 1860, who married Rose Potter, and 
has one child, Altus; Elias D., born July 2, 1S62, traveling for fertilizing company, 
who married Annie Eddie, and they have one child, Olive ; Edward W., born April 12, 
1865, who learned the millers' trade, and for seven years has been proprietor of Marion 
Roller Mills. He is also engaged in the manufacture of amber cane syrup and pepper- 
mint oil. He married May, daughter of Abram Garlock ; Ira N., born May 1, 1865, 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 39 

who has been a traveling salesman, but is now assisting his brother in the mill. Mr 
Croncher has a reputation for uprightness and integrity, and has given all his children 
academical educations. 

Clarke, Sylvester H., was born in Clyde, November 5, 1820. His father, Sylvester 
Clarke, was a native of Northampton, Mass., and came to Clyde in the spring of 1817, 
where he commenced business as a merchant. The family were from the early settlers 
of Massachusetts, and can trace their descent back to the Pilgrim fathers that landed on 
Plymouth Rock in December, 1620. Sylvester Clarke, the father, died May 27. 1876, 
aged eighty years. The subject of this sketch was partially educated at William 
Kirkland',- Boarding School in Geneva, after leaving which he continued his studies at 
the Clyde High School, then a new institution, under the able supervision of William 
H. Scram as principal and Josiah N. Westcott assistant. At the age of twenty-two 
years he became the member of a mercantile establishment in Clyde, under the firm 
name Halstead & Clarke, which continued in existence up to 1848. He married. Octo- 
ber 17, 1843, Lucy, eldest daughter of Mrs. Sarah Preston, of Geneva, by whom he 
had three daughters, all of whom died in infancy. In 1855, while residing at South- 
ampton, Mass., he became the private secretary of Hon. Samuel C. Pomeroy, business 
agent of the New England Emigrant Aid Company, but since then a United States 
senator from the State of Kansas, and removed to Kansas City, Mo., where, through 
their office, the towns of Lawrence, Ossawatomie and Topeka, in Kansas territory, were 
settled. In 1857 returning to Clyde (the anti-slavery excitement among the settlers of 
Kansas, compelling him to do so), he entered the employ of Miller, Rowell & Co., as a 
bookkeeper at the Clyde window glass manufactory, after which he held an official 
position of fourteen years, under eight collectors, in the New York Custom House, 
receiving his appointment from Hon. Hiram Barney, the first collector of the Port of 
New York, after Lincoln's election as president. In April, 1875, he returned to Clyde, 
and after the death of his father, took possession of a small farm, which has now been 
in the Clarke family over seventy-five years. He is at present the regular correspond- 
ent of several city dailies, and occasionally writes for magazines, likewise takes an 
active interest in Odd Fellowship, the Grange and other society organizations. 

Crafts, Alfred P., M.D., was born in 1828, at Cherry Yalley, Otsego county. He was 
graduated from Union College, class of '51, and graduating in 1853 from Buffalo Medi- 
cal College, he practiced in Sodus and Huron until the exigencies of the war called for 
his professional services, and where he was for three years an active assistant surgeon, 
in Alexandria and Washington. At the close of the war he located in Wolcott, where 
a large medical practice engrossed his attention until his election to the State Legisla- 
ture in November, 1879. Dr. Crafts died at Wolcott, December 18, 1880. His widow 
whom he married June 9 ; 1853, is a daughter of the late Dr. Levi Gaylord, of Sodus. 

Carr, Robert S., M.D., was born in Seneca, Ontario county, N. Y., June 22, 1856, 
and is the son of Stephen and Margaret McGregor Carr, he a native of England, and 
she of Scotland, who came to Canandaigua in 1851. Mr. Carr was a farmer by occupa- 
tion, and died in 1863 in Michigan, where he had resided five years. His wife resides 
in East Bloomfield, Ontario county, N. Y. The subject of this sketch was educated in 
the common schools and Canandaigua Academy, and Cornell University. He then 
studied medicine with Dr. S. R. Wheeler at East Bloomfield one year, and entered the 
medicical department of the University of Buffalo, from which he gratuated in 1889. 
He went to Pultneyville the same year and practiced until 1893, when he came to 
Williamson, where he has since had a successful practice. He is health officer of 
Williamson. He is a member of I. 0. 0. F., Acme Lodge, No. 469, Newburg, N. Y., 
and of K. O. T. M., of Williamson. In 1892 Dr. Carr married Anna L. Nye, of Will-' 
iamson, daughter of Benona and Lavina Nye. 

Corning, Col. Joseph W., was born in Yarmouth, N, S., in 1814, and removed to 
Rochester with his parents in 1823. In 1834 he was elected captain of a military com- 



lu LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

pany in Waterloo. In 1841 he was appointed postmaster of Ontario, Wayne county, 
by President William Henry Harrison, serving four years. In 1847 he removed to 
Palmyra. After spending three years in California, he returned to Palmyra, where he 
studied law, being admitted to the bar in 1855. He also held the offices of justice of 
the peace, police magistrate, mayor of Palmyra, and other positions of trust. In 1860 
he was elected to represent his district in the State Assembly. Immediately upon ad- 
journment he returned to his home and organized a company for the war. His pro- 
motion was rapid, and when the famous 33d Regiment was mustered out in 1863, he 
was the lieutenant-colonel. He was with his regiment in all its engagements. In the 
battle of Williamsburg, Col. Coming's brilliant charge saved the day. He then joined 
the 111th Regiment, with which he served a year, when Governor Fenton requested 
his return home to organize another regiment. He was commissioned a colonel of the 
194th, the last regiment organized in this State. Shortly after Benjamin Harrison was 
inaugurated president, Col. Coining received the appointment of postmaster at Pal- 
myra, which position he held at his death, June 29, 1890, when bis widow, Louisa U. 
Corning, was appointed by the president to succeed him. 

Corning, John W., was born in Ontario, this county, September 8, 1841, and moved 
to Palmyra with his parents at the age of six, and received his education in the Palmyra 
Union School. He had commenced his third year as teacher in the Palmyra Union 
School, when the war broke out, when he resigned and enlisted in Company B, 33d 
N. Y. Volunteers, and left for the front Jul}' 6, 1861. In November, 1861, he was 
commissioned second lieutenant of said company, and in May, 1862, promoted to first 
lieutenant. In November, 1862, he was made adjutant of the 33d, which position he 
held when mustered out with the regiment June 2, 1863, on account of expiration of 
term of service. He was with his company and regiment in all their engagements in 
the Peninsular campaign. He was the only officer with his company during McClel- 
lan's seven days' retreat to Harrison's Landing. Upon reaching the James River, Sec- 
retary of War Stanton ordered him to New York State to recruit men for his depleted 
company, in which he was met with a hearty response. During the winter of 1862 he 
was adjutant-general of his brigade, and went with the brigade to Fredericksburg 
under Gen. Burnside, where the Army of the Potomac, being stuck in the mud, was 
obliged to return to White Oak Church and go in winter quarters. On Sunday morn- 
ing, May 3, 1863, the order came to charge up the heights of Fredericksburg. He and 
his father (who was in command of the 33d) went up, mounted, and upon gaining the 
heights, his father's horse was shot from under him. The two days' fighting, May 3 
and 4, Company B lost more men than they had in the entire two years' service. After 
being mustered out, he was connected with the pay department in paying troops in the 
Army of the Potomac. November 9, 1864, he married Katharine Drake, daughter of 
the late Nelson Drake, and has two daughters, Delia M. and Grace J. Mr. Corning 
was appointed collector of canal tolls at Palmyra for two successive years, and was in 
mercantile business for ten years. In January, 1877", he was elected sergeant-at-arms, 
New York State Senate, to which position he was elected four times, serving eight 
years. In 1882, after passing civil service examination, he was appointed examiner in 
the United States appraiser's department, New York, which position he held for five 
years. In 1888 the secretary of the United States treasuary appointed him deputy 
surveyor, Port of New York, which position he still holds. 

Cheetham, Richard N., was born in London, England, October i6, 1846, and is the 
son of John and Mary Cheetham, of England, who came to Sodus in 1852, where they 
now reside. Mr. Cheetham enlisted in Company E, 98th N. Y. Volunteer Infantry and 
served a year and a half and re-enlisted in Company K, 97th N. Y. Volunteer Infantry, 
and served two years. Our sobjecl was reared on a farm, educated in the common 
schools and then learned the carpenter trade and followed it for eleven years, in 
Williamson. He had worked at carriage making two years previously. In 1881 he and 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 41 

his brother. George F., bought out Alfred Bakeley's hardware business and have since 
conducted it under the firm name of R. M. Cheetham & Co. They also engaged in 
the banking business in 1893 and have had a successful year. Mr. Cheetham and wife 
are members of the Methodist Church In 1871 Mr. Cheetham married Eliza E. Smith, 
of Williamson, daughter of Robert Smith, one of the earliest settlers of the town, 
who died in 1893. 

Crandall, F. G-., editor and proprietor of The Wayne County Dispatch, born at Pal- 
myra, July 17, 1863, was educated in the common and high schools of that town ; and 
learned the printer's trade in the office of The Wayne County Journal. He conducted 
a job printing office during 1882-83 for F. W. demons, and then established one for 
himself January 16, 1885. September 21, 1892, The Dispatch was founded by Mr. 
Crandall, as proprietor, and A. F. Du Bois as editor. The publication is an eight-column 
folio, Republican in politics ; is the only newspaper in the county setting all of its own 
matter, and, among other prominent features, makes a specialty of county correspond- 
ence, devoting each week about five columns to this class of news. February 14, 1892, 
Mr. Crandall married Miss Mary Bearss, of Rochester. He is a member of Zenobia 
Commandery No. 41, K. T. ; Phil Sheridan Lodge No. 430, I. 0. 0. F. ; Palmyra Tent No. 
118, K. 0. T. M. ; Ganargua Tribe No. 143, I. 0. R. M. ; and Palmyra Steamer and Hose 
Company No. 1. Mr. Du Bois was born at Fairville, N. Y., March 25, 1872, where the first 
four years of his life were spent. His father then dying, the family, consisting of a mother 
and four children, removed to Huntsburgh, 0., afterwards locating at Newark, N. Y., 
where the subject of this sketeh was educated in the Union School and Academy. After 
learning the printing business in the office of the Newark Union, he, in July, 1891, 
assumed the associate editorship of the Palmyra Democrat. Resigning this position he 
became editor of The Dispatch at its inception, retaining the position two years. In 
September, 1893, Mr. Dubois began a two years' journalistic course of study in the 
University of Rochester. 

Chapin, Joseph R., was born in Huron in 1846, and is the son of Harlow Chapin, of 
Huron, born in 1822, whose father was Spencer Chapin, a farmer and native of Massa- 
chusetts, the son of Phineas Chapin, of the same place, who came to Huron in 1811 
with his family and was killed by the fall of a tree the same year. The wife of Harlow 
Chapin was Fannie Reed, and their children were Spencer E., Joseph R., Charles E., 
Frank H., Ella L., wife of Rev. Mather Gafney, of Manlius, N. Y., Edgar W. Harlow, 
and Fanny. When twenty-one our subject began farming and from 1874 to 1878 he was 
interested in a stave and barrel factory. He makes berries his special crop at present. 
In 1868 he married Fanny J., daughter of Lorenzo and Almira Cady, of Huron, who 
was born in 1846, and their children are Mattie E., born February, 1873; May A., 
born May, 1876; Joseph C, born in May, 1878; Grace C, born in December, 1879; 
Stephen L., born in May, 1882, and Harvy S., born in August, 1884. Our subject 
served as town clerk three terms, and as highway commissioner one term. In 1879 he 
purchased the farm of seventy- one acres, on which he now resides. 

Creque, Hermon C, is decended from one of the oldest and most distinguished of la 
noblesse families of France. Baudoin de Crequy was knighted in 1190, and the family 
record of meritorious services rendered through subsequent centuries to civilization, the 
state, and the church, are preserved by France as a national trust and honor. The 
family has furnished two eminent " Marshals of France," one " Constable of France,'' one 
" Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church," one "Archbishop of Paris," and many less 
important state and church dignitaries. Hermon C. is a direct descendent of Francois 
de Blanchefort Crequy, marshal of France, who commanded the army of France when 
it defeated the Duke of Lorraine and added the provinces of Lorraine and Alsace to 
the domain of France. He was the "Bismarck" of his time and country, the intimate 
friend of Louis XV., whose private chaplain conducted his obsequies in 1687. His por- 
f 



42 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

trait is numbered 1419 in"Des Galleries Historiques de Versailles," France. John 
Creque, the father of Htrmon 0., was one of the largest pioneer manufacturers of Cen- 
tral New York, and at his extensive agricultural and machine shops in Trumansburg, 
Tompkins county, N. Y., were made great numbers of threshing machines, plows, por- 
table horse powers, corn shellers, horse rakes, harrows, kitchen and parlor stoves, etc., 
etc., and as a dealer he early bought and introduced into Tompkins county the various 
makes of leapers, mowers, grain drills, etc., etc. He was an acknowledged power for 
good in social, religious, political and business life. Hermon C. was born at Trumans- 
burg, Tompkins county, N. Y., in 1816. In 1838 he married Mabel, daughter of Allen 
Pease, thus keeping up the practice which had been followed for centuries by members 
these two noblesse families of intimate social relations and frequent intermarriage. 
He began his business career as a manufacturer of carriages, and was very successful. 
In 1852 he purchased over a hundred acres of choice land near Wolcott village, Wayne 
county, N. Y., and removed there. He was the principal organizer of the first Temper- 
ance society formed in Wolcott village. He was a liberal contributor to the erection of 
Leavenworth Academy in Wolcott village and subsequently liberally patronized and 
helped to sustain it. He purchased and used upon his farm the first grain drill and also 
the first mower and reaper employed in eastern Wayne county, and by becoming an 
agent for their sale he introduced the use of a number of said implements into Wolcott 
and adjoining townships. He built and resided in the first large '"pine house " erected 
in Wayne county, bringing the pine lumber from Tompkins county, N. Y., by lake and 
canal to Clyde, N. Y., and trucking it thence to Wolcott. He erected a brick store 
building on Main street, Wolcott village, which is still used for business purposes ; also 
the " Opera House Block " on Main street, which he still owns. He has been a Repub- 
lican since the organization of that political party and in religion professes the Protest- 
ant faith as expounded by the Presbyterian Church. He has a family of eight children 
living, one of whom has been the largest manufacturer in his line in this conntry and is 
acknowledged to be the foremost sanitary plumbing engineer in the civilized world. 
His lectures before eminent scientific and prominent industrial art associations are con- 
sidered authoritative upon their respective subjects. Hermon C. has conclusively proved 
in many ways that he is not a degenerate son of noble sires, but beside his own useful 
life he has evidently transmitted to posterity the unblemished family character, aspira- 
tions, talents, and persistent energy inherited from his forefathers and which are des- 
tined to maintain the excellent record already richly merited. 

Dunham, Henry, is the son of John and Sally (Ketchum) Dunham. The former was 
born in Fabius, Onondaga county, October 21, 1791, and the latter in Manlius, Sep- 
tember 22, 1793, and came to Savannah in 1833, occupying what is now the home of 
our subject. Of their seven children, six are living: Henry, Melinda. Betsey, Mary O, 
Jerry and Erastus, one son, J. Harvey, having died some years ago. The three daugh- 
ters are married and live in Michigan, being all residents of Kent county in that State. 
Henry's boyhood was spent in Camillus, Onondaga county. He wa« born October 3, 
1820, and married February 7, 1847, Laura A., daughter of Seth Wood, of Savannah. 
She had no children, and died May 3, 1882, an earnest Christain, a loving and devoted 
wife, her loss is yet felt and mourned. Erastus Dunham has spent his whole life at 
this home, where he was born in 1838. He remains a bachelor, is a man of much 
ability and force of character, but for more than twenty years has been an invalid, 
crippled by a spinal complaint. February 4, 1883, Henry again married. His present 
wife is Mary E., daughter of Abram O'Neil, of Fairport, N. Y. She has no children. 
Mr. Dunham's farm contains 175 acres of excellent land, situated five miles northeast 
of Savannah. His specialty has been the breeding of Merino sheep, in which his suc- 
cesss has been marked. 

Dunham, Mrs. Laura Ann, was born in Steuben county June 23, 1826, and was the 
daughter of Seth Wood, of Savannah, where she resided until her death, May 3, 1882. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 43 

She was married to Henry Dunham February 7, 1847, and lived an exemplary Chris- 
tian life. She was a consistent member of the Methodist Protestant church and deeply 
devoted to the cause of the Master. She was enshrined in the hearts of those who 
knew her best, and had their respect and confidence. She was that earnest in her 
work of faith that the power of God was demonstrated to the peoople while she was in 
travail of soul for the salvation of sinners. When burdened for souls she would wrestle 
for hours with God until victory turned on Israel's side, and the joy and peace that fol- 
lowed was unspeakable and full of glory. As she lived so she died, in the triumphs of 
a living: faith. 

De Lamater. George C, was born in Columbia county, N. Y., in 1828, the fourth 
born of the eight children of Stephen V. R. and Esther De Lamater. Stephen settled 
on a farm in Butler in 1829, and ten years later moved to Wolcott, where he died in 
1889, aged eighty-eight years. For twenty years George De Lamater operated a grain 
threshing outfit, besides farming and fruit growing. In 1858 he purchased of Andrew 
Preston the saw mill at North Wolcott, which he still runs. He has been excise com- 
missioner, also of highways. His wife, who died in 1890, had been his companion for 
over thirty years, and was Mary J. Robinson, of Huron. He still lives a single life. 

Dehond, Abram F., was born in Williamson, May 3, 1864, and is the son of Abra- 
ham and Jeanette Dehond, natives of Holland, who came to Rochester in 1854, and to 
Williamson in 1857, where they now reside. Mr. Dehond is a farmer and raises fruit. 
Our subject was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools. He worked 
for O. J. Tassell as clerk for one year, and then for 0. J. & F. W. Tassell for two years, 
and then clerked for Tassell & Gordon until 1887, when he worked for a year and a 
half for F. H. Gordon, and then formed a partnership with him, which has continued 
for six years. He is a member of the Pultneyville Lodge, No. 159, F. & A. M. 
August 30, 18S8. he married Anna Adams, a native of Williamson, and daughter of 
John Adams. 

Dickie, James, was born in Connecticut. February 14, 1830. His father, John Dickie 
who came to Constantia, Oswego county, in 1836, was a native of Scotland, and emi- 
grated to this country in 1827. He spent the larger portion of his life in Constantia, 
Oswego county, where he died in 1856 at the age of seventy-five years. James Dickie 
selected farming for an occupation and followed it up to 1874, and then came to Clyde 
and established himself in business. He carries a selected line of imported and domes- 
tic groceries. At the age of thirty Mr. Dickie married Miss Sybil Daffler, of Constantia. 
Mrs. Dickie died in 1890 at fifty-eight years of age. She was a woman who was widely 
known for her Christian character and beautiful life. 

Down, George A., was born in Webster, Monroe county, August 30, 1847, the fourth 
child of eight children born to John and Lavina Down, the former a native of Eng- 
land, and the latter of New Hampshire. He came to Monroe county when a young 
man and started for himself, then came to Ontario and spent most of his life in that 
town. He now resides at Marion with his son, Edwin O., at the age of eighty, and his 
wife at the same age. Our subject was reared on a farm and educated in the common 
schools. He was in the furnace business from 1872 to 1877, when he sold, and April 3, 
1879, came on the farm he now owns of seventy-eight acres, and follows general farm- 
ing. He was a Democrat, but at present is a Republican. He has been school trustee 
two years, and is a member of Webster Lodge No. 538, F. & A. M. He married in 
1S80 Cornelia M. Stearns, a native of Webster, by whom he has one child, George M. 
Mr. Down has been junior deacon, senior master of ceremonies, and junior warden. 

Donk, August, was born in Mecklenburg, Germany, January 20, 1843. His father 
came to the United States in 1851. Mr. Donk came with his mother the following 
year when nine years old. They first located in Sodus one year, then went to Pal- 



44 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

myra, where they remained ten years. In 1862 the family came to Newark. Mr. 
Donk was educated at East Palmyra, and has been in the employ of the N. Y. C. & H. 
R. R. company since the close of the war, first as baggage man, and afterward had 
charge of the pumping engine at the depot. In February, 1872, he was appointed 
station agent, which position he still fills. July 12, 1862, he enlisted in Company A, 
111th Infantry N. Y. S. Volunteers, was captured at Harper's Ferry under General 
Miles, duly paroled and exchanged. He was in the battle of Gettysburg and the 
Wilderness. While on the way to Cold Harbor was taken prisoner, was in Anderson 
prison, Georgia, four months and a half, in Florence, South Carolina, three months, and 
was a mere skeleton upon his arrival home. He was honorably discharged at the close 
of the war in June, 1865. He has married twice, first in 1867 to Jane Morrison, of 
Brighton, Canada, and they had one son, William, who died at the age of ten. Mrs. 
Donk died in January, 1875, and he married second April 27, 1877, MattieE. Toussaint, 
who was born in Oswego. They have three children : Elizabeth A.. James and 
Madahne. Mr. Donk's father, Carl, was born in Germany in 1802. He married Hannah 
Eickhoff. of his native place, and they had nine children. Mrs. Donk's father, Oliver 
Toussaint, was born on Wells Island, Orleans, Jefferson ccunty, in 1829. He married 
Elizabeth Ashton, of Oswego, and they had three children, Frederick, Mattie E., and 
Elner. He died in 1867 and his wife in 1874. Mrs Donk has been in the employ of 
the N. Y. C. & H. R. R. company twenty- one years as ticket agent. Mr. Carl Donk 
died in 1873 and his wife in 1892. Mr. Donk is a member of Newark Lodge No. 83, 
F. and A. M., and of Yosburg Post No. 99, G. A. R., department of New York. Mrs. 
Donk is a member of the Women's Relief Corps. 

Demmon, John Watkins, was born in 1833. His father was Horace Demmon, born in 
Springfield, Vt., in 1803, the son of Daniel Demmon, born in 1768. In 1817 they came 
to Huron and settled on the farm owned by our subject. Daniel died in 1824, and his 
son Horace conducted the farm for seventy-four years, dying in 1891. His wife was 
Rachael M. Richardson, and their children were : Clarissa A., Hannah C, John W. and 
Delia A. John W. was educated at Red Creek Academy and Falley Seminary, entered 
the office of L. D. Lawton, in 1854, and in January, 1856, the Albany Law School at Al- 
bany, N. Y., and emigrated the following Fall to Wisconsin ; represented for two years 
the Milwaukee Mutual, and Wisconsin Home Fire Insuarnce companies of that State, 
and the then territory of Minnesota; in December, 1858, represented the publishing 
house of J. H. Cotton & Co., 172 William street, New York, in Georgia and South 
Carolina; and the following year shipped horses to those States. In 1863 he married 
Lucinda J. Smedley. daughter of Rev. Joseph and Mary Ann (Jones) Smedley, of Os- 
wego county, who was born in 1838, and by whom he had two children : Lena E., born 
1865, and Horace Gary, born 1869. Mr. Demmon and wife are members of the Wol- 
cott Grange, P. of H. No. 348, also a member of Rose Lodge No. 590, F. and A. M., 
and Ontario Shore No. 495, I. 0. 0. F. In 1877, under the auspices of the W. C. T. U., 
occupied thep'atform for the gospel temperance work in the States of New York, Penn- 
sylvania, Wisconsin, and Iowa, and was grand lecturer of the Royal Templars of Tem- 
perance in 1880-1-2. He was for a part of a season on the platform with Col. A. S. 
Wood, of Wolcott. 

David, William Glenn (deceased), was born in Amherst, N. H., June 12, 1831, was 
fitted for college at Phillips Academy, entering Williams College in 1848, and graduated 
in 1852. Selecting the profession of medicine, he graduated from Harvard Medical Col- 
ge in 1854, and then removed to Dubuque, la. In October, 1855, he married Sarah M., 
daughter of Newell Taf t, of Lyons, and they are the parents of four sons, three of whom 
are now living: William G. and John, of New York, and Edward T., of Glenrock, 
Wyoming. In 1859 he removed to Lyons from Dubuque and entered into partnership 
witn Dr. E. W. Bothume. In 1861 he entered the United States army, receiving the 
commission of surgeon to the 98th Regiment, U. S. Volunteers, and took part in the 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 45 

campaign in Virginia, the battle of the Wilderness, Richmond, White Oak Swamp, and 
numerous other engagements. He was promoted to brigade surgeon at the capture of 
Port Hudson, and afterwards was post surgeon at that place. Returning to Lyons in 
1865, at the close of the war, he resumed the practice of his profession. In 1867 he was 
appointed examining surgeon in the United States pension cases, holding this position 
at the time of his death, August 17, 1877. 

Dutcher, John, one of the oldest residents of Red Creek, came to this vicinity in 1830, 
He was born at Lysander, Onondaga county, in 1819. He is the son of Daniel Dutcher. 
who, in 1830, bought 270 acres of land, and with the assistance of his two sons, John 
and Daniel W., grappled with the primeval forest and reclaimed over 100 acres of ara- 
ble land, meantime rearing a family of nine children. Mr. Dutcher now owns and oc- 
cupies 120 acres of the original tract. 

Davis, Barnet H., was born in Fonda, Montgomery county, January 27, 1836. He is 
a member of the firm of B. H. Davis & Co., dealers in drugs and groceries, having occu- 
pied his present location for the past thirty years. He is now a member of the State 
Committee, and occupied a seat in the Legislature during the years 1886-87-88. In 
1860 Mr. Davis married Alida Agnes Van Edena, a native of Spraker's Basin, and they 
have one daughter. 

Davis, Rev. Daniel D., of Savannah, was born in Butler, August 24, 1824. Paul H. 
Davis, born in Rhode Island in 1791, and Polina Westcott, his wife, born in Richfield, 
Otsego county, in 1798 (the parents of Daniel D.), moved to Butler, Wayne countv, 
N. Y., about the year 1815, and in the wilderness purchased a farm, upon which they 
erected a log house and commenced life, consequently were among the first settlers in 
Wayne county, N. Y. To this heroic couple were born six children, who grew to 
man and womanhood, namely : William V., Lucy A., Oliver O, Daniel D., Jerome B., 
and John Wesley Davis. Grappling with the realities of frontier life, these parents 
were only able to give their children little more than a district school education. Reli- 
giously the parents were Episcopal Methodists, and, sooner or later, the children were 
all converted and became members of the church of their honored parents. The father 
died in 1845, and the mother in 1846. November 10, 1845, Daniel D. Davis married 
Laura Henderson, of Butler, an estimable Christian lady. To them were born two 
daughters: Pauline S., born July 10, 1847, who married Rev. C. L. Connell, of James- 
ville, Onondaga county, N. Y., Pauline S. died at Rosevalley, July 25, 1878; Carrie, 
V. Davis, born October 4, 1855, married in 1881 John Mojg, of Euclid, Onondaga 
county, N. Y., who now resides in Englewood, 111. Daniel D. Davis followed farming 
until 1861, when at the call of the master, he left all (like the fisherman of Gallilee) to 
preach the Gospel, and for thirty-one consecutive years has been an honored member 
of the Central New York Conference (Methodist Episcopal Church). In 1892 Mrs. 
Davis's health partially failed, and Mr. Davis took a supernumerary edition to the Con- 
ference, and for the past two years has engaged in Evangelistic woik, for which he 
evinces decided talents. 

Deuchler, Louis, was born in Alsace, Germany, August 25, 1834, came to the United 
States in 1852, and settled in Syracuse. In 1856 he removed to Lyons, in 1861 estab- 
lished the grocery business on Water street, and in 1863 sold out and went to New 
York, remaining for two years. In 1865 he returned to Lyons and bought the National 
Hotel, continuing the business up to 1885, then engaged in the insurance business, 
making a specialty of fire insurance and is agent for several lines of foreign steamships. 
In 1887 he was elected justice of the peace and in 1891 was re-elected to the same 
office, which he now hold«. In 1888-89 was elected trustee of the village. At the age 
of twenty-four he married Magdalena, daughter of George Seligman, of Lyons, and 
they are the parents of one daughter, Mrs. Bertha Klippel. Our subject takes an 



40 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

active interest in educational and religious matters, having been trustee in the First 
German church for eight years. 

Daboll, Homer, was born in Canaan, Litchfield county, Corn., July 18, 1827. His 
father, Jonathan Daboll, was a native of Windsor, Conn., and in 1810 made his home 
in Canaan, where Homer, the youngest of five children, had such advantages as private 
and common schools afforded until at the age (f sixteen, when his parents moved to 
Center Groton, Conn., where he received instruction in surveying and navigation at 
the celebrated Nautical School of that place, then under the supe vision of Nathan 
Daboll and his son, David A., authors of Daboll's Arithmetic and other mathematical 
works. Professor Potter, of Mystic. Conn., was his next instructor, after which he 
engaged for a number of years in teaching. In 1853 he married Jane R. Shear, of 
Junius, N. Y., and as a farmer settled near Cayuga village, where they resided four- 
teen years. Here their children were born, De Lancey, who died in 1873 ; Phoebe, 
now Mrs. A. D. Bacon, of Rochester- Homer F., now manager of the farm, and 
Sheridan, of Rochester. In 1867 he purchased the farm of 150 acres on which he 
lives and where to date he has enjoyed the friendship of a numerous acquaintance. 

De Zutter, Cornelius, was born in Holland, May 16, 1841, son of Edward and Susan 
(Van Dixon) De Zutter, natives of Holland, where Mr. De Zutter died in 1847, and his 
wife and two children, Cornelius and Leonard, came to Sullivan county in 1848. Mrs. 
De Zutter married Conner Devoe, came to Williamson in 1853 and resided here until 
her death in August, 1888. Mr. Devoe died June, 1891. The great-grandfather of 
our subject, Cornelius, was a native of France, and grandfather was a native of 
Holland, and died there in 1848. Our subject was reared on a farm until fourteen 
years of age, when he went to Rochester and engaged as clerk for John Vandenburg 
in a fancy store, where he remained three years, and worked one year in a cotton 
factory. There he and his brother became partners in the manufacture of willow 
ware. In the spring of 1866 they returned to Williamson and continned in the 
willow ware business until 1871, when it was destroyed by fire, without any insurance. 
They again commenced in business, but after one year was dissolved. In 1872 our 
subject engaged in buying and selling produce, and continued in business until 1876, 
when he was employed by H. J. Mdler and Sprague, and in 1877, with Mr. Gordon, 
established a general store, the firm being known as De Zutter & Gordon, and in 1891 
our subject, Cornelius, retired, when the firm became De Zutter Bros. & Engleson. 
They also have a clothing store on the opposite side of the street in what is known as 
the Rogers block. Mr. De Zutter is a member of the Pultneyville Lodge, No. 159, F. 
and A. M., also a member of A. 0. U. W. Mr. De Zutter married, December 29, 1864, 
Larinia Decker, of Rochester, a daughter of Abram Decker, a native of Holland, who 
in 1850 came to Williamson. He died in Rochester in 1877, and his wife in 1875. 
Our subject and wife had five children : Edward A. and Charles (now members of the 
firm); Jennie E., who died aged twenty-two years; Ida M., who assists in her father's 
store ; and Delia, who lives at home. Our subject and family are members of the 
Presbyterian church, and Mr. De Zutter has been a Republican since the organization 
of the party and an active worker in the party for the past twenty-five years. 
Leonard De Zutter was born in Holland, February 2, 1844, and came to Sullivan 
county with his mother and brother when three years of age; he came to Williamson 
in 1853. He and brother, Cornelius, engaged in the manufacture of willow and rattan 
ware, and were in partnership in 1872, when they dissolved. He engaged in mercantile 
business in 1877. He is a member of A. O. U. W. and Select Knights. Mr. De 
Zutter married in 1867 Susan Van Zandt, a native of Holland, and a daughter of 
Peter and Lucinda Van Zandt. They had four children : Lucy S., wife of Carl Fuller, 
of Wallington; Edward L., who died, aged twenty-two; Peter, who is employed in a 
clothing store, and Lizzie, who died, aged eighteen months. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 47 

Denison, Porter G. (deceased), was born at North Stephentown, Rensselaer county, 
February 19, 1825. His father, George T., was a native of Stonington, Conn. The 
family are lineal descendants of the titled families of English and Scotch extraction. 
In 1840 he removed to North Berlin and in 1850 came to Clyde and engaged in the 
mercantile business, which he continued up to the time of his death, March 21, 1890. 
September 30, 1852, he married Mary B., daughter of James H. Nichols, who' was a 
native of Bainbridge, Chenango county, and they had three children;' Carrie A., 
Porter G., and Charles E. Our subject was one of the leading men of his town, identi- 
fied in every public enterprise, benevolent and charitable. 

Denney, Loren, was born in Onondaga county September 24, 1835, the second child 
of a family of four children born to John and Almira Denney, natives of Dutchess 
county. They came to Wayne county in 1843 and settled in Williamson. The father 
died in Ontario in 1875, where the mother now resides, aged seventv-nine years. Our 
subject was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools. He has always 
been a farmer, owns forty acres of land, and follows general farming and fruit raising. 
He enlisted in 1862 in Company B, 9th Heavy Artillery, participated in the battles of 
Cold Harbor, Winchester, Cedar Creek, and served until the close of the war. He mar- 
ried, December 31, 1861, Mary Sanders, a native of Williamson, and daughter of Joseph 
and Thursey (Stowell) Sanders, he a native of Nova Scotia, and she a native of Oneida 
county. They came to town when young, where he died January 1, 1883, and she 
March 11, 1893. Our subject and wife have had two children : Nora A., wife of Fred. 
Smouton, and has one child ; Merton E., at home. Mr. Denney is a Republican, is a 
member of the A. 0. U. W., Ontario Lodge, and G. A. R., Myron M. Fish Post No. 406 
and Ontario Grange. 

Devereaux, Albert F., was born in Rensselaer county October 29, 1832. His great- 
grandfather was a soldier in the Revolution, coming to America with La Fayette's 
French troops, and soon after the close of the war settled on the Van Rensselaer " Pat- 
ent." The son, and then the grandson, Stephen Devereaux (father of Albert F.), oc- 
cupied the same lands, in succession, improving the land, but being subject to annually 
paying the rents, which though not excessive were generally considered illegal, giving 
rise to very much bitter feeling, culminating in the anti-rent war, in which the Dever- 
eauxs and relatives were divided, some donning the Indian suits of the anti-renters and 
others supporting the continuance of the patroon estates. The childhood and youth 
of Albert F. was spent in this somewhat fettered and unsatisfactory farming, a phase 
of monopoly. But in 1839 Stephen Devereaux moved to Wayne county, south of 
Clyde, with his family, a wife and nine children, of whom the subject of this sketch 
was the eldest. The Reuben Smith farm, now owned by M. B. Syron, adjoining Al- 
bert F.'s present farm, was purchased. At the age of twenty-one "Albert F. went to 
Michigan to make his fortune, having received a common school education and assisted 
his father faithfully during the years of minority. With $60.12, his total capital, he 
went to Battle Creek, Mich., and there engaged in work in building the Michigan Cen- 
tral Railroad, afterwards taking up wild land near Grand Rapids and immediately after 
another lot of land, partly improved and containing a cranberry marsh in Oakland 
county. This he sold to his father, inducing all the family to move to Michigan. In 
looking up and locating land Albert F. traversed much of the then wilds of central 
Michigan afoot and by boat, and was on the grounds of Lansing, Ionia, Marshall, 
Owasso, and other cities when they were merely straggling settlements. After a time 
he embarked in buying Michigan cranberries and shipping to Albany, N. Y. Then re- 
maining in the vicinity of Albany a short time he came to Galen in 1850 and married 
Mary E., daughter of Stephen Hull. They have two sons, Willard L. and Stephen H. 
In 1862 he bought the Stephen Hull property of 108 acres. In 1880 he bought the ad- 
joining property of 100 acres of Jeremiah Mead, and in 1885 fifty acres of woodland in 
lot 74 along Clyde river. In 1852 he was the foremost of three planters in Galen, per- 



is LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

haps the first in Wayne county to engage in tobacco growing. This he continued in 
for thirteen years. So little was known about the " weed " that one of the three, Mr. 
Harvey Streeter, exhibited growing plants at the Galen Fair, receiving the first premium. 
These very plants and the whole of his seeding that year proved to be nothing but 
mullin plants. Albert F. was the earliest extensive planter of wine grapes and manu- 
facturer of wines and brandy in New York State. Beginning in 1856, before the 
Pleasant Valley, Hudson River and Chautauqua grape and wine districts were founded, 
he began producing wines for medicinal and sacramental purposes, of warranted purity, 
and has established a name continuing with his trade to this day for these goods, known 
inmost of the States of the Union. He was the first grower and seller of Niagara 
grapes in Wayne county. Mr. Devereaux is, withal, a devoted agriculturist, never for 
even a year relinquishing his attachment to farming, always aiming to grow the finest 
crops and ardently taking up the many and varied tasks of land improvement. His 
home farm holds a large sum of costly farm land engineering in the removal of every 
rock, stones and obstructions, the laying of miles of tile drainage, stone walls, and other 
fencing. Large areas have been filled in and sharp knolls graded down, clay soils mixed 
with sand and gravel and large cuttings made for the outlet of water into the river. A 
number of handsome farm buildings have also been erected. Mr. Devereaux has been 
a landmarker and has made his farm a landmark in the town. He was president of the 
Galen Agricultural Society for three years. Mr. Devereaux was also one of the organ- 
izers of the present Baptist Church, of Clyde, was elected trustee then and has been 
re-elected at the expiration of each term until the present time. 

Edgett, the late Ezra A., was born in Greene county, November 21. 1828. His 
parents came to Oneida county when he was twelve years old, where he was educated 
in the public and select schools. The family came to this county in March, 1865. Mr. 
Edgett was an excellent business man. He was at the head of the company in con- 
ducting the Wayne County Preserving Company. At his death his wife succeeded him 
in the business in company with E. K. Burnham. December 16, 1856, he married 
Harriet C. Marvin, of Camden, Oneida county, and they had four children : James C, 
who was well educated, and was brought up in the business with his father. He mar- 
ried Anna L. Wilcox, of Port Gibson, Ontario county, and they have one son, Oliver; 
Edith M. married William R. Conover, and resides in Boston, they have one daughter, 
Halla; Mary L. resides with her mother; and George, who died in infancy. Mr. 
Edgett died January 30, 1889, mourned by a bereaved wife and children, and many 
friends. 

Eldridge, Lewis, was born in Penfield, Monroe couuty, in 1837, where he lived till the 
age of twenty-five, then, in 1862, married Betsey A. Goodwin, of Penfield, a native of 
England, born in 1840. who came to this country at about the age of twelve with her 
parents, Eli and Mary, who located in Monroe county, and afterwards in Walworth, 
where the mother died, and where the father still lives. Mr. Eldridge settled on a farm 
in Penfield, purchased by his father in 1816. The grandfather of our subject, William 
Eldridge, was with Washington as his aide-de-camp all during the Revolution. He was 
born near Salem, N. Y., and died at Penfield. Erastus, the father of Lewis, was born 
in Washington county, and died at Penfield in 1863. His wife was Anna (Watson) 
Eldridge. a native of Maine, who also died at Penfield. Lewis resided on the home 
farm about three years after his marriage. He resided in Marion four years also, then 
located on the farm, where he now resides, in Palmyra. This place consists of 118 
acres, and he also owns 101 acres near by. He married Betsey A. Goodwin, and their 
children are : Charles A., and Carrie A. (twins), who now reside in Monroe county ; 
Perinton, now Mrs. J. Crane, of Marion ; Fred D., of Palmyra ; Anna E., now Anna E. 
Miller, of Marion; Smith E., who died in childhood; Edward E. ; Arthur L. ; and 
May L. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 49 

Edgerton, W. W., supervisor of Palmyra, is a native of Saratoga county, N. Y., born 
December 13, 1819. In 1829 he came to this town, where he lived with his uncle, 
Oliver Durfee, until the age of twenty-three, when he married and lived in the town of 
Marion on a farm for two years. This he sold, and then resided in Orleans county for 
four years, and then in the town of Ontario, Wayne county. From 1854 to 1884 he 
lived in Walworth, then came to his present residence, about three-quarters of a mile 
north of the village of Palmyra. He also owns a farm of 105 acres in Williamson. Mr. 
Edgerton has served Walworth five terms as supervisor, Palmyra three years as assessor, 
and as supervisor two terms. In 1842 he married Louisa Pratt, who died in 1843. His 
second marriage was with Calista Avery, of Palmyra, a daughter of Caleb and Abigail 
(Cole) Avery, and their children are: Arrebell E., now Mrs. Rose, of New York city; 
C. Avery, who graduated from the Cleveland Homoeopathic Medical College, practiced 
in Churchville, near Rochester, four years, and died June 11, 1880. He was born 
August 24, 1849, and married a daughter of Alfred Miller, by whom he had one child, 
Melvm G., born August 30, 1859, now a physician of Canastota, also a graduate of the 
Cleveland Homoeopathic Medical College. He married A. Nettie Blair, of Cleveland, 
Ohio, who died May 10, 1883, and his second wife was Maude, youngest daughter of 
Hon. Loring C. Fowler, of Canastota, N. Y. 

Earley, James, is the son of Michael and Anne (Riley) Earley, of County Westmeath, 
Ireland, where he was born May 24, 1837. In 1853 the ship Columbia landed him in 
New York, without capital, save health, good habits, and energy. After ten years 
spent in farm labor, chiefly in Onondaga county, he bought in 1863 a small farm in 
Butler, having married, April 20, 1862, Alice, daughter of Patrick Kennedy, of Savan- 
nah. He came to Savannah in 1866, and owns a farm of 136 acres. Their children 
are : Michael, born in 1863, now a bookkeeper at Hoosick Falls, who married Olive 
Worden, of that place ; Edward, born in 1864, who married Julie, daughter of John 
Davis, of Savannah, who conducts a farm adjacent to that of his father ; and James, 
born in 1866, a bookkeeper for the Wood Machine Company at St. Paul, Minn. They 
have also a daughter by adoption, Agnes M. Keeley, of Red Creek, adopted in 1875 at 
the age of three, and now the wife of George Delaney, of Seneca Falls. Mr. Earley en- 
listed with the 15th New York Engineers in 1864, and served till the close of the war. 
He is now a prime mover and leader in the cause of Prohibition. 

Ennis, Charles (deceased), was born in Alloway, September 1, 1835. His grand- 
father, William, came from New Jersey in 1806, and bought a tract of land in the 
southern part of Lyons, known as the Squire Parks farm. His father, Robert Ennis, 
was a prominent contractor, and in 1847 bought the Captain Towar residence and saw 
mill. He died in 1860. Charles Ennis, the fourth son, was educated at Lima and 
Hobart College, Geneva, and afterward removed to Minnesota, and in 1865 he with his 
brothers founded the Commercial National Bank of Chicago, which at present is one of 
the leading banks of Chicago, and of which he was cashier. In 1867 he returned to 
Lyons. At the age of twenty-nine he married Emma L., daughter of Deacon Newell 
Taft, of Lyons, and they were the parents of three children: Charles T., Willard G., 
and Marian. Charles T. is now preparing for admission to the bar of Wayne county in 
the office of J. W. Dunwell. He had many very large business interests in the West, 
but his home was in Wayne county, retaining the relations and being in association with 
the leading men of his county, and he ever sought to advance the west welfare of those, 
with whom he came in contact. He died July 2, 1879, at the age of forty-three. He 
took an active interest in educational and religious institutions, especially in the Presby- 
terian church, of which he was a member. 

Eaton, James E., was born in Sussex county, England, December 7, 1827. He was 
the oldest of eight children born to Samuel and Hannah Eaton, natives of England, in 
1854 came to America, and on his return to England he died. His wife died in Eng- 



50 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

jand in 1853. James E. Eaton was reared on a farm, and in 1850 came to Ontario 
and settled on the farm now owned by the family. Mr. Eaton had forty-five acres, on 
which he made improvements and built new buildings. He married, May 8, 1851, in 
Monroe county, Fannie Woodhams, a native of England, came to Ontario in 1850, and 
here Mr. Woodhams died in 1878, and his wife in 1874. Mr. Eaton and wife had twelve 
children: Sarah A., deceased; James T. ; Jacob, deceased; William; John W. ; Annie 
M., deceased; Charles F., deceased; Emma J.; Nettie; Lillie B., deceased; Roland 
D., deceased ; and Raymond. Mr. Eaton died November 24, 1889. Mr. and Mrs. 
Eaton are members of the Wesleyan Methodist church. 

Easton, Charles H., proprietor of the Empire Roller Mills of Wolcott, was born here in 
1861, the son of Hezekiah Easton, a well-known citizen of Wolcott. He attended 
school at the Red Creek Seminary, where he obtained a fair business education. When 
twenty-one years of age he married Kate L. Clapper, daughter of John Clapper, of Red 
Creek. In 1883 he purchased a farm of 75 acres, the old homestead, by being quite 
successful in the raising of tobacco. In 1892 he purchased the Empire Roller Mills of 
Wolcott, where he condncts a milling business both in custom and merchant milling. 

Fntts, Aaron, was born in the town of Macedon, March 16, 1873. His father, 
George Fritts, was a native of New York State, and was a farmer. He died in 1881, 
but his wife is still living. Aaron Fritts is a young man of twenty-one years. He was 
educated in the Macedon Academy, and since leaving school has been engaged in farm 
work. He now owns a farm of 123 acres. In politics Mr. Fritts is an Independent. 

Freeland, Charles D., was born in Seneca county, July 5, 1818. His father was a 
native of New Jersey, and came to Seneca county in 1804, and died August 28, 1866, at 
the age of seventy-six. Charles D. was educated in the common schools, and at the age 
of thirty-one he married Eleanor Yan Demark, who passed away in 1879. He after- 
ward married Lucy Mauthe, and they have one son, John P., and three daughters, 
Mary B., Emma O, and Katie May. In 1866 he bought part of the Jonah Hopkins 
estate, having sixty acres, and raising fruit, hay, grain, and stock. 

Finch, David S., was born in the town of Dresden, February 24, 1819. His father, 
Jeremiah S., came to the town of Rose in 1820, when the said town was nearly all a 
wilderness. He first settled about two miles west of Rose Yalley, on the farm now 
occupied by a Mr. Hicox, living there eight years, when he took up and cleared the 
farm now owned by William Finch, where he resided until his death, which occurred in 
1859, aged seventy-seven years. He was a well-known farmer and veterinary sur- 
geon. David S. was educated in the common schools, and at the age of twenty-sever 
married Matilda A., daughter of Jacob Brush, of Lebanon, Columbia county, by whom 
he has six children : Nathaniel, Charles, William, Jeremiah, Ernest and Mrs. Phoebe J. 
Howe. In 1869 he bought the Calvin H. Bliss property of 208 acres, raising fruit, hay, 
grain and stock, having also a lot of about fifteen acres in the town of Rose, which he 
devoted to vegetable growing. Our subject has been a member of the M. E. Church 
for the past twenty-five years, and takes an active interest in all school and church 
work. 

Fowler, M. S., was born at Brutus, January 26, 1851, is the only son of Willirm and 
Mary (Wood) Fowler, of Butler. He was educated at Rochester Business University, 
graduating in 1874, and is at present devoted to the management of the large farming 
interests established by his father. He married, November 29, 1876, Lottie E. Wine- 
gar, by whom he had three sons : George W., born January 9, 1881 ; Clarence M., born 
January 16, 1886, and Burton P., born June 19, 1887. Mrs. Fowler is the elder daugh- 
ter of the late Mansfield Winegar, who was a prominent figure in the social and busi- 
ness affairs 'of the locality. At the time of his death, May 9, 1892, he was senior 
partner of the firm of M. B. Winegar & Son, engaged in hardware trade at South 
Butler. He was sixty years of age. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 51 

Fewster, Charles, was born in Jefferson county, May 17, 1855, the son of Mather and 
Mary Franks Fewster, natives of England, he born August 24, 1819, and she Decem- 
ber 23, 1818. They came to Antwerp, Jefferson county, in 1851, and resided there 
until 1859, and then went to Gouverneur, and remained until 1865, when they came to 
Ontario, and settled on the farm now owned by the subject of this sketch, and here the 
father died, August 26, 1893, and his wife died December 11, 1891. Our subject was 
reared on a farm and remained at home, and since sixteen years of age he has had 
charge of his father's business. He owns 104 acres of land, and is a general farmer. 
He is now serving his second term as highway commissioner, and his first as excise 
commissioner. In 1887 he married Hattie Truax, of Ontario, daughter of James and 
Fedelia Traux, and they have two children : Ethel M., and Howard C. 

Fellows, Frank L., was born in Lyons, August 2, 1863, was educated in the Lyons 
Union School, and the Pennington Seminary, after which he taught four years ; also 
read law at Cleveland with Judge Williams. At the age of twenty-six he married 
Anna M., daughter of William H. Vandercook, of Eose, and they are the parents of 
three children : William, Ethel, and Laura. Our subject is one of the largest farmers in 
his town, having 300 acres, raising large quantities of mint, wheat, barely and stock. 
He takes an active interest in educational and religious matters. The family came from 
Hessie Darmstadt (Germany), and settled in Columbia county in 1750. 

Fanning, Joel. Patrick and Melinda Fanning were farmers residing in the town of 
Butler. They had two children, George and Joel, George being the older by two 
years. Joel Fanning was born June 18, 1855. At the age of nine his father was 
killed by the falling of a tree which he was chopping. Although he had a small farm 
nearly paid for, his untimely death was a great blow to his family. The subject of this 
sketch attended the district schools until he was sixteen years old ; then he attended 
the South Butler Union School, Red Creek Academy, and the Leavenworth Institute 
at Wolcott. By teaching school winters and going to school summers he fitted him- 
self for college. In the year 1879 he entered Adrian College, Mich., where he re- 
mained two years, after which he taught the South Butler Union School for two years 
and the Rose Valley Union School one year. In the fall of 1884 he entered upon the 
study of law, and was admitted to the bar April 1, 1887, and is at present practicing 
his profession at Wolcott. At the age of twenty-one he allied himself with the Re- 
publican party. 

Fuller, Erastus B., was born in Arcadia in 1843, son of John L. Fuller of Dutchess 
county, who came to Wayne county in 1843 and settled where he now resides. Our 
subject has devoted most of his life to farming, from 1874 to 1875 was in the produce 
business, and in 1879 purchased twenty-six acres of land on the lake shore. His enter- 
prising mind soon conceived the idea of transforming this property into a resort. He 
put his ideas into practice, and the result has been the development of the magnificent 
and popular Lake Bluff summer resort, the most sightly point on Great Sodus Bay. 
He erected the Lake Bluff hotel, large and commodious, in connection with which he 
conducts a grocery store, stables and post-office, Mr. Fuller being postmaster in 1894. 
He married Emma L., daughter of Harvey and Lucinda (Clark) Sherman, of Marion, 
born in 1843, and they have one child by adoption, Irvin S. 

Field, A. S., was born in Clyde, July 27, 1815. His father, Daniel, came from the 
town of Phelps to Clyde in 1810. A. S. was educated in the common schools, learned 
the carpenter and joiner's trade in 1840, and established the well-known furniture 
house of A. S. Field, in which he continued business for forty-two years, and is now 
carried on by his son, W. N. Field. At the age of twenty-eight he married Rachael, 
daughter of Gilbert Fisher, and they have had seven children, four of whom are now 
living: Mrs. Charles T. Saxton, Mrs. J. W. Hinman, W. N. Field and George A. Field. 
His business eareer has been of the most honorable character, and he has always en- 



LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

joyed the entire respect of his fellow-citizens. He has been trustee of the Clyde High 
School, president and trustee of the village of Clyde and overseer of the poor of the 
town of Galen. For years he was leader of the first brass band organized in the 
eastern part of Wayne county. 

Fenn, Merritt H., only son of Nelson G. and Fannie M. Fenn, of Butler, was born 
September 11. 1849. An elder sister, Sylvia, is Mrs. George Johnson, of Wolcott. 
Merritt's father died December 17, 1851, aged only thirty-two years, and six years 
later the family removed to Wolcott, where Merritt married, February 8, 1872, Adella, 
only daughter of Cuyler Castor. Their only child, Marion, died in 1889, when only 
fifteen years of age. Fannie, the widow of Nelson Fenn, is now Mrs. Alpheus 
Roberts. 

Flint, Dwight B., was born in Rose, February 9, 1830, son of Elizur Flint, a farmer 
born in 1793, and a native of Connecticut. He was an 1812 pensioner, and ranked as 
sergeant. He came to Rose in 1817 and settled on wild land, and died in 1884. He 
was a Republican and had served as supervisor one term and justice of the peace for 
many years, and was commonly called Squire Flint. His wife was Roxie Howard, of 
Connecticut, and their children were Dwight B. and Calista, deceased, wife of George 
Catchpole, of Rose. In 1859 our subject came to Huron and exchanged farms with 
his brother-in-law, George Catchpole, doing general farming, but apples being his 
favorite crop. In 1892 he purchased a farm of fifty acres in lot 2. In 1859 he mar- 
ried Mary A., a daughter of Robert Catchpole, and they have one child, Augusta E., 
wife of Frank D. Gaylord, of Sodus, and their children are: Elizabeth C, born in 1S86, 
and Dwight F., born in 1889. Our subject is a member of the Masonic order in Rose 
Yalley, of which he has been treasurer twenty-six years. In politics he is a Republi- 
can, and has served as assessor, supervisor in 1875 and 1876, and county superintendent 
for six years. He and his wife are members of the Clyde Grange. 

Fries, William, was born in the town of Rose December 28, 1847, the youngest of 
eleven children of Andrew and Catherine (Mink) Fries, both natives of Columbia 
county, N. Y. The grandfather, William, and his wife emigrated from Germany to 
America and were early settlers of Columbia county. Andrew Fries came from Colum- 
bia county to Rose, then to Palmyra, and then to Williamson, where he died in 1870, 
and his wife in 1874. Of the family four sons and two daughters still survive. Two 
sons and one daughter reside in Wayne county, and the others in Michigan. William 
Fries was reared on a farm and worked the homestead farm a great many years. In 
1877 he came to Ontario, was for awhile in the mercantile business at Furnaceville, and 
then bought the farm near Furnaceville, where he is quite largely engaged in growing 
and evaporating fruit. He has twenty-five acres of apples, five acres of raspberries 
and peaches, besides other small fruits. In 1869 he married Elizabeth, daughter of 
Emmet Teats, of Ontario, originally of Dutchess county. Mr. and Mrs. Fries have had 
four daughters, only one of whom survive : Eveline died at the age of three years, 
May died at the age of ten, Pearl died at the age of six, and Edna, born October 3, 
1877, who is at home. Three of Mr. Fries' brothers, Andrew, Edmund and Gilbert, 
were soldiers in the Rebellion. Gilbert was killed at the battle of Cedar Creek. In 
politics the family are Republican and in religion they are Presbyterians. 

Field, W. N., was born in Clyde July 14, 1848. His father, Ambrose S. Field, was 
a native of the town of Galen. Mr. W. N. Field was educated in the Clyde High 
School, after leaving which he associated himself with nis father in the furniture and 
undertaking business. Hepurchased the business in 1881 and is now proprietor. Mr. 
W. N. Field married Miss Lucy A. Foote, daughter of Allen G. Foote, and they are the 
parents of the following children : Charles W., who was graduated from Union Col- 
lege in 1893, and is now a member of the State Engineer Corps ; Edna M., Lucy A. 
and Winifred. • 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 53 

Fogerty, Timothy, of Macedon, was born in Ireland November 7, 18'27, a son of Ed- 
mund Fogerty, also a native of that country. Timothy came to America in 1854 and 
settled in Columbia county, where he worked in an iron foundry for two years then 
took up his residence (1856) in Macedon, where he engaged in farming by the month 
for four years. In 1858 he married Marie Coniff, of this town, and of their five chil- 
dren four survive, one son having died February 26, 1894, aged thirty-one years. Mr. 
Fogerty is a Democrat in politics and a member of the Catholic Church. His farm con- 
sists of 171 acres. 

Farrand, G-. A., was born November 1, 1830, in Savannah. He received a common 
school education, and with that as a basis has by personal research become a man of 
wide information. He married March 28, 1854, Amelia, daughter of James Carris, of 
Tyre, Seneca county. Mr. Carris died February 25, 1887, aged seventy-eight years, his 
widow, Pamelia, surviving him. She was born at Waterloo December 18, 1816. The 
only child of G-. A. and Amelia Farrand is Valeria, born December 17, 1855. She is 
now the wife of R. A. Wilson, of Butler, now superintendent of the Wagner Palace 
Car Company in Chicago, 111. Mr. Farrand, like his elder brothers, is a " landmark" in 
intellect and popularity. 

Farnum, Aramon S., of Savannah, was born in Onondaga county in 1848, a son of 
Sylvester A. and Maria (Conklin) Farnum, the former dying in 1893 and the latter in 
1883. Mr. Farnum received a liberal education at Albion Academy, supplemented by a 
business training at the Ames College, of Syracuse. He is a trained telegrapher, having 
been engaged in that work several years after leaving school. At the age of twenty- 
two he began the manufacture of harness in this place, and has built up a large and 
profitable trade, carrying also an attractive and large stock of saddlery hardware. In 
1872 he married C. Jennie Westbrook. Their eldest daughter, Maud, born in 1873, is 
the wife of Prof. L. H. Carris, principal of Apalachin High School. Two younger 
daughters are: Mary, born in 1876, and Clara, born in 1881. Mr. Farnum has served 
as justice of the peace for eleven years and has served on the Board of Supervisors five 
years, besides filling many minor positions. In 1884 Mr. Farnum was elected to the 
Assembly, serving two years, to the entire satisfaction of his colleagues and of his con- 
stituents. 

Farrand, Isaac T., the second of the three sons of Ebenezer and Susan Farrand, was 
born January 29, 1828. He married February 25, 1857, Janette, daughter of Daniel 
Kissinger, of Seneca Falls. In 1860 he engagad in the grocery business, but since 1865 
has been a farmer. He is a member of the M. E. Church, a steadfast Republican, hav- 
ing been an assessor for a term of fifteen years. He is also a man of sunny and genial 
temperament, and has hosts of friends. He has two sons, Edrick H., born August 31, 
1858, a dealer in agricultural machinery, wagons, seeds, grains, etc., with stock and 
headquarters on the homestead farm, and William, born" January 5, 1863, who is a 
watchmaker and jeweler of much skill and success, having graduated in 189 1' with a No. 
1 diploma from the Horological School at Waltham, Mass. 

Fisher & Kellogg. The senior member of this firm, Gilbert Fisher, was born at 
Gorham, N. Y., February 22, 1825. He is the son of the late Gilbert Fisher, of Butler, 
a prominent farmer, who died in 1832. He now conducts (having admitted his grand- 
son, Guyon Kellogg) a large dairy and fruit farm, shipping dairy products to New 
York and adjacent points in New Jersey. Prior to the Civil War Mr, Fisher con- 
ducted a hotel at Port Glasgow. He was a soldier of Company H, 9th Heavy Artil- 
lery, serving until the close of the war, and although escaping unwounded, suffers 
severely from rheumatism contracted while in the service. September 16. 1848. he 
married Chalystia Stage, of Wolcott, and they have one daughter, Mary, born De- 
cember 16. 1848, who became the wife of John C. Kellogg December 24, 1867. The 
children of the latter marriage are Guyon, born March 17, 1870, and Ida May, born 



54 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

October 27, 1876. Guy was educated at Leavenworth Institute (as was also his sister) 
and was for a time engaged as clerk with A. W. Moore and H. C. Moses at Wolcott. 
A young man of good business abilities, he is highly esteemed by all who know him. 

Finley, Mark G, of Walworth, was born December 16, 1826, and was educated in 
the Walworth Academy and Union College, from which latter he graduated in 1856. 
He then began reading law, and was admitted to the bar in 1859, and began practice 
in Palmyra. He also served as school commissioner for nine years, ending January 
1, 1894. He served as police justice twenty- five years, and was also justice of 
the peace, having served since 1861. He was again elected police justice April 1, 
1894. In December, 1861, he married Helen E. Myrick, and their children are: Han- 
nah E., a teacher in the Union School ; Helen M., wife of Dr. S. H. Hunt of Chicago ; 
Marjone C, John Finley and Prudence Sabin. The parents of our subject were natives 
of Orange county, N. Y., and Connecticut, respectively, having been married in Con- 
necticut. They moved to Walworth in 1816, where they died. The father came to 
Walworth in 1808, and was in the war of 1812. His second wife was Rebecca Daven- 
port, nee Potter, by whom he had two children. 

Fisher, Abram, was born on the ocean ; October 31, 1844, while his parents were 
coming from Holland to America. He is a brother of John Fisher, mentioned in this 
work. Our subject was reared on a farm and worked by the month for twelve >ears, 
and then purchased the land he owns of sixty-five acres and also thirty-seven acres, 
which he sold to his brother. He follows general farming, and also has eight acres of 
berries. Mr. Fisher is a Republican in politics. He married, August 8, 1871, Ella 
Hulbert, a native of Ontario, and daughter of Norman and Mary Hulbert, and they had 
seven children: Wellington, Earnest, Addison I., Jessie, Allison, Blanche and Frank. 

Forgham, Richard F., was born in Westmoreland, Oneida county, October 1, 1848, 
was educated in the common schools and is a self-made and self-educated man. At 
the age of seventeen he established a crockery and variety store in Camden, which he 
sold in 1868 and came to Lyons in 1871 and established the bottling business, being 
the first plant of the kind between Syracuse and Rochester, and in which he is still 
engaged. At the age of thirty-nine he married Mary L., daughter of Sylvanus Bailey, 
of Lyons, and they are the parents of one son, John E. Our subject is a Republican 
in politics, and is serving his second term as trustee of the village, being identified in 
advancing the best interests of his town and the leading events of the day ; the street 
running by his property being named for him, Forgham street. He is a man of con- 
servative character and of sterling worth and integrity. 

Gates, Melvin B., born in Ontario, March 1, 1829, is a son of Joseph W. and Harriet 
(Levens) Gates, the former born in Oswego county February 3, 1801. Mrs. Gates died 
in 1831, and he married second a sister of his first wife, who still survives, she being 
the only one left of six. They had four children, all now living. Mr. Gates was one 
of the pioneers of Ontario, was for several years supervisor of the town, and served 
six years as assessor, and revenue assessor from 1862 to 1866. The grandparents of 
our subject was Isaac and Prudence (French) Gates, who came to Ontario in 1816, 
and settled on a farm. He was twice married and raised a large family. Melvin B. 
was educated in Walworth Academy and has always followed farming. In 1855 he 
married Rhoda M. Gould, born June 11, 1830, and daughter of Ebenezer and Silva 
(Bancroft) Gould, early settlers of Walworth, Wayne county, by whom he has had 
two sons, Floyd I., born in November, 1860. His wife is Kittie Cone, and he is en- 
gaged in farming in Ontario ; and Louis M., born September 13, 1868. At the time of 
his marriage, Mr. Gates settled on the farm he now owns, and has since resided there 
and made many improvements. His farm has 120 acres, and he is engaged in general 
farming and fruit growing. In politics he is a Republican, and is at present county 
superintendent of .the poor. Mr. Gates and wife attend and support the M. E. church. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 55 

Gilbert, Joseph, a native of Marion, was born February 22, 1833. He is the young- 
est of eight sons and eight daughters of Samuel and Luceba (Wilson) Gilbert, natives of 
Hadley, Saratoga county. The grandfather was Joseph Gilbert, who was a farmer of 
Saratoga county, where he died aged ninety-one. Samuel came to Wayne county in 
1809 and settled first in Williamson. He was at Pultneyville during the War of 1812. 
He removed to Marion in 1849 and bought 100 acres of land, where he resided until 
his death in 1857. Mrs. Gilbert died in 1864. aged seventy-eight. He was one of the 
pioneer abolitionists. Joseph Gilbert was reared on the farm and has made farming his 
life occupation. He married in 1859 Emerett Adams, of Marion, by whom he had one 
daughter and one son, who died in infancy. Alma is the wife of Delmar Hope, and 
they have two daughters, Daisy and Faith C. Mr. Hope is now carrying on the 
farm, which consists of 100 acres. Joseph Gilbert is a member of the Williamson 
Grange. 

Garlock, Abram, born in Mohawk Valley, N. Y., May 5, 1831, was the youngest of 
thirteen children of Jacob and Maria Garlock, who came to Marion in 1837, and here 
lived and died aged sixty-three years respectively. He owned a large farm, the village 
of Marion occupying a part of that farm. Abram Garlock was educated in Marion Acad- 
emy, and was engaged in the mercantile business ten years, but his principal occupa- 
tion was a dealer in produce. He was postmaster four years. He married in May, 

1854, Hester A. Sweezey, a native of Marion, and daughter of Merritt and Clarissa 
Sweezey, he a native of Marion, and she a native of Vermont. Mr. Sweezey died in 

1855, and his wife in 1873. Mr. Garlock and wife had four children : Arthur M., who 
died in 1888, aged thirty; Emery L., who died in 1881, aged twenty-one; Carrie L., 
who died in 1883, aged twenty-two ; and May, wife of Edward Croucher. Mr Gar- 
lock died May 13, 1884. 

Gurnee, Isaac H., born in Onondaga county, June 6, 1824, was the second child of 
Marvin and Phoebe (Hall) Gurnee, the former a native of Haverstraw, born in July, 
1799, and died June 27, 1870. He was a son of Caleb Gurnee, who lived in Skaneate- 
les, but died in Cayuga county. Marvin came to Ontario, N. Y., in 1828, and there 
lived and died in 1870, and his wife December 12, 1885, aged eighty-one years. Our 
subject was four years old when he came to Ontario, where he resided until 1866, when 
he came to Marion on the farm he now owns. After two years he established a boot 
and shoe business in the village, but soon returned to the farm he now owns, where he 
has since resided. He married, December 31, 1846, Sarah Baker, a native of East 
Newark, and daughter of Jacob and Jane (Ehodes) Baker. Mr. Gurnee and wife had 
one son, Alonzo B., born February 16, 1849, in Ontario. He came to Marion and 
learned the shoemaker's trade, which he followed six years, but his principal occupation 
has been farming. He is a member of the A. O. IT. W. of Marion, and has been master 
of the Grange three years, during which time the lodge has grown from twenty-six to 
one hundred members. He married, October 26, 1870, Euphema Carpenter, by whom 
he has had two children : T. Carlton and Edith M. 

Griswold, William H., was born in the town of Rose, April 3, 1838. His father, 
Lorenzo, was a native of the town of Victory, Cayuga county, and came to Wayne 
county in 1834. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Nathan Jeffers, and they had seven 
children, of whom three are now living : William H., Mrs. Sarah Lane, and Mrs. Helen 
J. Cobell. Lorenzo was among the early settlers in the town of Rose, and through life 
was a prominent farmer in his town. He died in March, 1851, aged forty-three years. 
William H. was educated in the common schools, to which he has added through life 
by reading and close observation. At the age of twenty-one he married Julia A., 
daughter of James Weeks, by whom he has three children : Charles E., Frank W., and 
one daughter. Our subject is one of the largest farmers in Wayne couuty, raising large 
quantities of fruit, hay, grain and stock. He was elected supervisor for two terms, and 



56 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

takes an active interest in educational and religious matters, being a liberal supporter of 
the Methodist church. 

Getman, George W"., was born in Columbia, Herkimer county, N. Y., December 18, 
1845, was educated in the district schools, and finished at West Winfield Academy, after 
which he taught for two years, and then entered the employ of J. G. Burriil at Herki- 
mer, N. Y., and learned the profession of druggist, moving to Lyons in April, 1869, and 
established the business of retail druggist and wholesale and retail essential oils, of 
which he is one of the largest buyers and shippers in Wayne county. At the age of 
twenty-three he married Fannie Taylor, of Herkimer, and they have three sons, George, 
Frank, and William, and two daughters, Fannie and Marion. He is a Republican in 
politics, has been trustee of the village, and is also interested in school and religious mat- 
ters, having been an elder twenty years in the Presbyterian church of Lyons. Our sub- 
ject is thoroughly identified in advancing the best interest of his town, where he is 
recognized as a man of sterling character and high worth. 

Garlock Packing Company. — This firm engaged in the manufacture of steam, water, 
and ammonia fibrous packings, is one of Wayne county's most important manufacturing 
establishments. In 1884 Garlock, Crandall & Co. began the business at Palmyra on a 
small scale in a single room of one of the buildings now occupied by the present com- 
pany. The firm of Garlock, Crandall & Co. consisted of 0. J. Garlock, a native of 
Palmyra, now a resident of New York city; Eugene Nichols, a native of Monroe 
county, and George H. Crandall, a native of this town. In September, 1887, the Gar- 
lock Packing Company was formed by 0. J. Garlock, Eugene Nichols, and F. W. 
Griffith, a native of Phelps, Ontario county. The old firm purchased, in 1886, the 
main building now occupied by the present company, comprising a three-story, 36x80 
structure, and in 1888 an additional building of two stories was erected. The class of 
fibrous packings made by this firm, in ring and spiral forms, was originated by Mr. 
Garlock, and has replaced other kinds to a very great extent. It was first introduced 
about 1884. They are also large manufacturers of gaskets, and jobbers of packings 
for flanges and joints. They use one steam engine, with a forty-five horse-power 
boiler, also an electric dynamo engine, employing from fifteen to twenty hands. They 
manufacture four special packings, viz. : Garlock's Special Water, Garlock's Elastic 
King, Garlock's Sectional R'n?, and Garlock's Spiral. In addition to their plant here, 
they have also one at Rome, Ga., and have branch offices in New York, Philadelphia, 
Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Chicago, and Omaha, from which points shipments are made to 
the various parts of the country. They have a large export trade controlled by the 
New York branch, wh'ch also supplies numerous inter continental steamers. They are 
shipping from Palmyra about four tons per week. 

Gilbert, John P., M. D., was born in Lyons December 27, 1829. His father, John, 
came to Lyons in 1806. His father, Amos Gilbert, was a soldier of the Revolutionary 
War, and himself a soldier in the war of 1812. He was one of the founders of the 
Presbyterian church, and was one of the deacons for more than fifty years up to the 
time of his death in 1882, aged ninety-two years. John P. was educated in the Lyons 
Union School and the Geneva Medical College, and graduated from the medical de- 
partment of the University of New York in 1856, under the celebrated Valentine Mott, 
after which he returned to Lyons and succeeded Dr. Pollock, his preceptor^ and estab- 
lished a general practice, making a specialty of the treatment of the eye and ear. In 
October, 1857, he married Mary E. Tyler, daughter of Piatt Tyler, esq, of Hillsdale, 
Columbia County, N. Y. Mrs. Gilbert died in 1882, leaving one child, Mary Louisa. 
He had charge of the Albany Eye and Ear Infirmary from 1858 to 1861. He received 
a commission from Hon. Gideon Wells, secretary of the navy, and entered the U. S. 
Navy in December, 1861, as acting assistant surgeon in the East Gulf Squadron, offi- 
ciating as chief medical officer on board the U. S. ship, Guard. Resigning from the 
navy in 1862 he entered the United States hospital service in De Camp General Hos- 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 57 

pital at David's Island ; was later assigned as post surgeon at the Draft Rendezvous at 
Riker's Island, New York harbor. Continuing in the hospital service up to 1865, he 
then resigned on account of ill health. He soon after located in Long Island City and 
established a general practice and a drug store, and was appointed postmaster. Since 
1870 he has practiced in the west until 1881, when he returned to Lyons, where he has 
since resided. Dr. Gilbert is the inventor and proprietor of " Vital Vim," a new 
stimulant without alcohol or any injurious ingredients, which is rapidly gaining in favor 
as a household remedy, as well as a cure for the liquor habit. He is a comrade of A. 
D. Adams Post, No. 153, G-. A. R., of the State of New York; a member of Humanity 
Lodge, No. 406, F. and A. M., and one of the original charter members of Temple 
Lodge, No. 115, Ancient Order of United Workmen, of which he is past master work- 
man and medical examiner. 

Greenway, George B., was born in Syracuse February 15, 1856. His father, George 
Greenway, was one of the firm of J. & G. Greenway, brewers. George B. Greenway 
was educated in Syracuse and Williams College, after which he studied medicine. In 
1880 in connection with C. E. Wolcott he purchased the book and stationery business 
of Davis, Bardeen & Co., which he afterward sold out and took an interest in the 
Whitney Wagon Works. In 1889 he came to Clyde and purchased S. D. Streeter's in- 
terest of the Streeter Malting Company, and in 1892 bought the remaining Streeter in- 
terest. Mr. Greenway married Miss Ella M. Warner daughter of Arthur Warner, of 
Springfield, Mass., and to them one child was born, viz., Ruth W. Mr. Greenway is a 
public spirited man and is interested in the advancement of the educational and religious 
institutions of the town. In 1894 he was elected president of the village of Clyde. 

Gatchell, William Whittier, was born in Galen September 7, 1822, a son of Elisha, a 
native of Boston, who came in 1813 to Lyons, Wayne county, and some years later to 
Huron and settled on Great Sodus Bay. He served as justice of the peace, com- 
missioner, and assessor. He married first Sophia, daughter of Clark Whittier, of Port- 
land, Maine, by whom he had five children : Jeremiah, William W., James W., Harriet, 
and Mary Ann. His second wife was Margaret Britton, and their children were : 
Sophia, Christopher, Henry, Charles, Guett, Elisha (deceased). Jane, and Charles. The 
grandfather was Jeremiah, also a native of Boston, and a sea captain. His wife was a 
Miss Diamond, whose father was sailing master on board the war-ship Constitution. 
At the age of eighteen William W. engaged in the mercantile business in Port Glasgow, 
which he followed four years, afterward engaging in the apple business, which he fol- 
lowed eighteen years and then turned his attention to farming and fruit growing, own- 
ing 170 acres. In February, 1861, he married Louise, daughter of Charles and Polly 
Tyndall, of Rose, and their children are : Minnie, wife of Dr. George D. York, of 
Huron ; James K., of Troy ; Worth and Sophia. Mr. and Mrs. Gatchell are members of 
Huron Grange, and in politics our subject is a Democrat. He has served as post- 
master, assessor, constable, collector, and supervisor. 

Gilbert, Edward F., was born in Lyons January 21, 1843. His father, John, was one 
of the prominent business men in his town, being a manufacturer and inventor of fan- 
ning mills for over sixty years. These mills were shipped all over the United States, 
Canada, and to foreign countries, including Turkey and Damascus, Syria. He invented 
the process of putting the twist in the double warp of the wire screens used in clean- 
ing grain ; previous to that time they were braided by hand. In 1858 he engaged in 
the furniture and undertaking business, in which he was succeeded by his son Edward 
F., who was educa'ed in the Lyons Union School, began an active business life at the 
age of sixteen, and carried on the business twenty-eight years. He then traveled on 
the road and is also engaged in shipping to foreign countries parts of fanning mills that 
could not be manufactured there. He is also the inventor of several toys, among them 
being the thirteen, fourteen, fifteen puzzle, " Gibert's Instruction Alphabet" and 
h 



58 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

" Wash stand Screen." At the age of twenty-four he married Viola, daughter of Mor- 
timer Calkins, of Earlville, N. Y., a graduate from the Lyons Musical Academy, who is 
an efficient organist and successful piano music teacher. They are the parents of two 
children: Carrie (deceased), and Mary Keokee, who has been a pupil of celebrated vio- 
linists and is herself a brilliant performer and able instructor on the violin. Our subject 
is one of the prominent business men in his town, having been trustee, treasurer and 
assessor in his village. 

Gillett, William, was born at Ferguson's Corners in the town of Galen, June 26, 
1827. His father, James Gillett. was a native of Kent, England, came to the United 
States in 1824 and settled in Wayne county at Ferguson's Corners. He died in 1848. 
aged fifty- six. William Gillett was educated in the common schools in the town of 
Sodus, and at the age of twenty-five married Lucy A., daughter of John Butler, by 
whom he had three children, John H., William J. (now deceased), and Mrs. Lizzie B. 
Patten. In 1861 he bought the Benjamin Ford property of 100 acres, raising fruit, 
hay, grain and stock, and making a specialty of garden seeds. Our subject is one of 
the representative men of his town, was elected supervisor and assessor, and takes an 
active interest in school and church matters. 

Garlock, James P., was born in Arcadia July 15, 1825, and came with his parents to 
Parma, Monroe county, and here he was educated and learned the trade of carpentry. 
This he followed twelve years, since which he has engaged in farming. February 23, 
1859, he married Lydia A. Bryant, a daughter of one of the first settlers of the town, 
and they have one son, Willard B., a farmer with his father. The family returned to 
Wayne county and located in East Palmyra in 1864, and in 1868 to the town of Arca- 
dia, locatir 
born in C 
burgh, by ,. 

becca Van Zile, and their five children were: Andrew, James P., Nelson H., William, 
and Wesley. This family came here in 1812, locating on the Edgett place west of 
Newark. Nicholas died December 17, 1838, and his wife January 10, 1866. He was 
a soldier in the war of 1812. The great-grandfather of James P. came from Germany 
in 1709 and settled in Montgomery county, where the family was long identified with 
the best interests of the locality. The fifth generation is now residing on the Bryant 
homestead. 

Gardner, Amos, was born in Webster, Monroe county, November 30, 1831. He is 
one of a family of nine sons and seven daughters of Thomas and Matilda (Russell) 
Gardner, he a native of Albany county, born February 12, 1806, died February 1, 1861, 
and she a native of Greene county, born September 18, 1812. Mr. Gardner was a 
farmer by occupation and bought the farm now owned by George Gardner in On- 
tario. Mrs. Gardner died December 13, 1889. A son, Louis, was in the Rebellion 
two years. He was wounded at the battle of Gettysburg, from the effects of which he 
died October 20. 1886. The grandfather was Silas, who came from Rhode Island to 
Monroe county, and settled finally in Ontario, Wayne county, where he died. Amos 
Gardner was reared on the farm and has always followed farming. He now has a 
farm of fifty acres and carries on general farming and fruit raising. October 24, 1855, 
he married Lydia, daughter of Urial and Esther (Power) Aldrich, he of Macedon and 
she of Oak Orchard Creek, N. Y. They had three sons and two daughters, all of whom 
are now living. He died September 24, 1882, and his wife resides at Farmington, On- 
tario county, on the homestead, aged eighty-four years. Mr. and Mrs. Gardner have 
had three sons and one daughter : E. Isabelle, who died May 25, 1872 ; Urial, deceased ; 
Cassius and Royal, who are at home. In politics he is a Republican, and in religion 
they are Baptists. 

Gardner, Ishmael Gilbert, is one of Huron's representatives, born in Huron April 6, 
1851, and is the son of Samuel Gardner, a farmer born in Ontario county in 1820. He 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 59 

came to Huron in 1849, and served as assessor, supervisor, and in other offices. His 
wife was Hannah Brewster, of Lansingburg, and their children were Ishmael G. and 
Elizabeth, deceased. His second wife was Happilona Chatterson, and they had one 
child, Ella, wife of Samuel Lyman, of Rose. Our subject now owns the homestead 
farm, and is a grower and distiller of the oils of peppermint, spearmint, wormwood and 
tansy. He also has extensive hot houses and gardening lands, and is engaged in forcing 
various winter and early spring crops for the city markets. In 1875 he married Sarah, 
daughter of Azael and Harriet Slaght, and their children are: Evelyn, born 1876; 
Samuel, 1878; Belle, deceased; Laura, 1889. Mr. Gardner is a Democrat. 

Ganze, Henry A., was born in Germany, July 27. 1837, is the son of Henry and 
Maria Ganze, natives of Germany, who came to New York in 1852, and finally settled 
in Egg Harbor City, Atlantic county, N. J., where Mr. Ganze died in 1881, and his wife 
in 1866. Subject was educated in the common schools of Germany and at a evening 
school in New York. He left New York in 1854, and settled in Marion (at sixteen 
years of age). Mr. Ganze is a natural musician, and for a number of years played the 
organ in the Christian church, of which he and his wife are members. He learned the 
carpenter trade, and has followed it most of his life. He enlisted in 1862 in Company 
D, 160th New York Volunteer Infantry, and served three years and three months. He 
was in the following battles : Port Hudson, Winchester, Fisher's Hill, Cedar Creek, 
wounded and taken prisoner, but only held one day. He married, December 30, 1857, 
Clarissa Fish, a native of Fall River, Mass., daughter of John and Mary Fish. Mr. 
Ganze and wife had six children: Henry J., born August 26, 1866; Albert A., born 
September 27, 1867; William H., born January 2, 1871; Thomas S., born July 7, 1872; 
Mary A., born February 3, 1875, and one born in 1880, who died in infancy. Henry J. 
died August 27, 1866 ; Albert A. died March 3, 1870; Thomas died April 26, 1873. Mr. 
Ganze holds the office of excise commissioner. 

Hall, J. Madison, one of the oldest residents of this locality, and who yet carries 
lightly his eighty-six years, was born in Pittstown, Rensselaer county, October 8, 1808, 
the son of Aaron Hall, a native of Connecticut. Practically a self-educated man, he is 
an omniverous reader and a man of vigorous mental action. His wife, Phila Mosher, 
was born in Pittstown, February 3, 1810, and died May 16, 1889. Their children were 
as follows: Henry, now with his father; Wesley, a prominent merchant at Red Creek; 
Mary, wife of D. D. decker, of the firm of Becker & Hall, merchants and bankers of 
Red Creek ; Martha, wife of A. M. Turner, of New York city ; and Harriet, who died 
April 22, 1850, aged fifteen. 

Heisler, Henry, was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, November 7, 1833, and came to 
the United States in 1855. He first went to Monroe county, in 1856 came to the town 
of Huron, and in 1869 bought the Rogers property of fifty acres, raising fruit, hay, 
grain, and stock. In 1857 he married Maria B., daughter of Casper Mannes, and they 
have three children : Henry R., John C, and Mrs. Maria Jenkins. Our subject is one 
of the most thorough farmers in the town of Galen, and is recognized as a man of 
steiling integrity. 

Hamm, Moses F., was born in the town of Bloomfield, Ontario county, March 17, 
1834, was educated in the common schools, and is a graduate of the Canandaigua Acad- 
emy. About 1854 he married Phoebe J., daughter of Jason and Adeline Sanford, of 
East Palmyra. Mr. Hamm taught school when a young man, and by industry and 
good management has become possessed of a comfortable competence. When the Union 
School and Academy was erected, he devoted his entire time to superintending the con- 
struction of the edifice, in the capacity of trustee, which latter office he filled for nine 
years. He has also served as president of village of Newark. Mrs. Hamm died in 
1865, and he married second, May 14, 1867, Mary E., daughter of Edward and Lida 
Kirby, of Oneida county. Mr. Hamm is committee in charge of the Emma L. Ramsdell 



60 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

estate, the owner being insane. He has resided in Newark seventeen years. His care 
of the above estate, together with the care of his farms, absorbs his whole time and 
energies. He was formerly associated with James Upton and Gideon Ramsdell as 
wood and tie contractors for fifteen years, for the N. Y. C. & H. R. R. R Co. He is a 
member of Newark Lodge No. 83, F. & A. M.. also of I. 0. 0. F. No. 250. Mrs. Hamm 
is a member of the Woman's Relief Corps. Mr. Hamm's father, Robert, was born in 
Vermont, of Scotch parentage, and came to this part of the country in 1802, first 
locating in Palmyra, and later in East Bloom field. His first wife was Sarah Mack, and 
his second was Eunice Guile, of Keene, N. H. His children were: Miranda, Burton, 
Helena, Levantiaette, Robert, jr., Delia, Moses F., Eunice, Eusebia. He died, aged 
eighty-four. Edward Kirby, Mrs. Hamm's father, was a civil engineer, born in France, 
who married Lida Long, of Oneida county, and they had seven children, of which only 
three survive. 

Hance, Thomas C, was one of the early settlers in this county, having been born in 
Calvert county, Md., September 27, 1782, and died April 18, 1888, in Macedon, at the 
advanced age of 105 years, six months, and twenty-one days. He moved from Balti- 
more, Md., in 1803, to Western New York, and remained with his parents in Farming- 
ton until 1817, when he married Esther C, daughter of Abraham Lapham. He then 
removed to Macedon and kept the first general store on the mail route, west of Palmyra, 
also had nurseries in Farmington and Macedon. In 1821 he received a patent for a 
horse hay rake on wheels, it being the first patent of the kind issued. He and wife were 
members of the Society of Friends. They had seven children, six of whom lived to 
maturity, as follows: Benjamin M., born in 1818 in Macedon, graduated from the 
Canandaigua Academy, and taught school a number of years. He was a member of the 
Sanitary Commission in the late war, stationed at Point of Rocks, Va., and later at 
Alexandria Heights. He took the overland route to California in 1849. At present he 
is a resident of Niles, Mich., in the horticultural business; Sarah D., born in 1820, 
graduated from the Albany Female Seminary, and at once took the position of precep- 
tress at Macedon Academy (of which she was a graduate), later of the Palmyra and 
Utica schools. She was instructor to the daughter of Senator Seward, and she served 
as an assistant private secretary to him at Washington in 1857. She died June 10, 1807 ; 
Abraham L., born April 6, 1822, died December 20, 1893 ; Thomas C, born in 1823, 
graduated from the Chicago Medical College, was a surgeon in the United States army, 
and is now stationed at Republican City, Neb. ; Dr. S. F. H, born in 1825 in Ohio, 
graduated from the Albany Medical College, and was surgeon in the 89th Illinois 
Infantry, resident now of Minneapolis, Minn. ; and Jonahan R., born in Ohio in 1827. 
The parents in their old age lived with their son, Abraham L. The father was a de- 
scendant of John Hance, of England, who settled in Maryland soon after Lord Baltimore 
established the colony there. The mother was a descendant of the Laphams of Rhode 
Island. She died in June, 1862, at the home of her son Abraham. The latter is the 
only one of the sons who remained in this State. He was educated at the Canandaigua 
and Macedon Center Academies, and in early life was a teacher and superintendent of 
schools, and for forty years was connected with the best interests of his native town. 
He married Lydia Packard in 1854. She was a daughter of Philander and Minerva 
Packard. They had two sons: Frederick S., born October 17, 1858, who married 
Jessie E. Parker in 1882, and has five children : and Benjamin M., born December 9, 
1859, who lives on the homestead. He married Ada E. Eldredge in 1883. 

Horton, George S., of Wok'Ott, was born in the old homestead at North Wolcott, 
March 23, 1857. He was educated at the Leavenworth Institute and Red Creek Union 
Seminary. In the fall of 1880 he became a student in the law department of the Uni- 
versity of Michigan at Ann Arbor, remaining there one year, thence to the Albany Law 
School, where he graduated in the class of 1892. Prior to his le^al studies he spent a 
portion of each year as a teacher. When only twenty- two years of age, he was elected 
justice of the peace in his native town, being the youngest one in the country. Mr. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 01 

Horton cast his first presidential vote for James A. Garfield in 1880. He has been an 
enthusiastic Republican ever since. He is associated with Colonel A. S. Wood in the 
practice of the law. In the town of Wolcott, where he was reared, and with whose 
interest he has always been identified, no man is more popular nor more highly respect- 
ed, as is evidenced by the majorities which he always gets when he is a candidate for an 
office. In the fall of 1893 he was elected by a plurality of two thousand five hundred 
and fifty-three to represent the big and populous county of Wayne in the Assembly. 
He was made chairman of the Committee on Privileges and Elections, and was also a 
member on Judiciary and Claims. In the season of 1894 he introduced several measures 
of an economical and reformatory character, not only earning the continued regard of 
his constituents, but the respect of his political opponents. He is married, and has one 
child. 

Hanchett, Mrs. Orange R., was born at Mexico, N. Y., March 17, 1826. Her maiden 
name was Maretta Kenyon. In 1847 she married Frank Maguire, who was born in 
Tyre, Seneca county, February 22, 1819. He was a resident of Butler forty years, en- 
gaged in blacksmithing, and is a citizen of irreproachable character and moral worth. 
He died at Butler, January 21, 1887. They had two sons, Darwin F., who died in 
infancy; and Adelbert E., who was conductor on the T. W. S. W. R. R., and was killed 
in a collision, November 6, 1874, a^ed twenty-six years. Mrs. Maguire married second, 
Orange R. Hanchett (formerly of Wichita, Kan.), March 25, 1889, and they moved to 
Wolcott, where Mr. Hanchett died April 9, 1893. 

Henry, William, was born in Chatham, Columbia county, in 1817. a son of William 
Henry, a school teacher, who went to Albany in 1818, and was never again heard from. 
His wife was Catherine Sours, of Columbia county. In 1836 he and his mother moved 
to Wayne county, and purchased the farm where Mr. Henry now lives. Here his 
mother died in 1873. He makes a specialty of raising fruit, in which he is very success- 
ful, his farm consisting of 200 acres. In 1844 he married Olive, daughter of Benjamin 
and Hannah Parker, of Huron, who were early settlers here. Mrs. Henry was born in 
1823. They had one child, born in 1846, Catherine Ann, wife of Aaron Peck, of Wol- 
cott, by whom she has three children : G-ertie, Frank, and Minnie. Mrs. Henry died in 
1849, and two years later he married Julia A. (born in July, 1823), a daughter of 
Christian and Anna C. (Rote) Sours. They had four children : Seymour, born in 1852; 
Mary, born in 1855. wife of Charles S. Pratt, of Marion ; Emma, born in 1857, wife of 
Lewis Lovejoy, of Huron; and Idella, bom in 1860, wife of Frank Chapin, of Huron. 
Mrs. Henry died June 18, 1894, aged seventy years. Mr. Henry has fourteen grand- 
children, and three great-grandchildren. TJlrich Sours, great-grandfather of our subject, 
was born in Germany, and had three children: Tunis, Peter, and Elizabeth. Tunis, 
born in 1764, and his wife, Maria, born in 1756, had these children : Christiana, born in 
1786; Philip, born in 1788; Catherine, born in 1790; Hannah, born in 1793; Margaret, 
born in 1795 ; Maria, born in 1797 ; and Cynthia, born in 1799. 

Heit, Jacob, was born in Alsace, March 8, 1823. His father, Michael, came with his 
family to the United States in 1830, and died in 187 , aged eighty years. Jacob was 
educated in the common schools. At the age of twenty-eight he married Magdalena, 
daughter of Henry Miller, of Lock Berlin, and they have five children: John H., George 
F., William A., Henry M., and Jacob D. In 1855 he bought the Adam Clum property; 
in 1868 bought the William Bonell property, and subsequently the David Waldruff farm, 
in all having about 450 acres, and raising fruit, hay, grain, and stock. Our subject is 
one of the largest farmers in his town, taking an active interest in educational and re- 
ligious matters, and has been steward of the M. E. church of Clyde many years. 

Hopkins, Burton J., born in Ontario, September 22, 1835. is the third of five sons of 
Joseph and Pamelia J. (Nichols) Hopkins, he a native of New Jersey, and she of Con- 
necticut. He came to Manchester and then to Pultneyville, where he was married. He 



62 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

then came to Ontario and settled on a farm, where he lived fifty-five years, and there 
died in November, 1890, aged ninety years, and his wife resides with the subject of this 
sketch at the age of ninety-two. Subject was reared on a farm and educated in Mace- 
don and Webster Academies. He taught in district school during winter terms from the 
time he was eighteen years old until he was married, was engaged in selling nursery 
stock and also in the saw mill business, and bought wool in partnership with his brother 
Henry for several years. He received a patent for slicing and curing apples in 1880, it 
being the first in use. Mr. Hopkins is at present a farmer, and purchased a farm of 111 
acres in 1885, where he has since resided. He is a Republican, a member of South 
Shore Grange of Ontario, and is now master of the Grange. The family are members 
of the Presbyterian church. He married in 1864 Ann E. Sprague, by whom he has had 
four children : Archer G, W. Burr, Mary A., and Glenn N. W. Burr graduated from 
Phillips Academy. Andover, Mass., in 1893, and is now a student of Brown's College, 
Providence, R. I. Archer C. was educated in Palmyra and Macedon Academies. Mary 
is a student of Webster Union School. 

Hamm, Edson W., was born at Sharon Springs, N. Y., September 18, 1861, was edu- 
cated in Macedon Academy, and from there went to the Albany Normal School, and 
after teaching two years began the study of law with Hon. Stephen K. Williams at 
Newark, N. Y., then went to Washington, D. C, to assist in the republication of the 
United States Supreme Court reports. He then took the law course at the National 
University of Law at Washington, graduating in 1884, and in 1885 took a post-graduate 
course, and returned to Newark and spent a year with Judge Norton, and was admitted 
to the bar in 1886, and then entered into partnership with Judge Norton. In 1887 he 
terminated that connection and came to Lyons, where he carries on a general practice. 
At the age of twenty-eight he married Mary W. Yan Camp, daughter of William Van- 
Camp. Subject is recognized as one of the rising men in his profession, giving an earnest 
and energetic attention to all business matters. 

Hill, Edmund, was born in Junius, Seneca county, May 11, 1835. His father, Peter, 
came to Wayne county in 1839, and was a prominent farmer in his town. Edmund re- 
ceived his education in the district schools, to which he has added through life by read- 
ing and close observation. In 1865 he married Augusta, daughter of William Rein- 
hardt, of Pittsfield, Mass., and they are the parents of four children : Theodore W., 
Charles E., Edmund Augustus, and Lena E. In 1879 Mr. Hill inherited his father's 
estate of ninety acres, to which he has added by buying adjoining property, and all of 
which he has now under cultivation. Our subject is one of the leading men of his town, 
taking an active interest in educational and religious matters. 

Holdrige, A. J., after a life of more than ordinary interest and adventure in foreign 
lands, returned in 1865 to his old home, for the next ten years was on shore and at sea, 
and for sixteen years has been an express and freight agent at Savannah. He was born 
in Galen, September 16, 1838, a son of Ambrose and Charity Holdridge. His educational 
opportunities were limited, and at the age of fifteen he ran away from home and shipped 
from Greenport, L. I., on board the whaler Italy in 1854. Off the Aleutian Isles in 1856 
she was dismasted in a heavy storm, and after the loss of eleven men finally harbored 
in Honolulu, Sandwich Islands, and the cargo of 2,800 barrels of oil and 32,500 pounds 
of whalebone was saved intact, then visited a number of the South Sea Islands among 
the cannibals. He next shipped in the Sheffield for another whaling cruise, which lasted 
eight months, with a net result of 2,200 barrels of oil and 19,000 pounds of whalebone. 
Next entering the merchant service he visited all the principal ports of South America, 
rapidly passing by various promotions from a common sailor to first mate, which posi- 
tion he held on board the Monterey when but twenty-two years of age. During the 
war between Peru and Ecuador he was on a blockade-runner, which was on one occa- 
sion chased all day by a Peruvian man-of-war without result. At Panama, when in the 
passenger steamer service, he had the dreaded chagres fever, and after his recovery 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 63 

he again entered merchant service, visiting London and other points in the Old World. 
In 1863, while on the United States navy ship Aphrodite, he suffered shipwreck off 
Cape Lookout, when the ship and twenty-six men were lost, but Mr. Holdridge es- 
caped uninjured. After the war he spent several seasons on the lakes, chiefly in sail- 
ing vessels, and subject to the usual vicissitudes of a sailor's life, sometimes an officer, 
and sometimes before the mast. In 1889 he married Fanny Taylor, of Clyde. Our sub- 
ject has been president of the village, trustee, assessor, etc. 

Harrington, Eb., is a son of Daniel Harrington, a Wayne county pioneer, who died 
at Savannah in 1883. He was in many ways a prominent man in early times, con- 
ducted a steam saw mill for a period of fifteen years, and was commissioner of high- 
ways for twenty-five years. His wife was Mary A. Fitch, and of her four children two 
are now living: Harriet, wife of Ezra Van Duyne, of Savannah ; and Eb., who was born 
October 23, 1848, and acquired a good education at a select school at South Butler. 
When twenty-four years of age he married Caroline, daughter of the late Herman West- 
cott, of Savannah, and their children are : Cynthia, born April 19, 1874, and Eugene 
born February 1, 1876. Caroline died February 16, 1886, and Mr. Harrington is now 
married to Miss Catharine Fitch, of Savannah, and she has one daughter born March 
16, 1894. 

Hamilton, David R., was born December 3, 1806, the son of David Hamilton, of 
Montgomery county, who died December 7, 1819, at an advanced age. David was one 
of a family of nine children, and at the age of eighty- eight now stands the sole living' 
representative, in Wayne county of that family. His boyhood was passed in Saratoga 
county, coming to Butler in 1828, in September of which year he married Mary Hol- 
lister, of Saratoga, by whom he had eight children : William H., born May 13, 1830; 
Charles A., born February 3, 1832 ; Melissa, born October 7, 1833 ; Harriet, born April 
5, 1835; Mary C, born December 14, 1836; Hollister, born September 30, 1839; 
Martha, born February 19, 1841 ; and Frank, born September 24, 1844. Mary Hamil- 
ton died, January 22, 1873, and December 24, of that year, he married Harriet, widow 
of Oscar F. Coggswell, of Meridian. She had one son, William 0. Coggswell, who 
died March 24, 1880, at Detroit, Mich., aged twenty-four years. He was a practicing 
physician. Mr. Hamilton was a delegate to the first Republican county convention, 
held in Wayne, when he served as secretary. He has served as coroner six years, 
justice of the peace four years, and was commissioner of deeds four years. While he 
was justice of the peace he had the pleasure of uniting in holy matrimony Mr. John 
Bloomingdale and Miss Melissa Watson, both of the town of Wolcott. At last account 
they were living happily together in Michigan. 

Hotchkiss, H. G., was born in Oneida county, N. Y., June 19, 1810. His father, 
Leman Hotchkiss, removed to Phelps, N. Y., in 1811, and became the pioneer merchant 
of that region. On his death in 1826, H. G., with his brother L. B., succeeded to his 
business, which continued until 1837, when he embarked in extensive milling opera- 
tions, sending his flour to the New York markets. There was at that time a small 
quantity of peppermint raised in the neighborhood. He secured the oil and sent it to 
New York. Finding that the market was largely controlled by adulterators who were 
shipping the oil in an impure state to Europe, he decided to commence the manufacture 
of a strictly pure article for the European markets. The first consignments were 
through George B. Morewood & Co. to London, and through G. Meyer & Sons to Rot- 
terdam, in 1839. It soon became greatly appreciated by the consumers. Finding the 
lowlands of Lyons, N. Y., admirably adopted to the purpose, he purchased a large 
tract of land in 1843, and commenced the extensive cultivation of the plant. He re- 
moved there in 1844. His brand has been awarded the first prize medals at the World's 
Fairs held in England, Germany, America, France and Austria since 1851 ; and is at 
present the leading brand of American essential oils in New York, London, Hamburg, 
and all large European markets, as will be noticed in the quotations in all the leading 



in LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

drug reports in America and Europe. On his way to the Paris Exposition in 1878 he 
stopped in London, and was congratulated by prominent London merchants on the 
London Exchange on the excellent reputations of his oils. He replied that if he were 
guilty of fraud and adulterations, he would not be there to receive their congratulations. 
Each case of oil contains a pamphlet describing the honors awarded to this brand, and 
received the highest award of merit at the Columbian Exposition held at Chicago in 
1893. 

Hall, Aaron, married Polly Warner in 1806 in the town of Amherst, State of Massa- 
chusetts, moved to Vernon, Oneida county, in ]810, and moved from there to the town 
of Galen, now Savannah, Wayne county, in 1812 and settled on the faim now occupied 
by Stephen Sprague. They had eight children, Harriet, the oldest, married Conrad 
Sedore, who died in 1872. She had eight children, three of whom are now living. She 
resides with her son, Ira B. Sedore at Savannah, and is eighty-seven years of age. 
Andrew Hall married Mara Chapin, of Savannah, in 1827. He died in 1841, and his 
wife died in 1876. They had five children, three of whom are now living: Aaron, 
living about one mile west of Savannah, a farmer ; Andrew S., living in Savannah, an 
insurance agent ; and Hattie, living in the State of Illinois. Oscar Hall died in Michi- 
gan in 1893. Charlotte Hall married Richard Shears, who died in 1877 in Michigan. 
She is living at present in Michigan, and is the mother of five children. Olive Hall mar- 
ried Jacob Rex. They live in Steuben county and have three children, all living. 
Ellis Hall married Thomas Blasdell, and moved to Michigan. They are both deceased. 
Charles Hall married Betsey Howland, both deceased. Sylvia Hall married Stephen 
Sprague in 1844, and they live on the homestead. Sylvia was the youngest of the Hall 
children, and is now about seventy years of age. She has six children. Polly Hall 
after the death of Aaron Hall in 1826, married Stephen Sprague, who died in 1858. 
She died in 1882, aged ninety-three. Aaron and Andrew Hall served in the war of the 
Rebellion, in Company A, 9th N. Y. Volunteers. Aaron is now sixty years old and 
Andrew is fifty-eight. 

Harrison, Edwin H., son of Hurum and Jane Jagger Harrison, was born in Ontario. 
Wayne county, N. Y., June 16, 1839. His parents, who were natives of Palmyra, and 
children of old settlers of that town, came to Ontario about 1830 and located upon a 
farm of 100 acres, situated on the Ridge road, which continued to be their home until 
their death. The mother died many years since, but the father survived till 1887, 
when he died, aged eighty-one years. Edwin H. was reared, and has always lived 
upon this farm, which he now owns, and was educated in the schools of Wayne county. 
His occupation is general farming and fruit culture. He is an earnest advocate of 
temperance, and is ever found supporting the principles of justice and morality. May 
12, 1886, he married Lizzie M., daughter of Samuel and Harriet Vaughn, of William- 
son, N. Y. 

Herendeen, Charles B., of Macedon, was born in this town January 31, 1871, a son 
of Charles B., also of this town, born within a short distance of where our subject now 
lives. Charles B. married Mary Lapham, daughter of John Lapham, one of the old 
settlers of this town, and they had five children: Anna, Hattie (who died aged about 
twelve years), Charles, Grace and an infant who died. Charles B. died in 1889, and 
his wife in 1874. Our subject owns a farm in Macedon, comprising 140 acres, which 
he works according to the latest approved methods. He attended the common schools 
and graduated at the Macedon Academy, and is at present a member of the Historical 
Society of Macedon. In 1890 he married Stella Post, of Arcadia, and they have one 
child, Alice G. Mr. Herendeen is a member of the Grange, and in politics a Republican. 

Hall, Aaron F., was born in Savannah, August 26, 1833, the eldest son of Andrew 
S. and Maria Hall. He married Sarah, daughter of Joseph and Lucretia Ferris of Sa- 
vannah, and they have six children : Frank S., born April 10, 1856, who, with a wife 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 65 

and two daughters, reside at Marcellus, Mich., where he is engaged in the manufacture 
of school furniture; Caleb H., born December 18, 1857, a farmer at Savannah, married, 
and has five children ; John A., born April 30, 1859, now a school teacher and farmer 
at Bladen, Neb., married and has one son, Vaughn S., born March 30, 1861, married 
and has four children, residing at Bladen, Neb., a dealer in coal and lumber; Joseph 0., 
born March 4, 1862, now of Salem, Oregon, married and has two daughters; Oscar F., 
born February 27, 1868, now operating his father's farm, is married and has one son. 
Our subject in December, 1863, enlisted in Company A, 9th N. Y. Artillery, and was 
honorably discharged two years later. After the war he spent eight years in Michigan 
upon a farm, returning to Savannah in 1875, and in 1886 purchased the farm of 11] 
acres, lying two miles west of Savannah on the Clyde and Savannah road. 

Holmes, Sebastian Durfee, was born in Palmyra, April 9, 1833. His father, Robert, 
was a native of Amherst, N. H., and came to Lyons in 1818 with his father, afterward 
engaging in the mercantile business. He married a daughter of Major Edward Durfee, 
of Palmyra, who served in the war of 1812. S. D. Holmes was educated in the Lyons 
Union School and in Rochester, then came to Lyons in 1850 and learned the carriage 
business. In August, 1862, he raised Company D, 111th N. Y. Volunteers, going out 
with it as captain. He was engaged in the battles at Harper's Ferry, Spottsylvania, 
Gettysburg, Cold Harbor, Mine Run and before Petersburg. He was wounded in the 
right arm at Gettysburg the last day of the battle, which forced him to resign May 27, 
1864, but he returned in the fall and served in the commissary department. He mar- 
ried Ellen M., daughter of Zebulon Moore, of Lyons, in October, 1855, and they have 
one daughter, Edith. Zebulon Moore was a prominent railroad and canal contractor, 
taking the contracts to erect some of the largest structures on the Erie and Welland 
Canals, the Great Western Railroad, the Hamilton & Port Dover, London & Port 
Stanley Railroad of Canada, and the Iowa Central Air Line. His last large operation 
was the construction of the Southern Boulevard in New York city, extending through 
the town of Morrisania and West Farms in the county of Westchester, in which work 
S. D. Holmes was associated with him and completed the work after his death in 1869. 
Mr. Holmes then associated with Charles H. Moore, son of Zebulon, and contracted to 
build all bridge structures and station buildings on the line of the Canada Southern 
Railroad. In the meantime they bought 1,800 acres of woodland in Canada on the St. 
Clair branch of the Canada Southern Railroad, on which they erected saw and stave 
mills, two general stores, and cultivate about 800 acres of land, having about 200 cattle 
and over seventy-five horses, and while making a specialty of staves and hard wood 
lumber, do a general business of a quarter of a million dollars a year. Mr. Holmes still 
retains his home in Lyons. 

Heck, Augustus, was born in Germany August 2, 1839, son of Philip L. Heck, of 
Germany, who came to America in 1848. Two years later he sent for his family. He 
was a highly educated man and overseer in a lead mine in Germany. He enlisted in 
1861 for three years, was wounded in the battle of Gettysburg and discharged. His 
children were : Mrs. Janet Ramish, of Clyde ; Mrs. Caroline Crouse, of Greenbush, 
N. Y.; Ernstein (deceased); Mrs. Elizabeth Brown, Henry, Augustus, William and 
Alfred. All four brothers were soldiers in the Union army. Our subject enlisted in the 
3rd Ohio Cavalry, his principal engagements being Shiloh, Stone River, Chicamauga, 
Lookout Mt., Missionary Ridge, and Atlanta. After the war he returned to Huron, 
where he has since resided, engaged in the fishing business on Lake Ontario. In 1884 
he purchased a farm formerly owned by Daniel Plumb, his wife's father. In 1860 he 
married Eliza Ann, daughter of Daniel and Electa (Green) Plumb, who came to Wayne 
county in 1820. Mr. and Mrs. Heck have had eight children, of whom six are now 
living: Mrs. Mabel Curtis, of Rose; Miss Emma Heck, of Oswego; Mrs. Myrtie 
Leroy, of Huron ; Mrs. Maggie Davis, of Huron ; Charles A. Heck, and Mrs. Bertha 
Gallagher, of Rochester. 



66 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Hoffman, Augustus L., was born in Croghan, Lewis county, August 15, 185G. He with 
his father, Frederick, moved to Wayne county in 1863, and in 1864 made his home in 
Newark. Augustus L. was educated in Newark Union School. At the age of twenty- 
five he married Emma C. Jacoby, daughter of Rev. Levi Jacoby, of Newark, and they 
have one son, Levi Fred. After leaving school he learned his father's trade of carpen- 
tering, which he followed three years, and in 1875 learned the watchmakers' and 
jewelers' business with John E. Stuart, of Newark. In 1881 he removed to Lyons, and 
in connection with 0. C. Robinson established the present firm of watchmakers and 
jewelers, musical instruments and art pottery, being the leading dealers and carrying 
the largest stock in their stores at Lyons and Newark in Wayne county. Mr. Hoffman 
is a Republican in politics, was elected trustee of the village in 1890, is also identified in 
the leading events of the day and in advancing the best interests of his town, where he 
is recognized as a man of sterling character and worth. 

Huston, William, born on the Huston homestead in Ontario September 5, 1832, is the 
youngest of three sons of Archibald and Laura (Lockwood) Huston, he a native of 
Madison county, born January 16, 1799. and she of Penfield, N. Y., born February 8, 
1804. Mr. Huston came to Ontario when it was a wilderness and settled on what is 
now known as the New Boston road. He bought a farm, cleared a home and built a 
log house, having in all 100 acres, fifty of which he sold to our subject. His principal 
occupation was farming, but he was a carpenter and joiner by trade. Mr. Huston died 
February 25, 1869. Mrs. Huston died in June, 1861. In politics he was a Whig and 
Republican, and was justice of the peace and assessor. He was one of the leading 
members and supporters of the Baptist church at Ontario Center, which was founded in 
1817. He was also deacon in the church, and served in that capacity until his death. 
William Huston was reared on the farm and has always been engaged in farming. He 
married, December 27, 1854, Mary E., daughter of John and E. Walrod White, of Pen- 
field, Monroe count}', he born in 1806, and she in 1808. Mr. White was reared by 
William Ross, of Penfield, his father having died when he was quite young. He died 
January 16, 1879, and his wife January 7, 1889. Mr. and Mrs. Huston have had one 
son and one daughter, Emma L., wife of Willis W. Palmer, boot and shoe merchant, of 
Yinton, Iowa, and Fred. S., second engineer in the Barber Asphalt Paving Company, 
Buffalo, N. Y. His wife is Carrie Parcell, of West Webster. Mr. Huston is now en- 
gaged in general farming and fruit growing on ihe farm he bought of his father. In 
politics he is a Republican, and they attend and support the M. E. church. 

Harding, Rev. John R., was born in Washington, North Carolina, June 30, 1860 
His father, Rev. Israel Harding, was a well-known Episcopal clergyman. John R. 
graduated from Union College in 1883, and also graduated in 1887 from the General 
Theological Seminary of New York and was ordained July 3, 1887, and received a call 
from Lyons Grace Episcopal church while assistant minister of the Church of Messiah 
of Brooklyn, coming to Lyons in August, 1891. Finding the society involved, has been 
able through the force of his character to reduce the obligations against the society and 
to arouse a general interest in the welfare of the church. At the age of twenty-seven 
he married Catherine, daughter of Hon. John N. Rountree, of Chicago, and they are 
the parents of two children, one of whom is now living, Madelaine. 

Hartman, William Louis, was born in Theresa, N. Y., October 29, 1864. His father,. 
John Hartman, was a prominent farmer and produce dealer of his town. William Louis 
Hartman attended the Hungerford Collegiate Institute at Adams, and was graduated 
from the Hahnemann Medical College of Chicago in 1887. He first located at Ant- 
werp, where he remained three and a half years, and then entered the Philadelphia 
Hospital and took a post-graduate course. In 1891 he came to Clyde and opened an 
office, making a specialty of surgery and the eye and ear. In 1893 he was elected pro- 
fessor of eye and ear of South Western Homoeopathic Medical College at Louisville, Ky., 
but declined to accept. He married Miss Lena M. Moore. Dr. Hartman is recognized 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 0? 

as one of the most advanced members of his profession. He is a member of the Jeffer- 
son County Medical Society, the Western New York Medical Society, the New York 
State Homoeopathic Society, and the American Institute of Homoeopathy. 

Hunt, W. A., was born in the town of Galen, January 21, 1856. His father, Will- 
iam S., was a native of Rensselaer county, and came to Wayne county in 1837. W. 
A. Hunt was educated in the common schools and finished at the Oneida Conference 
Seminary at Cazenovia, N. Y., returning to his father's farm in 1886, entered the 
Briggs National Bank as bookkeeper, and was promoted to assistant cashier in 1890. 
At the age of twenty-six he married Jennie 0., daughter of Fenner T. Palmer, of 
Newark, and they have three children : Lester Palmer, Olive M., and Susan B. Our 
subject is identified in advancing the best interests of his town, of which he was elected 
treasurer in 1892, and again in 1894. He takes an active interest in educational and 
religious matters, being a member and also secretary of the official board of the M. E. 
Church, is secretary of the Epworth League, and librarian of the M. E. Sunday school. 

Hicks, Frank B., merchant, born in West Walworth, June 23, 1859, married, February 
28, 1883, Julia N., daughter of William Eldredge. Mr. Hicks is a son of Elias Hicks, 
born in Pleasant Valley, Dutchess county, in 1825, and is descended in the seventh 
generation from John Hicks, who settled on Long Island in 1639: His father was first 
cousin to Elias Hicks, the renowned Quaker preacher. Elizabeth (Howland) Hicks, 
his mother, was born in Dutchess county in 1830 and is a daughter of the late Joseph 
M. Howland, a descendent of Henry Howland in the seventh generation. Henry set- 
tled in Plymouth, Mass., in 1630. On her mother's side she is descended from Edward 
Doty, a passenger on the Mayflower. Mr. Hicks was educated at Macedon Academy 
and learned the printer's trade in Rochester. He began his present business in 1883, 
and succeeded his father, who began in 1864. Mr. Hicks was the founder of the Mace- 
don Centre Historical and Genealogical Society and is its president. 

Houston, James, was born in the north of Ireland in 1824 of Scotch descent, son of 
John and Elizabeth Houston, who came to Canada about 1842. Their children were : 
Andrew, William, James, Mrs. Nancy McBride, Mrs. Mary Ann Vickerman, of Michi- 
gan, Mrs. Margaret Abernethy and Patrick While young our subject learned the 
weaver's trade of his father, and while in Canada followed farming and lumbering. In 
1850 he came to Wayne county, purchased a piece of land, later added to it until he 
now owns eighty-four acres of choice land, and is very successful. In 1859 he married 
Caroline, daughter of Jonas and Sarah Ann (Gest) Whiting, born in Huron in 1830, 
and their children are: Anna E., wife of. Stephen Vernoi, of Butler; Mrs. Mary 
Andrews, of North Wolcott, and Mrs. Agner Garner, of Huron. Subject and wife are 
members of the Wolcott Grange. 

Howard, George M., born in Henrietta, Monroe county, November 4, 1819, is the 
second of six children of Eleazer and Matilda Howard, natives of Connecticut, who 
went to Monroe county and finally to Ohio and then to Illinois, where they both died. 
He was a farmer, and he and his brother were first butchers in Rochester. Subject 
was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools. ' He went from Monroe 
county at the age of twenty-three to Franklin county, Ohio, and there resided until 
1881, and came to Marion, where he has since lived. He was married twice; first to 
Cordelia Parker, a native of Mexico, N. Y., by whom he had two children, Charlotte 
M., deceased, and George D. P. Mrs. Howard died November 9, 1860, and he married 
second, in 1864, Maria M. Parker, cousin of his first wife, and daughter of Lucius and 
Annie Parker, he a native of Connecticut, and she of Massachusetts. They had three 
children. Mr. and Mrs. Parker died in Monroe county. Amos A., brother of Mrs. 
Howard, died in the late war. George P., son of subject, married Eliza J. Martin, of 
Marion, and they have five children : Archibald E., Viona C, Floyd D., Clive M. and 
Mabel M. 



68 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Hanby, Joseph H., born in Sodus April 8, 1844, is the oldest of six children of 
Charles and Catharine (Gates) Hanby, natives of Yorkshire, England, who came to 
Sodus about 1830, where he died in 1886, aged seventy years, and his wife in 1887, 
aged seventy-four years. Mr. Hanby had three children by a previous marriage with 
Harriet Jackson in England. Our subject was reared on a farm, educated in the com- 
mon schools, and followed farming. He came to Williamson in 1879 and in 1886 set- 
tled on the farm he now owns of 122 acres, and follows general farming and fruit rais- 
ing. He was drafted in 1865 in Company I, 65th N. Y. Infantry, and served until the 
close of the war. He is a member of John Hance Post, of Williamson, No. 320. He 
married in 1877 Elizabeth Yeomans, a native of Geneva, N. Y., and daughter of George 
and Anna Yeomans, natives of England. Mr. Yeomans died in Sodus in 1891, where 
his wife still resides. Mr. Hanby and wife have had two children, Charles, who mar- 
ried Mary Buckley, of Sodus, and Catharine, wife of William Parkliel, of Williamson, 
and resides in Elmira, N. Y,, engaged with the Singer Sewing Machine Company, hav- 
ing charge of the office. 

Harbou, James B., of Macedon, was born in Canandaigua January 11, 1852, a son of 
Fritz Harbou, of Copenhagen, Denmark, who came to this country in 1840. After- 
traveling in South America he married Judith Fritcher, daughter of John Fritcher, of 
Montgomery county, May 15, 1844, and their children were: Jane M., John W., Mar- 
garet, James B., Benetta, George W., and Wilhelmina. He was an architect and 
builder, having planned part of the court house in Canandaigua. He enlisted in the 
army under Captain Atwood, of Company C, 1st N. Y. I ngineer Corps, and died at 
Port Royal Island, S. C, from disease contracted in the army. His wife died in 1862. 
Until the spring of 1894 James has always followed farming, but is at present engaged 
in no active work. In 1877 he married Helen E. Eldredge, by whom he has had six 
children: Lena M., William F., Emma B., Darwin B., Benjamin F. and Helen. Of 
these Darwin B., William F , and Helen are deceased. Lena is a student at the Mace- 
don Academy. Mr. Harbou is a Granger, and in politics a Republican. 

Hibbard, Nettie, is a daughter of Jerome and Achsah Hibbard, of South Butler, is 
a business women, being jointly engaged with her brother Fremont in operating the 
business established by her late father, well known as the Hibbard Basket Works. 
Jerome Hibbard was born in Butler February 20, 1830. In 1853 he married Achsah 
Clapp, who survives him. In 1859 he began the study of medicine in the College of 
Physicians and Surgeons in New York, from which he graduated in 1861 and was a 
practicing physician at Fair Haven at the opening of the war, during which he saw 
much hospital service as an assistant surgeon. After the war he began to exercise his 
inventive genius, in which direction he possessed wonderful aptitude, securing patents 
upon farm gates, and various machinery for simplifying the manufacturing of baskets. 
The latter enterprise has from a small beginning grown into an immense business, the 
plant now covering two acres, employing twenty-five to forty skilled workmen, and 
placing upon the market goods of a standard quality second to none. 

Johnson, William R., was born July 21, 1817, in Palmyra. His grandfather, Joseph, 
and father, David Johnson, were natives of Morristown, N. J., coming to Palmyra in 
the early part of the present century. Joseph, the grandfather, was born September 
19, 1757, died December 17, 1825. David, the father of William R., was born January 
25, 1791, died April 26, 1874. In 1816 he married Cynthia Rogers, who died June 5, 
1835, at the age of forty eight. By this marriage six children were born, five boys and 
one girl: William R., Joseph, Harriet, David, Charles D. and Henry M. Joseph died 
in infancy, and Harriet at the age of twenty-one; the others still survive, and all reside 
in Palmyra, N. Y. David is engaged in the furniture and undertaking business, under 
the firm name of Drake & Johnson ; Charles D. in the produce and commission trade, 
and Henry M. is a dealer in nursery stock. In 1836 he married, for his second wife, 
Mrs. Julia Case, and by this marriage two children were born : Caroline, who became 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 09 

the wife of 0. D. Foster, and Isabella, who married George H. Townsend, both 
residing near Palmyra village. For several years David was engaged in custom tailor- 
ing, and subsequently located on what is now known as the George Cornwall farm 
situated on the town line between Palmyra and Manchester. In the year 1844 Will- 
iam R., the subject of this sketch married Lucy Wilson, who with her widowed mother 
came from Cornwall, Conn. Soon after marriage they located on the farm now owned 
by the David Aldrich heirs, then in the possession of Thomas Rogers. About the year 
1849 he, with his brother David, purchased what was then known as the Dugan farm 
situated on the Marion road, two miles north of Palmyra, where he has since resided, 
having purchased from his brother David his interest in the farm in the year 1851. 
Mr. and Mrs. Johnson were parents of the following children : Carlton R., William H., 
George S., Harriet S., Charles H., and Lucy M. Carlton died at the age of twenty- 
three while pursuing a course of study at Yale College. William, with his younger 
brother Charles, who married Catharine Hathaway, occupy the home farm; George 
married May C. Foster, is a shoe merchant in Palmyra village, of the firm of Johnson & 
Rogers; Harriet married Henry A. Rumrill, and resides in the village; Lucy May mar- 
ried John H. Walton, and lives on a farm one mile northwest of Palmyra village. 
After a marriage life of forty-seven years Mrs. William R. Johnson passed quietly and 
peacefully away, January 18, 1891, at the age of sixty-nine. 

Hance, De Witt C, was born in Williamson, April 26, 1843. He was educated in 
the common schools and Marion Collegiate Institute. He owns 130 acres of land, and 
follows general farming and fruit raising. He was master of the Williamson Grange 
ten years, of which he was a charter member. January 1, 1879, he married Mary, 
daughter of Richard Whitbourn, by whom he has had four children : Samuel R., Harriet 
I., Elizabeth C, and John S. The father of our subject, Benjamin J. Hance, was born 
in Farmmgton, Ontario county, October 11, 1815, the oldest of eight children of Samuel, 
born in 1781, and Margaret (Pound) Hance. The great-grandfather, Benjamin, born 
in 1759, was a native of Calvert county, Md., and came to Ontario county in 1802. His 
wife was Sarah Dare, by whom he had five children. The family was of English 
descent, and settled in Maryland in 1680. Samuel Hance died in 1872, aged ninety-one 
years, and his wife in 1880, aged ninety-two. Our subject was reared on a farm and 
educated in the common schools. He has always been a farmer, and owns seventy-five 
acres of land. He married, August 15, 1839, Phoebe Ridgway, a native of New Jer- 
sey, by whom he has had four children : Samuel, killed at Reams Station in the late 
war; John, who was in the same regiment, and died of disease contracted in the ser- 
vice; De Witt C, a farmer of Williamson; Frank, who resides in California. He was 
supervisor of his town, first elected in 1860, and held the office until 1874, was justice of 
the peace four years, and is a member of the Williamson Grange. 

Jordan, E. T., was born in Columbia county in 1837, and came with his parents in the 
same year to Macedon, where they lived eight years. They next removed to their 
present farm of sixty acres, which they purchased of Nathan Durfee. John and Marga- 
ret A. Jordan, parents of our subject, were born in Columbia county. The father died 
in 1889, and the mother resides with her son, E. T. Jordan. The latter married in 1886 
Agnes P. Yosburg, from Columbia county, and their children are: William, born in 
1869, now a resident of Newark, O.; John A., teacher in Ontario, who resides at home ; 
Mrs. Jordan died in 1876, and he married second in 1889 Jane M. Miller, also from 
Columbia county. 

Johnson, William R., was born July 21, 1817, in Palmyra, a son of David and Cynthia 
Johnson, who located here at an early day. His father, David, was born in Rhode 
Island and came with his parents to Palmyra. He followed the occupation of a tailor 
during the early part of his life, and. then located on a farm sn the town of Manchester, 
near Palmyra village. His first wife, mother of our subject, died at the age of forty- 
eight years, and for his second wife he married Mrs. Julia Case. His children by his 



70 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

first wife were, viz. : William R. ; Joseph, who died in infancy ; Harriet, who died at 
the age of twenty-one years ; David, a resident of Palmyra village, engaged in the 
furniture trade; Charles D., produce dealer, also a resident of Palmyra village; and 
Henry M.. a dealer in nursery stock. By his second wife he had two children, viz. : 
Caroline, wife of Dwight Foster, of East Palmyra; and Isabelle, wife of George Town- 
send, near Palmyra village. William R. married Lucy Wilson, who, with his widowed 
mother, came from Connecticut. After marriage they moved' on the farm now occupied 
by the David Aldrich family. Subsequently he. in company with his brother David, 
bought the farm where he now resides (about 1849), and where he has since resided. 
Mr. and Mrs. Johnson were the parents of the following named children, viz. : Carlton 
R., who died in his twenty-third year, while a student (his last year) in Yale College; 
William H. ; George S., shoe dealer of Palmyra village ; Hattie S., wife of Henry Rum- 
rill, of Palmyra village ; Charles H. ; Lucy May, wife of John Walton, of Palmyra. The 
mother of the aforesaid children died January 18, 1891. 

Jordon, William H., was born in Columbia county, February 9, 1817. His father, 
Daniel Jordon, was also a native of Columbia county, born May 17, 1791, and his 
mother, Polly Hoffman, was born August 18, 1705. Mr. Jordon, the father, settled in 
Macedon in 1841, and engaged in farming. His family consisted of nine children, in- 
cluding William H., who is now seventy- seven years of age. William H. Jordon has 
followed the same occupation as his father, and has been engaged in farming all his life. 
In 1871 he married Delia A. Troop, of Port Gibson. They are members of the Baptist 
church. Mr. Jordon is a Republican. 

Jepson, Charles B., was born in Madison county in 1825. and is the son of Eli Jepson, 
a native of Vermont (born in 1794, and died in 1858), and Mary (Burlington) Jepson 
(born in 1796, and died in 1865), a native of Rhode Island. Our subject married Cyn- 
thia Badger in 1848 at Cicero, Onondaga county, of which she was a native, born in 
1828, They have had two sons: Eli, born in 1849; and William, born in 1874, both 
residents of this place, where Mr. Jepson has resided for forty years without interrup- 
tion. He is a Knight Templar, and has been treasurer of Lodge No. 764 for twelve 
years. He is now retired from business, and he and wife occupj r a pleasant home on 
Main street. He has been president of Savannah village three years. 

Jennings, Henry, was born in Southport, Fairfield county, Conn., February 5. 1821, 
and at the age of twelve came with his father, Joshua, to Ontario county in 1832, set- 
tling in the town of Phelps on a farm. Henry was educated in the common schools, 
being able to attend school only during the winter time. At the age of twenty-two he 
married Mary, daughter of John Humphrey, of Phelps, Ontario county, and they are 
the parents of two sons, John H. and Burr. In 1867 he came to Lyons, and in 1868 
bought the S. D. Westfall farm of 208 acres, raising hay, grain and stock, and making 
a specialty of mint distilling, producing from 1,500 to 3,000 pounds a year. He has 
also engaged in cidermaking. Our subject is one of the largest and most success- 
ful farmers in his town, taking an intelligent interest in educational and religious mat- 
ters. 

Jennings, Loren, born in Ontario, Wayne county, June 21, 1822, is the sixth of a 
family of six sons and six daughters of Dauiel and Polly (Clarke) Jennings, he a native 
of Burlington, Vt., she of Coleraine, Mass. Mr. Jennings in 1810 bought the home- 
stead of fifty acres; he afterward bought of Joel Sabin fifty acres east of his first pur- 
chase, and in 1828 built a saw mill, where many thousand feet of lumber were annually 
sawed. Aside from farming he did much work as carpenter and millwright. In politics 
he was a Whig, and later a Republican. He died in 1868, his wife in 1862. His place 
is now owned by Mrs. Mary Palmer and heirs, and is situated on the Lakeside road. 
His son, Loren Jennings, was born and raised on the homestead farm, assisted in clear- 
ing land, farming, and running the saw mill, which, with the dozen other mills on the 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 71 

same stream, was supplied with logs from the adjoining heavy timbered land. He 
bought forty acres south of and adjoining the old homestead, cleared and built a log 
house and set out an orchard amidst the stumps. Some of the trees of this orchard are 
yet in bearing, and a few measure over six feet in circumference. Later Loren Jennings 
bought fifty acres across the road which had formerly been owned by his brother 
Charles. On this he built his permanent dwelling, where he still resides. He married Oc- 
tober 21, 1849, Rosetta B. Grinnell, of Webster, by whom he had one son, Wellington M., 
who is now assistant superintendent in the Barber Asphalt Paving Company of Buffalo^ 
N. Y. Mrs. Jennings died in 1851, and he married second, Sarah O. daughter of 
William and Mary (Hinman) Huston, he of Rupert, N, Y., she of Clinton, Oneida 
county, N. Y. By his wife, Sarah O, he had two sons and three daughters. The 
daughters died young. Walter S. is a bookkeeper for the Barber Asphalt Company, 
and Fred. L. is foreman at the crusher for the same company. Four years ago, on ac- 
count of disability, Mr. Jennings retired from farming. He still lives on the place, but 
it is worked by a tenant. On the farm are raised hay, grain, and fruits. The land is 
rolling and with a variety of soil which adapts it for mixed farming. With the sur- 
rounding pleasing scenery, a fair view of the blue waters of old Ontario, it is picturesque 
and beautiful. Many Indian arrow heads are picked up by laborers in the fields. There 
was in earlier days a tangle of uprooted trees, forming a deer thicket on the farm, and 
often when the deer were driven by hunters from shelter they would take to the lake 
for safety in its waters, but many were there shot and brought to shore. In politics 
Mr. Jennings is Republican, his first presidential vote being cast for William H. Har- 
rison. He was a charter member of the old Ontario Center Grange, and instigator and 
founder of South Shore Grange No. 552, to which order he and his wife still belong. 
Though in sympathy with present forms of religion, as far as it goes to enlighten, en- 
noble, and better the condition of the human race, both he and his wife are independ- 
ent in their beliefs. 

Jones, Harvey, was born in Webster, October 17, 1830, the oldest son of twelve 
children born to Chester and Hannah (Millard) Jones, he a native of Connecticut, and 
she of Rhode Island. They came to Webster in an early day, where they both died. 
Our subject was educated in the common schools, has been a saw mill man, has been 
engaged in mercantile business at Union Hill, also a dealer in lumber two years and 
coal twelve years. He is now engaged in farming, has eighty acres of land, and fol- 
lows general farming and fruit raising. He is a Democrat, has been justice of the peace 
five years, and is now serving his second term as assessor. He and wife are members 
of the M. E. church. He married in 1851 Orlena M. Milliman, a native of New York, 
and adopted daughter of Amos Wager, of Webster, N. Y. Mr. Jones and wife have 
had three children : Zardus, died in infancy ; Eva, wife of Rosman Dayton, by whom 
she has four children : Frank J., Harvey E., Allen R., and Annie A.; Chester, H., who 
married Nettie Niveson, by whom he has two children : Elmer C. and Esda N. The 
maternal grandfather of our subject was a captain in the Revolutionary War. His name 
was Samuel Millard, aged 81 when he died. 

Johnson, J. Irvin, was born August 15, 1852. His father, William S. Johnson, was 
a native of Manchester, N. Y., he was born in 1817. His occupation was that of a 
farmer. He married Ann M. Slocum, of Adams, Mass., who lived at the time of their 
marriage in Monroe county. In 1864 they removed to the town of Macedon, where he 
resided at the time of his death in 1893. They were the parents of two children : J. 
Irvin Johnson, and Mary Frances, now Mrs. Thomas Maculey, who resides on the old 
Johnson homestead. J. Irvin was a farmer up to the time he engaged in the nursery 
business. In 1883 he married Emma A. Hanna, of Palmyra, N. Y. She died in 1891, 
leaving no children. In 1893 he married his second wife, May A. Hannah, daughter of 
the late Dr. Geo. W. Hanna, of Mendon, N. Y. He first advertised in 1882, known to 
the trade as Brook Side Nurseries, making a specialty of small fruits and other fine 



72 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

nursery stock. He also has several evaporators, doing immense business summer and 
fall in berries and apples. He has at present from 25 to 35 acres of choice nursery 
stock. He is a shipper to all parts of the United States. His trade is mostly whole- 
sale, and his customers are the leading firms of this country. His home and surroundings 
is one of the finest in the county, and through his close application to business and 
honorable dealing he has won the respect and confidence of those whom he has delt 
with. In politics he is a Republican, and a member of the Grange. Mary F. Maculey 
was born November 2, 1844, in the town of Manchester. In 1875 she married Thomas 
Maculey, of Manchester, and to them were born three children : William, Charles, and 
Lula. Charles died in infancy. Mrs. Maculey 's occupation is that of farming and berry 
culture. 

Kennedy, Charles R., was born in Camden, N. J., July 28, 1864. His father, Thomas 
G., was a prominent electrician in the employ of the Western Union Telegraph Com- 
pany. Charles R. was educated in Clyde and in New York, after which he entered the 
employ of a banking house in Wall street, New York. In 1888 he entered the employ 
of John C. Lloyd & Co., importers and jobbers of coffees, as head bookkeeper, and in 
1888 came to Clyde and engaged in the malting business, in which he is now engaged, 
having an average output of 100,000 bushels of malt per year. At the age of twenty- 
five he married Juliette C, daughter of Hon. James C. Lamoreaux. 

Kellogg. Edward H., is the only son of Dr. A. D. Kellogg, of Wolcott, born Decem- 
ber 22, 1855. He attended Leavenworth Institute at Wolcott, and received an academic 
education. He spent two years traveling in the West after leaving school. Returning 
to Wolcott he entered the law office of J. W. Hoag, and was admitted to the bar in 
June, 1881. In 1888 he married Mary Lillian, daughter of the late Wilson Dewitt, of 
Wolcott, who became the mother of two sons and one daughter. Mr. Kellogg is a 
strong Republican, and besides a good legal practice is occupied with the duties of police 
justice of Wolcott village, and justice of the peace of the town. He was clerk of the 
Board of Supervisors four years, from 1889 to 1892 inclusive. He was also for several 
years secretary of the Republican Committee of Wayne county. 

Kellecutt, Charles Boynton, was born in Huron, August 23, 1852, a son of George, 
a native of Saratoga county, born April 7, 1807, who was a son of David Kellecutt. a 
native of Osweeo county. George was a farmer, and came to Huron about 1837. He 
married twice, first, Delilah Brooks, by whom he had five children : Zilpha, Margaret, 
Charlotte, Caroline, and Delilah. His second wife was Mrs. Abigail (Boynton) Preston, 
and subject was their only child. They raised two children: Catherine A., and Caroline 
A., the infant twin daughters of the dead patriot, Daniel Keeslar, of Huron. They are 
now Mrs. D. H. Evans, and Mrs. P. Winans, of Barry county, Mich. Mr. Kellecutt 
died in November, 1892, and his wife in January, 1883. Our subject is a prominent 
man in his town, owns the homestead farm of sixty acres, and makes a specialty of 
fruit growing. In 1873 he married Alice S., the fourth of seven children of William G. 
and Sarah (Roberts) Guthrie, and they have one child, Eva Mae, born January 19, 
1878. Mr. Kellecutt and wife are members of the Wolcott Grange, in politics he is a 
Republican, and has served as collector one term, inspector, and justice of the peace. 

Keller, Jacob, was born in Cherry Yalley, Otsego county, March 17, 1799. His 
parents were Germans. He came to Newark, Wayne county, in 1825. He was first a 
hatter by trade, then a farmer. He owned a good farm and was one of the substantial 
men of the town. He retired from business in the year 1870 and for his third wife 
married Miss Amanda Vanderbilt, of Lyons, N. Y., May 17, 1876. Mr. Keller died 
July 4. 1884. Mrs. Keller's father, Abram H. Vanderbilt, was born in New Jersey 
August 7, 1798, of Holland Dutch descent, and came to Lyons, Wayne county, at the 
age of fourteen years. He married Julia A. Pat on, daughter of William Paton, April 
16, 1820. They. had ten children: Sarah A., Amanda, Mary, Elizabeth, William, John, 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 73 

Abram, Helenah, Newell, Julia. Mr. Vanderbilt died October 22, 1841. His wife 
died April 3, 1872. William Paton came from Scotland and settled in Lyons, Wayne 
county, in the year 1794. He married Eleanor Van Wickle March 15, 1801. They 
had four children : John, Julia A., Evert, Mary. Mr. Paton died September 2, 1843. 
His wife died May 14, 1815. Abram Vanderbilt, jr., was born at Lyons May 31, 1835, 
was educated in the district schools and the Union School at Lyons. He followed 
farming several years. December 22, 1859, he married Jennie A. Sparks, of Galen. 
They had three children : Emily J., Oscar T., Cora L. Mr. Vanderbilt enlisted August 
22, 1862, in Company D, 138th N. Y. Vol., which was transferred to the 9th Heavy 
Artillery. He was wounded at Cold Harbor, his jaw being shattered, and was on the 
field three days without food or water. He received an honorable discharge from the 
hospital at Washington January 31, 1865. He is a member of Vosburg Post No. 99, 
G. A. R. 

Koester, George W., was born in Rochester, N. Y., October 18, 1863. His father, 
Charles, came from Alsace-Lorraine in 1860. He first settled in Rochester, but soon 
came to Lyons and engaged in the brewing business, acquiring a wide reputation for 
business ability. George W. was educated in the Lyons Union School, and is a gradu- 
ate of the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, and after graduating established a man- 
ufacturing wholesale and retail drug business, making a specialty of fine perfumes and 
toilet articles. At the age of twenty- eight he married Elizabeth, daughter of Cornelius 
Haitz, of Lyons. He is a Republican and was elected town clerk in 1888-1889 ; in 
1893 was elected president of the village of Lyons, and in 1894 was elected supervisor 
of his town. Our subject is one of the best known men in his town, of recognized 
business ability, taking an active interest in educational and public matters and identi- 
fied in the leading events of the day. He has been master of Humanity Lodge, E. & 
A. M. two years, is a member of Newark Chapter Royal Arch Masons, and Zenobia 
Commandery, Knights Templar. He is a man whose life has proven his word to be as 
good as his bond. 

Kinney, W. H., was born at Belfast, Allegany county, April 27, 1856. His father 
David, is a nati e of Union, Conn., whose ancestors came from Holland in the middle 
of the seventeenth century. He married Esther A. Hanks, whose family came from 
Birmingham, England, in 1700 and settled in Plymouth colony. He is a farmer. 
W. H. Kinney began his education in Genesee Valley Seminary at Belfast, N. Y., grad- 
uated at Genesee Normal School in 1876 and Rochester University in 1880. In 1881 
he was principal of the Victor public school, from 1881 to 1888 was principal of the 
Cuba Union School at Cuba, N. Y., and in 1888 came to Lyons as principal of the Lyons 
Union School, having an average attendance of 806 pupils, which is an increase of 200 
since 1888, the academic department having nearly doubled during that time. At the 
age of twenty-six he married Annie, daughter of Joel Macafee, of Athens, Pa. They 
are the parents of two children, Price W. and Edith. Our subject is identified in 
advancing the best interests of his town, and in the leading events of the day. 

Kline, Mrs. Rebecca (Petersen), was born in St. Magnus, Germany, in 1821, daughter 
of Henry and Johannah Petersen, and is one of seven children. She came to America 
in 1847, starting from Germany, the first day of May and landed in New York the 
twelfth day of June. On July 3 of the same year she married Lewis Kline, who was 
born in Hanover, Germany, in 1820. They staid on Staten Island until June, 1848, 
then they came to Clyde on a canal boat, thence to Huron, where they engaged with 
Benjamin Lummis on a farm. Eight years later he purchased a farm, added to it aud 
provided each of their children with farms. Their children are: Lewis, born in 1848; 
Henry, born in 1849; Aaron, born in 1852 ; John, born in 1856 ; Max, born in 1857 ; 
Matie, born in 1862, wife of Andrew Thomas, of Huron. Mr. Kline was a member of 
the Huron Grange and died in 1893. Mrs. Kline is a lady highly esteemed by all who 
know her and is also a member of the Huron Grange, 
j 



74 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Kelley, Albert E., M. D., was born in lone City, California, December 24, 1864, and 
came to Arcadia with his parents when three years old. He was educated in the 
Union School and Academy at Newark, studied medicine with Dr. Landon and attended 
lectures in the medical department of the University of the City of New York, gradu- 
ating from that institution in 1891. He practiced in Rochester until 1893, when he 
opened an office here and has a successful practice. His father, Charles H. Kelley, was 
born in Chatham, Columbia county, October 29, 1823 He was educated in the select 
schools of his day, and graduated from Geneva Medical College in 1850. He went to 
California, where he followed his profession some time, and returned October 7, 1858. 
He married Josephine E. Ostrander, of Oneida county, and returned to California. 
They had two sons and two daughters : Charles L., who is a civil engineer in Mexico ; 
Carrie, who died in infancy ; Albert E., as above, and Genevieve I., who married Ray 
Burleigh and resides in the town. The family returned to this locality in 1866. Our 
subject's father is a retired physician at East Newark. Dr. Albert E. is the health 
physician of the town of Arcadia. 

Kellogg, A. D., who has practiced medicine here nearly fifty years, was born in 1818 
at Ira, Cayuga county, N. Y. His father, Silas Kellogg, was a man of much local 
prominence, supervisor of Ira for a number of years, and died in 1862, at the age of 
seventy-three Our subject acquired a medical education at Geneva, and began homeo- 
pathic practice in 1847. He married in 1848 Araminta V., daughter of Ebenezer Cur- 
tis, of Victory, Cayuga county, N. Y. Their children are: Alice M., born October 19, 
1849, now the wife of E. L. Cooper, of Williamson ; Day H., born January 21, 1852, 
died December 10, 1875 ; Lida V., born March 17, 1854 ; and Edward H., whose biog- 
raphy appears elsewhere in this volume. Ebenezer Curtis, father of Mrs. Kellogg, was 
a man of considerable renown in his native place, besides being a justice and super- 
visor he was elected to the Assembly in 1847. He died in 1884 at the age of ninety- 
one. 

Legg. Orsborn Lafayette, was born in Speedsville, Tompkins county, September 27, 
1845. His father, Lyman, was a son of Lyman Legg, and came to Wayne county in 
1849. His wife was Sarah Blinn, and their children are: Mary, wife of William J. 
Harmon, of Rochester, Orsborn L., Edward, and Delancey. At the age of fourteen 
our subject began life for himself. When twenty-one years of age he learned the ma- 
son's trade and followed it in different States until 1890, when he came to Huron, 
where he has since been engaged in farming. In 1869 he married Hulda, daughter of 
John and Marv A. Brown, of Huron, and they have one son, Irving, born September 
5, 1874. 

Lent, J. H., was born in Otsego county, N. Y., December 3, 1830. He settled on a 
farm in the town of Macedon, March 28, 1863, and has been engaged in farming all his 
life. His farm consists of 102 acres, fifteen acres being woodland. In 1863 he mar- 
ried Susan K. Jackson, daughter of B. H. J. Jackson, of Macedon. They are the par- 
ents of seven children, all of whom, except the elder two, are living: at home with their 
parents. Mr. Lent is a member of the M. E. church. In politics he is a Democrat. 

Lane, Charles, was born April 27, 1852, a son of Francis B., one of the prominent 
farmers in the town, and now resides on the same farm which was cleared by Ziba 
Lane, his grandfather. The latter was born in 1789 in Maine, and after the War of 
1812, at the age of twenty-five, he came to Wayne county, this State, making his way 
through the forest with his yoke of cattle and wagon containing his family and goods. 
Here he located on lot 80 and built a log cabin, making his chimney of sticks and mud 
and filling the spaces between the logs with mud. A blanket served as a door, and 
greased cloths were their only window glass. Ziba felled the first tree that was cut in 
this region, and many are the interesting stories handed down to his family of the hard- 
ships endured that first year. His son, Francis, has added largely to the original estate, 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 75 

having bought the farms of Luther Lane, Levi Lane, Michael Hortzel, Peter Snyder, and 
H. W. Putney, some of the best farm lands in Wayne county, as well as being one of 
the largest producers of fruit, hay, grain and stock. Francis married Martha, daughter 
of Samuel Spear of Valatie, Columbia county, and of their four children Charles is the 
only survivor, and manages the estate. Ziba Lane, great-grandfather of Charles, "was 
born in Bedford, Mass., in 1756, and married in 1778 Lydia Danforth, of Billerica, 
Mass. They came to this State in 1814, coming from England to this country in 1620. 

Lookup, William, born in Marion, February 26, 1820, is the son of John and Sarah 
Lookup, he a native of England, and she of Rhode Island. He came to America and 
afterwards returned to England. The mother remained in Marion, where she died No- 
vember 29, 1843. Mr. Lookup commenced work very young. He has always lived on 
a farm and now owns 127 acres of land. He served his town as road commissioner 
from 1877 to 1886. He was married twice, first to Eliza Garlock in 1844, a native of 
Fort Plain, N. Y., and daughter of Jacob Garlock. To them five children were born, 
one died in infancy. The others are: Sarah (deceased), wife of Jacob Morrison, by 
whom she had five children ; George, who married Delia Crouch, and has six children ; 
William H. who married Nellie Kitchen, and has one child, Eva; Eliza, wife of Fay- 
ette Davies, by whom she has five children. The four children who grew up were edu- 
cated at the Marion Collegiate Institute. Both sons are farmers, William having been 
engaged for a time in produce dealing. Mr. Lookup was the second time married to 
Mrs. Helen Delaney, April 7, 1859, who died suddenly November 14, 1874. 

Lovejoy, Nelson, has for almost fifty years been a central figure in the life of North 
Wolcott. He was born in the town of Ross, June 14, 1823, the son of Silas and Anna 
(Nochols) Lovejoy, most of whose married life was spent in that town and who reared 
a family of seven children. Silas Lovejoy reached the age of eighty-six years, and his 
son bids fair to present a similar case of longevity. February 11, 1844, he married 
Charity, daughter of Richard D. Morey, of Rose, and of their six children but two are 
living : Ellen, the wife of N. J. Field, and the only son, Eron N. Two children died 
in early infancy, and two daughters, Theresa and Elizabeth, are also deceased. 

Landon, Dr. Newell E., was born in Newark, March 3, 1852, was educated in the 
Union School and the Academy, and read medicine with Dr. Pomeroy. Later he at- 
tended lectures at the College of Physicians\fc Surgeons of New York city, from which 
he graduated in 1876. "Upon his return he formed a partnership with Dr. Pomeroy, 
which existed four years, when he began practice on his own account. He is a mem- 
ber of the Wayne County Medical Society, the Central New York Medical Society, the 
New York State Medical Association, and of the American Medical Association. He 
is also a member of the National Association of Railway Surgeons, division surgeon 
of the West Shore Railroad, and also of the Pennsylvania Central Railway Company, 
and consulting physician of the Custodial Asylum of Newark. He is a member of 
Newark Lodge No. 83, F. & A. M. , of Newark Chapter No. 1 17, R. A. M. He married, 
January 1, 1880, Mary E. Eaton, of Newark, who died December, 1881. October 20, 
1886, he married Alice Russell, of Port Gibson, Ontario county. 

Laird, John B., of Savannah, was born in Elbridge, April 24, 1833, a son of Chauncey 
B. and Sally (Adams) Laird, and one of their twelve children. His grandparents, John 
and Polly (Boyd) Laird, were among the first settlers of that place. Our subject was 
educated at Falley Seminary, Cazenovia Seminary, and the Collegiate Institute at El- 
bridge, and he taught school with success at Jordan and Baldwinsville. March 22, 
1858, he married Sarah A., daughter of Daniel Bates, of Jordan, a graduate of Jordan 
Academy, who was a successful teacher for eleven years, chiefly at Jordan, Memphis 
and Elbridge. Mr. and Mrs. Laird have occupied their present home on the farm, 
comprising 160 acres, a mile north of Savannah, for over twenty-six years, Mr. Laird's 
specialties being dairy productions, poultry and eggs, which latter he ships to Bridge- 
port, Conn. 



7(5 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Lake, Luther S., was born in Guilderland, Albany ccunty, October 17, 1864, gradu- 
ated from the Paterson, N. J., Business College in 1883 and struck out in life for him- 
self. He came to Lyons in May, 1885, with less than a dollar of capital, and entered 
the employ of Mann & Radder as bookkeeper. He was afterwards employed in the 
same capacity by George Mapes, Charles fl. Radder and Louis E. Wolfe. In March, 
1888, he purchased the fire insurance agency of Johnson & Rogers and founded the 
general insurance, real estate and loan agency of L. S. Lake & Co. at No. 65 William 
street. He associated with himself in business Charles A. Pulver, of Sodus, and War- 
ren W. Crittenden, of Phelps, the latter member retiring from the firm in 1890, and 
being succeeded by Lizzie S. Lake. At the age of twenty-three he married Lizzie S., 
daughter of Frank Smith, of Lyons. Our subject is recognized as one of the most 
energetic business men of his town, identified in advancing its best interests and deeply 
interested in the leading events of the day. 

Lapham, Stephen W., was born in 1834 on the farm where he now resides. His 
father, John Lapham, born in 1791, was a native of Massachusetts, coming with his 
parents to this locality in 1792. In 1818 he married Salome Porter and settled on the 
farm now owned and occupied by his son. In 1847-48 Mr. John Lapham was a mem- 
ber of the Legislature. His family consisted of ten children, four of whom are now 
living : Esther A. Hill, of Buffalo, Elizabeth N., Stephen W. and Ellen C. Wilcoxen. 
Stephen W. Lapham has always followed farming and is still in possession of the old 
homestead of 170 acres. In October, 1858, he married Helen M. Arnold, of Madison 
county. In politics Mr. Lapham is a Republican. 

Lawrence, Walter, was born in New Jersey, November 21, 1825. His father, 
Walter Lawrence, sr., was also a native of that State, and was a carpenter, following 
his trade in New York city for a time, while he lived in New Jersey. Later he came 
to Farmington, Ontario county, to reside, and afterwards to Macedon, where he took 
up farming. He married Susan Johnson, of New Jersey, by whom he had nine chil- 
dren, of whom Walter, jr., was the sixth. The latter has been engaged in farming all 
his life, and at present owns eighty-nine acres of fine land, being largely engaged in 
fruit raising. He married Phoebe F. Fritts, a native of Orange county, where they 
were married, and to them have been born nine children. In politics Mr. Lawrence is 
a Republican. 

Lyon, Samuel, was born in Port Chester, N. Y., August 16, 1837. He is the oldest 
of the three children of William and Elizabeth A. Lyon. William Lyon was born in 
June, 1811, in the town of Greenwich, Conn., and died December 16, 1859. Elizabeth 
A. (Sands) Lyon, his wife, was born in Newcastle, Westchester county, N. Y., May 28, 
1813, and now resides at Port Chester, N. Y. Samuel Lyon was reared in the village of 
Port Chester, N. Y., and in 1867 came to Pultneyville, in the town of Williamson, and 
engaged in the mercantile business, and later was engaged in the importation'and manu- 
facture of lumber at Pultneyville, N. Y., and afterwards was interested in the manu- 
facture of woolen goods at Port Byron, N. Y. Mr. Lyon is a Republican in politics, 
and has been a justice of the peace for twenty years. He was married April 22, 1868, 
to Georgiana Allen, a daughter of the late Alfred Allen, of Pultneyville, and formerly 
of Cayuga county, N. Y. Mr. Lyon was educated in the select schools of his native 
town, and Friends' Nine Partners Boarding School in Dutchess county, N. Y., and Mrs. 
Lyon is a graduate of the Brockport Collegiate Institute at Brockport, N. Y. 

Long, Charles, was born in Pennsylvania, April 25, 1826, a son of Charles Long, who 
came to Seneca county in 1829, residing at various times in the towns ofWaterloo, Fayette, 
Seneca Falls, and Tyre, settling in Galen in 1844. In 1861 he was struck and killed by 
an express train at Savannah, being then seventy-one years of age, and with hearing 
much impaired. Charles Long's early education was acquired in the common schools, 
to which he has added by reading and close observation, being a self-made man. After 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 77 

leaving school he returned to his father's farm, of which he took charge at the age of 
sixteen. At the age of twenty-seven years he married Martha A., daughter of Josiah 
Snyder, of Savannah, and they have four children : Mrs. C. 0. Wylie; Mrs. F. S. Hall ; 
Mrs. John H. Newton; and Mrs. John H. Rose. Mrs. Martha A. Long died in 1886, 
a woman widely known for her Christian traits of character. In 1890 Mr. Long mar- 
ried Frances A., daughter of Ira Davis, of Savannah. Our subject is one of the promi- 
nent men of the town, having held the office of assessor three years, and taking intelli- 
gent interest in all the leading questions of the day. 

Lang, Philip, was born in Al*ace, Germany, in 1806. In 1832 he came to the United 
States with his parents and five sisters, and settled on the farm where he now resides. 
At the age of thirty-two years he married Miss Margaret Wagner, daughter of Henry 
Wagner, of Galen. There were five children born to them, three of whom are now 
living: Mrs. Caroline Wiseman, of Ontario, Cal. ; Geo. H., of Galen ; and Miss Elizabeth, 
who resides with her father on the old homestead. Later he married Miss Minnie 
Grosscup, his former wife having died in 1849. The children of this marriage are: 
Philip, jr. (deceased) ; Mrs. Mary Unger, of Buffalo ; and Mrs. Minnie Eller, of Chicago, 
after the birth of whom his second wife died also. He is a man of sterling worth, 
whose counsel and advice is often sought by his friends and neighbors. He takes an 
active interest in educational and religious matters, and is one of the largest farmers of 
Wayne. 

Little, Henry M., was born December 8, 1853, in Macedon. John Little, his father, 
was born in 1819. His occupation was farming and drover, handling cattle, sheep, 
hogs, etc. For nearly twenty years of his early life he shipped stock to the New York 
markets from many different States. He held the office of justice of the peace two terms 
in Murray. In 1851 he married Harriet T. Allen, by whom he had three children: 
Henry M., our subject; Emma; and Mary; the latter being deceased. Our subject is 
engaged in farming, and the breeding of blooded stock, also in the drug business. He 
was educated at Hulberton and Macedon, where he finished. He has been commissioner 
of highways, and for the last two years has been president of the village. He has been 
vice-president of the Trotting Horse Breeders' Association of the State of New York 
for seven years, has many times acted as judge on stock at prominent fairs in the State, 
and is a member of the A. 0. U. W., and the Knights of the Maccabees. He married 
in 1875, and has two children : Allen T., and Mable D. 

Loveless, Ransom, born in Wolcott (now Butler), Wayne county, N. Y., February, 
28, 1818, is the son of Ransom Loveless, who was born in Montgomery county, N. Y., 
1791, and came to Onondaga county, N. Y., 1800, an orphan; there accumulated $500 ; 
married Mary Hodges, moved to Allegany county, N. Y., lost all of his property, came 
to Wolcott (now Butler, Wayne county), in 1816, and by his indomitable will and 
energy accumulated $45,000 at death, August 1, 1864. Ransom Loveless, jr., being the 
elder of ten surviving children (three others having died about two years of age) saw 
many hardships and privations, especially obtaining of rudiments of an education, which 
was wholly neglected until twenty years of age, then seeing and feeling the want of an 
education, began the acquisition of same by attending school in Butler, Victory, Red 
Creek, all in Wayne county; Elbridge. Onondaga county, and Cazenovia, Madison 
county (all of which places are in New York). In 1884 commenced the study of law 
at Lyons, Wayne county, N. Y\, soon abandoned same because of poor health. Dur- 
ing intervals attending school at the above places, taught school, taught four winters 
afterwards and after marriage. August 17, 1845, married Jane M. Lamoreux, who was 
born in Putnam county, N. Y., October 14, 1818, and same year moved to Michigan, 
taught school during winter, returned in spring, followed farming summers, teaching 
winters until 1852, when he abandoned teaching and followed farming to date, August 
2, 1894. Having owned and disposed of 356 acres of land, and now owns forty-three 
acres. Have made building and set orchards, needless to mention. Having been born 



78 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

and bred to manhood in ignorance; at that date he knew little of politics, and was car- 
ried along and believed as his father did, who was at first a Republican, anti-Mason, 
Whig, and lastly a Republican again. With the lights before him now he stands a Jef- 
fersonian Democr. t, except as to a revision of our present banking system, his views of 
which remain '"lex non scripta." 

McGinniss, Michael, is the son of James and Bridget (Whalen) McG-inniss, of County 
Meath, Ireland, who were married, May 8, 1853, and immediately sailed for America, 
coming to Montezuma, Cayuga county, where subject was born March 8, 1854. The 
elder McGinniss received a collegiate education in Dublin. He came to Savannah in 
1857, and died here September 24, 1878, and his wife died June 12, 1892. They 
left a family of six sons and four daughters, of whom but three are now living, two 
sons, Sylvester and Peter, being residents of Buffalo. Michael received a good com- 
mon school education and began life in earnest at the age of twelve. In 1870 he 
entered the employ of the New York Central Railroad, being promoted in 1874 to sec- 
tion foreman, a position he still holds. February 9, 1878, he married Angeline. daugh- 
ter of James Murphy, of Clyde, she being a sister of Mrs. Alex Gregg, of Savannah. 
They had seven children : Mary Ellen, born December 9, 1878; James, born May 8, 
1880, and died in infancy ; Elizabeth, born June 9, 1881 ; Catherine, born October 14, 
1883; Angeline, born October ] 7, 1886; Frances, born November 4, 1888; and Peter, 
born November 15, 1891. Elizabeth Catherine and Angeline fell victims to the dread- 
ful epidemic of diphtheria, which visited Savannah in 1893. They were recognized as 
children of unusual precocity of intellect, and Angeline was something of a prodigy as 
a childish musician. Mr. McGinniss is a man of much character and moral worth, and 
highly esteemed as a citizen. He has served as overseer of poor, village trustee, presi- 
dent, and is a trustee of the Catholic Church Society. 

McDonald, Dr. Nicholas L., was born in Newark, February 26, 1856. He was edu- 
cated in the Union School and Academy, and studied the profession of dentistry with 
Doctors Wilcox and Willett. In 1877 he became a partner with Dr. W. L. Willett, 
and continued until 1882, when he bought Dr. Willett's interest, and has continued 
with much success since. October 29, 1883, he married Rose Allen, of Canandaigua, 
and they have four children : Rose E., Thomas N., M. Margherita and Avalyna A. 
His father, Thomas, was born in Kilberry, Ireland, about 1826, locating in Newark in 
1850. He married Bridget Phillips, and they have had six children: Catherine, 
Nicholas L , Ida E., Mary J., James P., and Avalyna. The subject of this sketch and 
Mary J., his sister, surviving. Thomas McDonald enlisted in 1862 in Company A, 
]60th Infantry, N. Y. S. Volunteers, was in all the engagements under General Banks, 
and was transferred to General Sheridan's c( mmand in 1864, and was wounded at the 
battle of Cedar Creek, October 10, 1864, the result of which he died, November 2, 
1864, in the hospital at Winchester, Va. Dr. McDonald is one of the trustees of St. 
Michael's Catholic Church, and a member of Newark Council, Newark, N. Y., Catholic 
Benevolent Legion. Himself, wife and children are members of St. Michael's Catholic 
Church of this village. 

Muilie, Isaac, born in Holland, in 1837. was the oldest son of the sixteen children of 
Isaac and Delia Shoonaard Muilie, natives of Holland, who came to Williamson in 1851, 
and here Mr. Muilie died in 1883, but his wife is still living. Our subject has always 
been a farmer, and owns sixty-five acres of land. Mr. Muilie is independent in politics. 
He and his family are members of the Reformed Church. In 1857 he married Jennie 
Yansyn, a native of Holland, and a daughter of Adrian and Maggie Vansyn, 
natives of Holland, where the father died in 1855, and the mother died in Rochester in 
1857. Mr. Muilie and wife have had four children: Isaac, who married Mary 
De Right, who have one child ; Delia, wife of C. V. Palssche, of Williamson ; Maggie, 
wife of M. 0. Ingleson, of Williamson, N. Y. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 79 

Mclntyre, S. B. The grandfather of our subject was of Scotch descent and came to 
Palmyra from Cummington, Massachusetts. The first settlement of that town was by 
his Scotch ancestor of the name of Mclntyre, in 1770. His father was Alexander, a 
physician of Wayne county. Mr. Mclntyre was born at Palmyra in 1828, received his 
education in the Palmyra, Canandaigua, and Millville Academies, and was admitted to 
the bar in 1851, having been in continuous practice in Palmyra ever since, except when 
in the army. He was first lieutenant in the 111th New York Regiment and afterwards 
received commissions as adjutant and captain. During most of his service as first 
lieutenant he acted as judge advocate of the third division of the 2d Corps. Still later 
he was captain and commissary of subsistence, under General Gilmore in the depart- 
ment of the south. When the war closed he retired with the rank of major, and re- 
sumed his law business at Palmyra. He is a Republican, and has been a candidate for 
county judge and district attorney. His legal business has been very extensive, and he 
has figured in many important trials. Mr. Mclntyre is, and for three years past has 
been president of the 111th Regimental organization, and is a past commander of James 
A. Garfield Post, G. A. R. For twenty-five years he has been one of the trustees of 
the Presbyterian church and for twelve years was superintendent of the Sabbath- 
school. He occupies a handsome residence, which he built in 1868. Mrs. Mclntyre 
died January 6, 1893, leaving two daughters. Mr. Mclntyre is widely known through- 
out the State, and has a large law practice. 

Muth. James R. Prof, (deceased) was born in Gimbsheim, Hesse-Darmsdadt. Ger- 
many, May 4, 1834. At an early age he studied in the musical schools of Mainz, 
Munich, Leipsic, and Stuttgart, graduating in all branches of musical science. In 1861 
he came to the United States and established a conservatory of music in Syracuse, and 
was director of the Philharmonic Orchestra, composed of forty-nine of Syracuse's best 
musicians. In 1867 he married Marion A., daughter of Norman Carver, of Syracuse, 
N. Y. When a competent director of music was sought for the Ladies' Seminary at 
Hamilton, N. Y., in 1872 Professor Muth was chosen to fill the vacancy, which position 
he filled for six years, assisted by his wife, a musician and artist. In 1878, owing to 
poor health, he returned to Syracuse, took up photography for a change ; in 1880 re- 
moved to Clyde, since which time his interests and labors have been here. When the 
National Photographers' Association was formed he became a member and entered an 
exhibit at the convention in Chicago in 1880, taking the first prize for his carbon pic- 
tures, in which style of work he has never been excelled. While pursuing his regular 
business he found time to devote much attention to music. At one time under his 
drill the Clyde Saxton Band was not surpassed by any similar organization in the State. 
In 1885 he built himself one of the most tasty and beautiful residences in Clyde. He 
died December 19, 1891, regretted by a large circle of friends, leaving a wife to take 
up and carry his plans to completion. He was a member of the Masonic Lodge, hold- 
ing the degree of Knight Templar, and a member of the Presbyterian church. At the 
time of his marriage Professor and Mrs. Muth traveled in Europe two years, allowing 
Mrs. Muth the opportunity of prosecuting her studies in art and music in the art center 
of the old world, making a specialty of oil, water color, and point crayon engraving, in 
which she has acquired a well deserved reputation as an artist throughout Central New 
York, enlarging portraits if necessary from pictures of miniature size. 

McOmber, Amos, born in Jefferson county, August 30, 1828, was the fifth of eleven 
children of Isaac and Anna (Howland) McOmber, he a native of Galway, born August 
12, 1798, and she of the same place. Amos came to Wayne county with his parents. 
He enlisted in 1862 in Company D, 160th N. Y. Infantry, was an orderly sergeant and 
recruiting officer ; holding two offices, and doing two men's work, he could come home 
only for troops. He died in December, 1863. He married, December 26, 1849, Lucy 
H., daughter of Levi Clark, born in Washington county November 28, 1805, who eame 
to Marion in 1826. Mr. McOmber and wife had four children : Clark, who married 



80 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Matilda A. Rutherford, who died April 24, 1893 ; Eva L. (deceased), Addie Mary, 
wife of Herbert Snyder, by whom she has three children ; Rosamond S., Celia Lucy', 
Leon H.; and Kittie, at Johnstown, N.Y. Mr. McOmber was a builder and contractor.' 

Meade, Peleg (deseased), was born May 16, 1817, at Mount Washington, and came 
to Wayne county in 1818 with his father. David Meade, who took up 100 acres of 
land. Peleg was educated in the district schools and the Clyde High School. At the 
age of twenty-two he married Martha, daughter of Aaron Waterbury, and they have 
four children: Harris W., now of Los Angeles, Cal.; Mrs. Alice Reynolds and Mrs. 
Libbie Williams, and Al ; da Meade. In 1881 he bought the Oleander Brown property 
of 103 acres, where the family now reside. Our subject is recognized as one of the 
substantial men of his town, taking an active interest in school and religious matters. 
He died in 1884 at the age of sixty-seven, leaving a wife and one daughter at home 
to take np his many plans and carry them forward to completion. 

McCollum, W. E., was born in Jefferson county November 6, 1864, educated in the 
common schools and finished at Pulaski High School, after leaving which he engaged in 
the drug business. In 1888 he went into the Wayne county clerk's office, under E. B. 
Wells, and was appointed special deputy under F A. Peacock, serving six years. In 
1894 he entered upon the duties of justice of the peace, to which he had been pre- 
viously elected. On retiring from the clerk's office he was made Wayne county man- 
ager of the Abstract Guarantee Company of Rochester, a company engaged in the 
business of making guaranteed searches of real estate, in wuich line he is an expert. 
Also includes with his law business a full line of insurance, representing some of the 
most substantial insurance companies in the United States. Our subject is an active 
business man, and is now pursuing a course of reading, preparatory to admittance to 
the New York State bar. 

Munson, John A., a central figure in the business and social life of Savannah, was 
born in Tyre, Seneca county, November 22, 1848, the son of Archibald and Mary 
(Evans) Munson. The elder Munson came to Savannah in 1858, and established the 
business now conducted in a greatly enlarged form by his son, besides whom there 
were four other children, none, however, surviving early childhood. Archibald Mun- 
son died in 1873 and his wife in 1891. John A. graduated from Genesee College in 
1870, Lima, N. Y., with the degree of B. S. and degree M. S. was afterwares conferred 
by Syracuse Uuiversity in 1873. He had also spent two years in Rochester at the 
Eastman Business College, and taught bookkeeping at the Bryant and Stratton. March 
27, 1872, he married Frances C. Sherman, of East Avon, N. Y., who was a graduate of 
Wesleyan Seminary, class of '69. John A., jr., a young man of unusual business ability, 
born May 6, 1876, is now in his father's office, the only child living, another son having 
died in 1874, in early infancy. Mr. Munson is a sturdv Republican in politics, was 
town clerk in 1871 and 1872 and supervisor in 1875-76-77-78. Before the expiration 
of the latter term he was elected to the Assembly from the first district, participating 
in the first session held in the new capitol at Albany. In 1887-88-89 he again repre- 
sented Savannah on the Board of Supervisors, and was at one session made chairman 
by a viva voce vote, at that date an honor without local precedent. Mr. Munson may 
be regarded as the founder of the Masonic Lodge, and is in all respects a representative 
figure, conducting an extensive business in grain and flour, coal, lumber, etc. 

McClelland, David, was born in Lyons, December 6, 1824. His father, John, came 
from Glasgow, Scotland, in 1811. In 1813 he took up a farm from the United States 
government, four miles northwest of Lyons. After living a successful farmer, upright 
and honest with all men, he died in 1870 at the ripe age of eighty-four years, leaving 
three sons and one daughter. David, the youngest son, married Lettie, daughter of 
Jacob Vanderbilt, in 1849, at the age of twenty-four. To them were born two chil- 
dren, Almeda, who died at the age of eight years, and Morgan, who still resides on the 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 81 

old homestead. David, like his father, has been a successful farmer, purchasing the 
old homestead of 166 acres in 1850, and raising hay, grain, fruit and stock, also grow- 
ing and distilling peppermint oil. 

Merchant, John, was born in Fort Edward, N. Y., June 23, 1811. His father, John, 
came to Wayne county September 1, 1817, and settled in the northern part of Lyons, 
buying fifty acres at the start. At the time of his death in 1867, at the age of ninety- 
one years, he owned 220 acres. He married at the age of twenty-seven, Eliza Closson, 
and bad a family of nine children, of whom John Merchant is the sole survivor. He 
was educated in the common schools and finished at Ostrander's Academy in Lyons, 
after which he taught winter school six years. At the age of twenty-four he married 
Cynthia, daughter of Nehemiah Reynolds, who died in 1851. By her he had four 
children : Riley P., John A., Mrs. Eliza Mesick, who died at twenty years of age, and 
Charles E., who died in 1889, at forty years of age. Mr. Merchant married second, 
Harriet, daughter of Joseph Cole. In 1837 he bought the Oliver Evans property and 
in 1857 bought part of the Joseph Gee farm, raising fruit, hay, grain and stock. Our 
subject is one of the representative men of his town, filling the offices of school com- 
missioner, town auditor, also a member of the M. E. Church of Lyons fifty years, of 
conservative character and sterling integrity, his life has ever proven his word to be as 
good as his bond. 

Moran, Daniel, was born in Queens county, Ireland, and came to the United States 
in 1851 and resided with his parents in "Waterloo, N. Y., assisting his father, who was 
engaged in the clothing business. He came to Lyons in 1861 and engaged in merchant 
tailoring, gents' furnishing and ready-made clothing business, which he continues at the 
present time, carrying the largest and finest stock in Wayne county. He is also inter- 
ested in the water works, electrical company, the pottery and the Manhattan Silver 
Plate Company, and is recognized in his town as one of the most active business men, 
identified in advancing the best interests of his town and the leading events of the day. 
At the age of thirty-five he married Bridget A., daughter of John Fitzpatrick, of Flor- 
ence, N. Y., formerly of Ossory, Ireland, and they are the parents of eight children. 
Our subject has always led a very active business life, but has found time to take an 
interest in school and church matters, and is recognized as a man whose life has proven 
his word to be as good as his bond. 

McMath, William, was born in Lyons, February 11, 1836. His father, M. McMath, 
was a native of Ovid, Seneca county, and was born August 8, 1802, and died in 1881 
at the age of seventy-nine. William McMath was educated in the Lyons Union School, 
after which he entered the employ of Mrs. William Sisson, and learned the druggist 
business. In 1862 he enlisted in Company C, 160th N. Y. Infantry Volunteers, and 
took part in the engagement of the gunboat Cotton, Bayou Teeche, Fort Bisland, Port 
Hudson, the Red River Expidition, going as a private and receiving his commission of 
lieutenant in his second year, and an honorable discharge in 1864. In 1872 he married 
Mary A., daughter of Thomas Smith, of Clyde, and they have one daughter, Margaret 
J. He remained in Louisiana and engaged in mercantile and agricultural pursuits for 
seventeen years. In 1874 he came to Clyde and engaged in farming. 

McLouth, Judge Charles. — Erom 1828 to 1888 Dr. John McLouth was a practicing 
physician at Walworth, Wayne county. He died at the advanced age of ninety-one, 
and celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of his marriage six years before his death. His 
Avidow is still living, above ninety years of age. His son, Charles, was born at Wal- 
worth in May, 1834, and received his education in the common school and academy at 
that place. He read law with Judges Ketcham and Cowles at Clyde, and was admit- 
ted to the bar in December, 1857. In 1858 he moved to Palmyra and formed a part- 
nership with William F. Aldrich, one of the oldest and most profound lawyers in that 



82 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

part of the State, which continued for six years, since which he has been alone. His 
practice has extended to all the tribunals below the Supreme Court of the United 
States, both State and Federal, and has connected him with most of the important liti- 
gation of Wayne and the adjoining counties. Since the war he has been an active 
Democrat, and in later years he has been closely identified as an uncompromising Hill 
man, and he has made his influence felt in both State and National Conventions. He 
has done a great deal of speaking in political campaigns as well as the making of many 
addresses upon public or civic occasions. He is a ready writer and a speaker of force 
and conciseness. In 1869 he was appointed county judge by Governor Hoffman. 
Judge McLouth is an ardent and active churchman, and has been for twenty-five years 
or more a member of the vestry of Zion Church, Palmyra, and was for eighteen years, 
and until he refused to be re-elected, a trustee and the treasurer of the fund for dis- 
abled clergy and the widows and orphans of deceased clergymen. He has been for 
several terms of three years each a member of the Board of Education of the Palmyra 
Classical Union School and was for six years its president, covering the time of the 
building of the beautiful new school building, in which he was much interested, and to 
which he gave close supervision and attention every day. In the building of the new 
Zion Church in 1872 he was one of the building committee and gave similar service. 
From 1864 to 1893, when he was relieved at his own request, he was a director of the 
First National Bank of Palmyra, of which he has always been the attorney, and during 
the same time he was and still is a director of the Palmyra Gas Light Company, and is 
now its president, secretary and treasurer. In 1890 Governor Hill appointed him a 
trustee of the New York State Custodial Asylum for Feeble-minded Women, located 
at Newark, N. Y., to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Hon. David Decker, late 
of Elmira, N. Y., and in 1892 Governor Flower appointed him for the full term of six 
years. In the extensive building operations of that institution he has always been on 
the building committee, and he has given to that extensive and valuable chanty his 
time and labor without limit. In 1893 he was appointed by Governor Flower one of 
the three commissioners in reference to the storage of the water of the Genesee River 
for the benefit of the Erie Canal and the city of Rochester. Judge McLouth has a fine 
law library of about 2,500 volumes, aud an equally fine private library of 1,000. He 
has a magnificent residence at the corner of Cuyler and Jackson streets, built by him- 
self in 1886, where he resides with his wife and two children, Mary Scotland and 
Charles. He is a very able man and has deserved personal influence in the community, 
but this is not superior to his interest in the village and everything connected with the 
interests of it or its citizens. The kindly feeling of his neighbors towards him was 
well expressed in the fall of 1893, when Governor Flower visited the village and made 
an address at the agricultural fair. Judge McLouth was chairman of the Committee of 
Arrangements and entertained and introduced the governor, and the Courier said, 
among other things: "While the Palmyra Union Agricultural Society appreciates, as 
does every citizen, the great honor conferred by the presence of Governor Flower 
among us on Friday last, it is only proper to state that to Judge McLouth is largely due 
the credit of securing the presence of his excellency on that occasion. Interested as he 
is, and always has been, in the Palmyra Fair he believed the presence of the governor 
and an address from him to the farmers, would give renewed interest to this annual 
exhibition, and fortunately his efforts in this direction were crowned with success. 
Doubtless the judge is, upon occasion, a hot partisan, but no man knows better than he 
how to keep politics out of a non-partisan gathering, and as chairman of the Reception 
Committee he eliminated every particle of partisanship from the affair, as was right 
and proper, and from the dignified and admirable manner in which every detail of the 
arrangements was carried out, he is entitled not only to the thanks of the society, but 
to words of praise from every citizen." 

Merrill, William H., was born in Wolcott in 1846 and is one of eight children of 
Benjamin and Harriet Merrill, who settled here in 1820. The elder Merrill was a maker 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 83 

of boots and shoes, and in later years a dealer in the same. He was born in George- 
town, Mass., January 1, 1808, and died in 1888, aged eighty years. His wife was born 
in Lyndeborough, N. H., April 6, 1817, a sister of Nathaniel Merrill, of this locality, 
who was one of the best lawyers in the county. Benjamin and Harriet had eight chil- 
dren, of whom John H., Edward P., James A., and William H. were in the late war. 
William H., who is a life-long resident of this town, was with the 9th Artillery in the 
thick of the fight at Cedar Creek. He married November 30, 1872, Margaret, daughter 
of William Anderson, of Wolcott, and has two daughters: Mary, born September 1, 
1883, and Harriet, born January 30, 1888. 

Millard, George F., was born in Stamford, Vt., May 6, 1828. His father, Stephen C, 
was a native of Vermont, and was a prominent farmer of his town. George F. laid the 
foundation of his education in the common schools, to which he added through life 
by reading and close observation. He was one of ten children in his father's family, 
seven brothers and three sisters. In 1850 he came to Clyde, N. Y., and established his 
present business of manufacture of tinware, both wholesale and retail, and is one of the 
largest dealers in rags, paper stock, old rubber, old metals, and old iron in Central and 
Western New York. At the age of twenty-six he married Marietta Barnes, of Galen, 
who died April, 1869, leaving him two children : Hattie Bell, now Mrs. E. E. Sampson, 
of Atchison, Kan. ; and Ernest G., now of South Omaha, Neb. In 1872 he married 
second S. J. Porter, of Cazenovia, by whom he had three more children : Adelbert C. 
(deceased), George Porter, and Flora. George F. is a prominent business man of his 
town, and is also a steward of the M. E. Church, of which he has for many years 
been a worthy member. 

Miles, William, was born in Mount Morris, N. Y., August 21, 1816. His father, 
William, came to Wayne county in 1820, settled in the town of Sodus, and took up 
200 acres of land, what is known as the Hopkins farm. William was educated in the 
common schools. At the age of twenty-four he married Isabel, daughter of John But- 
ler, of Lyons, and they have had one son, W. H. Miles, who is married and lives on the 
homestead, and a daughter, Elizabeth B., born October 7, 1841, who married, aged 
twenty-four, Edwin R. Sweezey, of Marion. They are both deceased. They left one 
(laughter, who died aged thirteen. In 1885 Mr. Miles bought the John Butler property 
of seventy-five acres, also bought the balance of the John Butler farm in 1879 of forty- 
four acres, and through life has been a prominent farmer and producer of garden seeds. 
He takes an active interest in educational and religious matters, having been trustee of 
the M. E. church of South Sodus for a number of years. 

McOmber, Frank H., was born in Ann Arbor, Mich., May 24, 1859. His father, 
Mansfield S., was a native of Jefferson county, N. Y. Frank H. was educated in the 
common schools and finished at Ann Arbor, after leaving which he followed farming 
for five years, then entered the dental profession under Dr. A. W. McNames, of Water- 
loo, and in 1885 entered the Pennsylvania Dental College, graduating in 1887, and the 
same year came to Lyons and established the dental parlors occupied by him, where he 
is recognized as one of the most progressive and enterprising men in his profession, 
using the latest and most approved methods and appliances in his business. At the age 
of thirty-three he married Marguerite, daughter of James Gibbons, of Newark. He is 
a Republican in politics, and in 1894 was elected justice of the peace, receiving the larg- 
est majority of any candidate on the ticket. Our subject is one of the progressive men 
of the town, taking an intelligent interest in educational and religious matters, and in 
advancing its best interests ; where he is recognized as a man of conservative character 
and sterling worth. 

Mathews, F. H., elder son of Lawson Mathews, at present one of the largest land 
holders of his native town. He was educated at the Leavenworth Institute, where he 
took the highest contested prize for scholarship and ability in his department during 



84 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

two successive years, and was awarded a full regents' certificate at fifteen years of age. 
After a long course in the special study of jurisprudence, and as confidential clerk for 
William Roe and E. M. Walker, esq., Mr. Mathews was admitted to the bar in 1881. 
F. H. Mathews is of old Puritan stock, his ancestors emigrating for conscience sake in 
the times of the " Merrie Monarch," and afterwards resisted British oppression upon 
the battlefields of the Revolution. Jesse Mathews and Lucius Hibbard, who were re- 
spectively his paternal and maternal grandfathers, were two of the six pioneers who 
came from New Hartford, Conn., in 1809 and 1810, and settled upon that portion of 
the Clyde road running south from Wolcott village, and hence known as New Hartford 
street. The old Mathews homestead, one mile south of Wolcott, is one of those rare 
pieces of property which has never changed ownership only by the laws of natural suc- 
cession. Jesse Mathews died while supervisor of his adopted town before the forma- 
tion of Wayne county. His wife, Alice Mathews, died on the old homestead in 1871 in 
her ninety- third year, after fifty years of widowhood. Lucius Hibbard lived to become 
the wealthiest farmer in the town of Butler, and was well known as an active Aboli- 
tionist in ante-bellum days. Owing to lung weakness and consequent ill health, F. H. 
Mathews was compelled to abandon his chosen profession and seek relief in a warmer 
climate. In 1886, while principal of the High School in Seddon, Ala., he married Mol- 
lie E., elder daughter of Willis H. Roberf-on, a prominent citizen and politician of St. 
Clair county, and formerly an officer in the 10th Alabama C. S. A. Army of Northern 
Virginia. Mr. Mathews was a local correspondent for the Lyons Republican for ten 
years. Subsequently he has written several series of letters to the local press from 
Florida and the industrial centers of the New South. In 1892 Mr. Mathews purchased 
the old Moore farm, and now resides adjoining his ancestral homestead, upon which his 
aged father is passing his more than three score years and ten in peace and comfort. 

McKee, Joshua, was born in Webster, Monroe county, in 1846, son of Josiah McKee, 
born in Washington county, Vt. The grandfather was Josiah McKee, of Vermont, and 
a farmer. Subject's father was also a farmer. His wife was Electa Rodgers, and their 
children were : Josiah, Mrs. Mary A. Thayer, of Ontario, John, David, George, Simeon, 
Lernun, Nathan, and Joshua. He died in 1885, and his wife in 1888, aged ninety, re- 
spectively. In 1874 Mr. McKee came to Huron, in 1877 he purchased a farm, later sold 
and returned to Webster. In 1883 he purchased his present farm of seventy-five acres, 
on which he erected a modern dwelling; also made other essential improvements. In 
1866 he married Maria, daughter of Joseph and Hannah Lake, of Huron, born in Farm- 
ington, Ontario county. Subject is a member of the Odd Fellows, from 1891 to 1894 
was overseer of poor, and always takes an active interest in politics. He and wife are 
members of the Huron Orange. 

Milhan, David R., was born in Dutchess county, N. Y., September 1, 1834, and is the 
oldest of six children of Martin and Maria Rhoda Milhan. The father of David R. moved 
to Columbia county in 1837, and in 1849 came to Williamson, Wayne county, and 
settled on what is now known as the Plyster farm (formerly as the Gilbert farm), where 
he resided for five years, then went to Marion, where his last days were passed, dying 
May 28, 1877. June 27, I860, Davis R. married Orvilla S., oldest daughter of Colonel 
Cephas and Sally Porter Moody, who was born and brought up on the place they now 
occupy, which has always been known as the Colonel Moody farm, it having been 
cleared from a wilderness by him, when he came to this place from Amherst, Mass., iu 
1812, and remained at his home until his death, November 24, 1869. He was colonel 
of a standing regiment for several years, deputy-sheriff two years, and overseer of the 
poor fifteen years, until his health failed, being about eighty-one years of age. D. R. 
Milhan resided on his father's farm for three years after their marriage, then settled 
permanently on the Moody homestead. He has since bought the Vaughn farm, making 
in all 160 acres of land in a high state of cultivation. He has been a dealer in all kinds 
of agricultural implements, fertilizers, etc., for twenty-five years, and for several years 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 85 

a partner in the firm of Bennett & Milhan, general dealers in produce at the warehouse 
at Williamson depot. Mr. Milhan's politics has always been Republican, and for twenty- 
one years in succession he served as poormaster. Pie and his wife were charter mem- 
bers of Williamson Grange. They have three children : Warren O, who married Minnie 
Tinkiepaugh, who have one daughter and one son ; Sidney D., who married May Wilder, 
they have one son ; and Winona 0., who married Benedict Cook, of Webster, Monroe 
county, N. Y. 

Moore, Isaac, was born in Seneca county, September 10. 1835. When about twelve 
years of age, his parents removed to the town of Manchester, Ontario county. He is 
and always has been a farmer. He married Clarissa Short, of Manchester, and to them 
five children were born: Marion S., Mary E., Floyd N., Clara I., and Lillian A., all 
residing at home. Mrs. Moore died in 1882, and in 1883 the family moved to Palmyra, 
and in 1884 to Newark, where Mr. Moore bought the farm on which they now reside. 
Mr. Moore l s father, John Moore, was born in Columbia county in 1802, a..d when a boy 
went to live with an uncle in Cayuga county. He married Margaret Howell, of Cayuga 
county, and located east of Seneca Falls on the State road. They had eight children, 
only three now living. The three surviving members are: Harriet, Isaac, and Emily. 
He died in 1854, and his wife in 1874. Mr. Moore has bought lots on Mason street, on 
Madison, north and south side of Miller, and on Main street, and has sold sixteen build- 
ing lots, residences erected on thirteen of them. 

Mead, John G, was born in Dutchess county, March 16, 1824. His great-grand- 
father, Jonathan, was one of the first settlers in Connecticut. Nathaniel, the grand- 
father, was born August 19, 1750. He was a lieutenant in the Revolutionary war. 
Richard T., the father, was a native of Dutchess county, born June 22, 1787. He mar- 
ried Phebe, daughter of John G-urney, of Stanford, Dutchess county, and their children 
were: Thomas W., Judith G., Hannah, Nathaniel, John G, Phebe S., and Mary, of 
whom three are now living: Nathaniel and Mary (Mrs. Wm. Cline), who live in 
Rochester, N. Y. ; and John G, who married, October 20, 1848, Emma B., daughter of 
William Cookingham, of Livingston county ; these are their children : Edgar L., Alfred 
M., and E. Louise (now deceased), wife of Dr. C. M. Briggs, of Fairport, Monroe 
county. Edgar B. married Alice H. Smith, of Macedon Center, N. Y., and has two 
children: E. Louise, and Alvin S., who reside in Rochester, N. Y. Alfred M. (physician 
and surgeon), of Victor, Ontario county, married Hattie A. Brown, of Ontario, Wayne 
county, and has three children: Edgar R., Dora E., and Mary E. The occupation of 
John G. has always been farming. He has held the office of road commissioner six 
years and was county superintendent of the poor nine years. They are members of the 
M. E. Church. 

North, Miss Orissa, was born May 17, 1848, at Rose. Her father, John North, came 
here in 1834, and bought the farm four miles north of Savannah, where she now lives. 
He was one of the sturdy pioneers of this locality, who helped to clear away the wilder- 
ness, a man of much ability, who served in his later life as assessor for twelve years 
and it is worthy of remark that he did not omit his presence and vote at a single election 
or town meeting from the date of his majority until his death, July 18, 1892. March 7, 
1832, he married Sebel Campbell, who was born atElbridge, August 1, 1812, and reared 
three children : Elias W., born February 10, 1833, married, September 22, 1869 ; Sarah 
E. Mills, of Palmyra, who died November 1, 1869 ; Fitz Alen C, born March 16, 1835, 
married Julia P. Gay, of Savannah, October 31, 1855, and died February 26, 1892 ; and 
Orissa, now left sole representative of her family, her mother having died February 23, 
1892. Miss North was educated at Wolcott Academy and elsewhere, and is a lady of 
much ability and refinement. 

Mitchell, D. P., town clerk of Butler, and junior member of the firm of Wilson & 
Mitchell, general store keepers at South Butler, was born at Rose, Wayne county, De- 



86 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

cember 19, 1861. He is the oldest son of Philander and Margaret (Barnes) Mitche'l, 
for many years residents of Rose. His paternal grandfather, Philander Mitchell, was 
of Scotch ancestry, a man of great energy and ability, a prime mover in the business 
affairs of Rose in earlier days, holding the office of justice for a long period. Darwin 
became a citizen of South Butler in 1883, and was for three years principal of the public 
schools. In 1886 he engaged in the mercantile business with Gorham Wilson. A Re- 
publican in politics, he was elected to his present position (town clerk) in March, 1894. 
November 18, 1885, he married Jessie, only daughter of William H. Clapp, of South 
Butler. Mr. Mitchell has been the regular local correspondent for the Clyde Times from 
South Butler for eleven years. 

Nutten, Wilbur F., was born in Churchville, Monroe county, December 2, 1839. He 
was educated in the public schools in various places and in Genesee Wesleyan Seminary 
of Lima. He first began to study medicine in Hornellsville, Steuben county, attended 
lectures at Buffalo Medical College one course, and one course at Ann Arbor Medical 
College, Michigan. He graduated from the Medical College of Physicians and Surgeons 
in New York city in 1863. His father and family came to Newark in 1860. Dr. 
Nutten began to practice in Newark the year that he graduated in company with Dr. 
Pomeroy, under the firm name of Pomeroy & Nutten, which continued over four years, 
since which time he has practiced on his own account. He has married twice, first, 
November 20, 1867, Mary E., daughter of Rev. Orrin Trowbridge, of Lima, N. Y. She 
died January 24, 1885, mourned by a bereaved husband and regretted by many friends. 
September 30, 1888, he married, second, Mrs. Addie J. Jewell, nee Green, of California. 
She had one son, Frank J. Jewell, who is a student in the Academy. Mrs. Nutten's 
father-in-law, Rev. F. F. Jewell, is a presiding elder in the M. E. Conference in San Fran- 
cisco, Cal. The doctor's father was a preacher in the M. E. church fifty years. The 
doctor is a member of the Wayne County Medical Society, also of the Central New 
York Medical Association, New York State Medical Association, and the American 
Medical Association. He is a member of the Newark Lodge, No. 83, F. and A. M., and 
Newark Chapter, No. 117, R. A. M. 

Norton, G. P., was born on the old Norton homestead at Lakeside, N. Y., in 1851. 
The great-grandfather of our subject. Felix H. Norton, came from England to America 
and settled at Old Guilford, Conn. Five of his sons moved to Ontario, Wayne county, 
N. Y., in 1811, settling on what is now known as the Lakeside Road. Lester, the 
grandfather, of our subject, married Matilda Allen, who died in 1826, leaving eight 
children, of whom four are now living. He married, second, Nancy Taylor, who died 
in 1863, and the death of her husband occurred in 1864. Philetus H., father of our 
subject, was born on the old homestead in 1822, and followed farming, besides speculat- 
ing in horses, cattle, produce, wool, etc. He lived on the old homestead during his 
life, except one year in Rochester. In politics he was a staunch Republican. In 1850 
he married Cordelia Whitcomb. a daughter of Samuel Whitcomb, whose father came 
from Scotland and was a soldier of the Revolution. Airs. Norton died in 1873, leaving 
a daughter, Frances A., of Marion, Wayne county, N. Y., and a son, Gilbert P. the 
subject of our sketch. Oscar, the second son, died at the age of three years. He mar- 
ried, second, Mrs. Emily Merritt, widow of Calvin Merritt and a daughter of Uzial 
Brown, of Penfield, N. Y., who served in the war of 1812. Mr. Norton died July 4, 
1891, and his wife, who still survives him, resides on the Norton homestead. G. P. 
Norton was reared on the farm and obtained his education at a common school and 
Macedon and Canandaigua Academies, and taught school for a short time after he had 
finished his education. A Republican in politics, and an ardent worker for the suc- 
cess of the party ; has always followed farming, except three years in the marble and 
granite business at Webster, Monroe county, N. Y. He now has the Norton home- 
stead, settled by his grandfather, and carries on general farming and fruit growing. In 
1885 he married Mamie B., a daughter of Robert and Eliza Thompson, now of Detroit, 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 87 

Mich. Mr. and Mrs. Norton have one son, Harrison W., born September, 1886, and 
one daughter. Lucille C, born May, 1891. Mr. Norton is a zealous Mason, being a 
member of Wayne Lodge No. 416, F. and A. M., of which he served as master six 
years. 

Newell, Mrs. Emily J., is a daughter of R. Cahoon, of Little Falls, Herkimer county, 
N. T., and was born there June 29, 1829. Her father came to Wayne in 1842, pur- 
chasing a farm in Huron. She married, in 1849, Roger H. Newell, a life-long resident 
of Huron. He was a prominent Odd Fellow and Mason, and was at various times 
constable, town clerk, and commissioner of highways. His principal business, how- 
ever, was farming, and he was a large land owner in Huron. Mr. Newell was also a 
prominent Granger, and in politics he was a Democrat. He was always charitable to 
the needy. He died April 30, 1893, aged seventy-two years and three months, and a 
year later Mrs. Newell became a resident of Wolcott by the purchase of an elegant 
home, corner Wright and Orchard streets. 

Olmstead, Ira M., was born in Huron December 29, 1821. His father, Elijah, came 
from Connecticut in 1810 and reared a large family of children. He died in 1833, and 
since that time Ira has been a resident of Butler. He married, in 1850, Olive, daughter 
of Ethan W. Allen, and of their three children, H. Allen, Lucy Irene, and an infant 
daughter, only the former, born July 28, 1853, is now living. Mr. Olmstead is a veteran 
of the late war, with Company E, 96th Regiment, N. Y. S. Volunteers. Allen Olmstead 
married, in 1873, Flora F. Campbell, of Butler, by whom he has had three children, 
Charles A., Ira, Le Roy and Zemira E. 

Owen, C. Wooster, was born in Penfielcl, Monroe county, July 8, 1841, the sixth of . 
a family of nine children born to C. W. and Clarissa (Beebe) Owen, natives of Ballston 
Springs, Saratoga county, and of Vermont, respectively. C. W. Owen came to Monroe 
county when a young man, in 1814, and learned the carpenters' trade, also owning a 
good property in the village of Penfield, where he spent his last days, and where his 
widow now resides, at the age of eighty-five years. The grandfather of C. W. was 
William, who was born December 29, 1764, a native of Boston, who spent much of his 
life in Penfield, where he died, May, 1833. He served in the Revolution three years. 
Our subject was reared in Penfield, and there educated, coming to Ontario at the age of 
nineteea years, and learned the tinners' trade. In 1863 he formed a partership with 
M. Lockman in the tin and stove business, and then Mr. Owen purchased his interest, 
and has since been alone in the business, which he has enlarged in many ways, carrying 
a line of paints, oils and glass, besides his regular lines of stoves, furnishing goods, 
agricultural implements, etc. He is a Republican in politics, and a member of the A. 
0. U. W., Lake Shore Lodge. No. 306. H. B., a brother of our subject, was in the late 
war about two years, and was killed in the battle of Spottsylvania, May 10, 1864. In 
December, 1873, Mr. Owen married Emma Fewster, a native of Antwerp, Jefferson 
county, and they have two children : Daisey and Charles F. 

Ostrander, Rev. L. A., D.D., was born in Franklinville, Cattaraugus county, N. Y., 
July 14, 1843. His father, Joseph Ostrander, a farmer in moderate circumstances, died 
when he was eight years old. Shortly after this his home was broken up. He went 
to Chicago and took a position in a drug store. When fifteen years of age, feeling it 
his duty to preach the gospel, he determined to obtain a liberal education. He pre- 
pared for college at Cazenovia Seminary. During the winters he taught school. He 
entered Knox College at Galesburg, 111., in 1861. After two years he went to Hamil- 
ton College at Clinton, N. Y., where he graduated in 1865, He took both "Head" ora- 
tion and the "Clark" prize at Hamilton. Upon leaving college he accepted an appoint- 
ment as tutor in Robert College at Constantinople (Turkey). He traveled quite ex- 
tensively in Europe, also in Egypt and the Holy Land. Returning to America in 1867 
he began the study of theology, graduating at Union Theological Seminary in 1871. 



88 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

While pursuing his theological studies he entered the lecture field and gave a course of 
five oriental lectures, by this means meeting his seminary expenses. In 1871 he re- 
turned to Constantinople, where on the 25th day of May he was married to Miss Eliza 
A. Thomson, daughter of Rev. Dr. Alexander Thomson, a Scotch missionary. His first 
pastorate was at Dubuque, la. After five years of successful labor in that field he ac- 
cepted a call to the Presbyterian Church, of Oswego, N. Y. Here he remained six 
years. He then accepted the pastorate of the Presbyterian Church at Lyons in 1882. 
A good degree of prosperity has marked this long and happy pastorate. The church 
now has a membership of 442. While a hard working pastor, Mr. Ostrander is still 
able to devote some time to the lecture field. He received the honorary degree of D.D. 
from his alma mater, Hamilton College, in 1890. He has four children: Leroy, Aleck, 
Robert, and Ethel. 

Osborne, William H., was born on the homestead, September 19, 1841. His father, 
George L., was a native of Dutchess county. The family who were among the early 
settlers of Massachusetts were of English extraction, and came to Wayne county in 
1833. George L. married Martha H., daughter of John Cornell, and they had three 
sons: Charles A., and Gilbert L., now of Owosso, Mich. Wiliiam H. was educated in 
the common schools, and at the age of forty married Julia, daughter of Nathaniel H. 
French, of Junius, Seneca county. In 1865 he inherited and purchased the homestead 
of 120 acres, which has been in the family over sixty years, raising fruit, hay, grain and 
stock. Our subject is one of the representative farmers of his town. 

Porter, Nathan B., is the only son of the late Nelson Porter, of Saratoga county. He 
acquired a thorough business education at Eastman's Business College at Poucrhkeepsie, 
graduating in 1878. After five years as bookkeeper for S. C. Redgram, of Lyons, he 
became manager for the Ryan-McDonald Manufactering Co., builders of locomotive 
engines at Baltimore, Md., and in 1891 became secretary for the Q & C. Co. of Chicago, 
manufacturing railroad specialties. In 1S94 he purchased an interest in the foundry 
and machine works, now known as the Knapp-Porter Iron Works, on Mill street, Wol- 
cott. In 1884 he married Julia Darrin, who died, February 12, 1893, leaving two 
daughters, Miriam and Nathalie. 

Paddock, H. R., only son of Henry and Clarissa Paddock, was born near the site of 
his present home in Wolcott, May 12, 1840. Henry Paddock, the elder, was born at 
Vienna, Oneida county, N. Y., 1810, and came to Wolcott in 1835. Our subject grad- 
uated from Falley Seminary at Fulton, N. Y., and engaged in farming, where his sur- 
roundings are models of neatness and convenience. His present home was acquired 
by purchase in 1879. December 20, 1860, he married Lucy Dowd, of Huron, and 
they have one son, Frank A., born March 15, 1862, now a druggist in Rochester. He 
was married May 31, 1894, to Nellie Loughborough, of Rochester, N. Y. 

Pallister, Albert A, born in Pultneyville July 21, 1843, is the son of John and Han- 
nah (Wake) Pallister, natives of Yorkshire, England. He and brothers came to Amer- 
ica in 1829, bringing their parents with them. The father died on the voyage and was 
buried at Prescott. The grandmother spent her last days in Pultneyville with her chil- 
dren. John Pallister learned the trade of shoemaker in England. He worked at the 
trade in Pultneyville till 1867, when he retired and lived with his children until his 
death. December 29, 1879. Mrs. Pallister died in February, 1870. Her parents, John 
and Sarah (Leadly) Wake, came from their native country in 1831, bringing a family 
of four sons and five daughters. One daughter, Elizabeth, died in England. They 
first came to Pultneyville, but settled west of Williamson. Mr. Wake was born in 
November, 1771, in Yorkshire, England, and his wife in 1778. They were married in 
1803, and he was a farmer in England. Albert A. Pallister commenced his career as a 
shoemaker, and with the exception of one year on the ocean in a whaling steamer, has 
followed that business. He is now engaged in the manufacture of boots and shoes in 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 89 

Pultneyville, also carries a fine stock. He is also in partnership with his brother, Mer- 
vin, in the lumber business at Pultneyville, carrying a large stock of lumber, posts, 
shingles, lath, brick, etc. They are proprietors of the vessel ''Fred L. Wells," which 
sails from Pultneyville. In 1879 he married Elizabeth, widow of Philip Robinson, and 
daughter of Hamilton Cooper. She has one son and one daughter, Gertrude and Clif- 
ford. 

Patten, Silas (deceased), was born in Newburg, Orange county, November 19, 1788, 
and came to Phelps in 1792 with his father, John Patten, moved into the town of 
Lyons in 1795 and settled on lot 20. His opportunities for education were limited. 
At the age of twenty-five he married Mrs. Phoebe Williams, daughter of Samuel Row- 
land, who died in 1850. In 1854 he married second Bridget, daughter of Michael 
Dwyer, and they were the parents of ten children, of whom but one is now living, 
Mrs. Mary Teller, who married Arthur D. Teller, of Lyons, and who are the parents of 
one daughter, Agnes M. Teller. Silas Patten was one of the earliest settlers in Wayne 
county, taking up large tracts of land from the United States Government. He soon 
occupied a prominent place in his town, being a liberal supporter of educational and 
religious institutions. He died January 12, 1882, at ninety-three years of age, mourned 
by his family and regretted by a large circle of friends. 

Quackenbush, Mrs. Elizabeth, was born in Aurelius, Cayuga county, August 25, 1820, 
and is the daughter of Albigence and Phoebe (Clark) Munroe, whose children were : 
Albigence, jr., born March 22, 1822, died at Chattanooga February 1, 1874; Maria 
Matthews, born May 15, 1837, now living at Rochester; Elizabeth, as above, who mar- 
ried July 4, 1837, Abram Quackenbush, of Seneca Falls. He was born at Leroy Sep- 
tember 22, 1816, and was by trade a tanner and currier, but went to California in 1850, 
where he followed gold mining for three years. He came to Savannah in 1853, where 
they have since resided continuously. Their children are : George, born December 13, 
1840 ; Rugene, born in 1842, died in 1878 ; Catharine, born October 17, 1844, now a 
widow, living with her mother ; and Maria, born April 28, 1860, now the wife of Ed- 
ward Rutledge, of Syracuse. Mr. Quackenbush was attacked with epilepsy in 1875, 
since which time his powers of mind and body have greatly weakened. 

Paine, William T., was born in Lyons July 14, 1836. His father, Thomas, was a 
native of Kent, England, and came to the United States 1822, when he was ten years 
of age. He married Naomi, daughter of Richard Thomas, of Kent, England. William 
T. was educated in the common schools, to which he added through life by reading and 
close observation. After leaving school he associated in general merchandise business 
at Alloway, and which he has carried on for the past forty-seven years. In 1873 he 
bought the Alloway Hotel property. At the age of forty-one he married Mary, 
daughter of John Gorsline, and they are the parents of three children : Edward. Ed- 
win and Ina. Our subject takes a prominent part in the events of the town. 

Phillips, Clark, was born in Schodack, Rensselaer county, eleven miles east of Al- 
bany, August 5, 1817. He was educated in the district schools and Nassau Academy, 
with such men as John A. Griswold, Dr. Herrick and Hugh and Robert McClellah. In 
his early manhood he was a farmer in his native county. He came to this country 
with his parents in 1835, and was a farmer with his father, and succeeded to the farm. 
He married twice ; first, September 30, 1840, Irene G. Pitts, of Chatham, Columbia 
county, and they had three daughters, Mary E., Frances E., and Emma L., the young- 
est died in infancy, Mary E. married Chester Ellinwood of the town of Rose, this 
county, and they had five children, two daughters and three sons : Irene P., who died 
at the age of seventeen ; Mary L, John C, Chester and Robert survive. Mrs. Phillips 
died August 10, 1879, mourned by a bereaved husband and many friends.! He mar- 
ried second, May 3, 1882, Mrs. Lizzie M. Holman, nee Sanford, of North Adams, Mass. 
l 



DO LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Mr. Phillips was appointed postmaster at Newark March 14, 1872, under President 
Grant's administration, serving about six years. He was appointed railway commis- 
sioner in 1870, also a member of the Board of Directors of the Sodus Point and South- 
ern Railway (now the Northern Central). He has been superintendent of the Sunday 
school of the First Baptist church in Newark thirty-two years, and is trustee and clerk 
of that church. Mr. Phillips's father, John, was born in Dutchess county, February 20, 
1774, and married Esther Warring, who was born September 13, 1776. They had six 
children : Phoebe, Joseph, Daniel, John, James and Clark. John Phillips, sr., died 
December 9, 1860, and his wife February 20, 1864. 

Peer, T. J., M. D., was born in Williamson, March 9, 1843, a son of John H. and 
Harriet R. (Adams) Peer. The father was a native of Williamson and a son of Abram 
Peer, of New Jersey, who was one of Williamson's first settlers. John H. came to 
Ontario at the age of about sixty, where has since resided and followed farming. He 
is now seventy-eight years of age, and his wife seventy-six. Our subject was educated 
in the academy at Sodus, and read medicine with Dr. A. G. Austin, of Williamson, 
with whom he remained four years. He attended the medical department of the Uni- 
versity at Ann Arbor (1862-63) and in 1865 located in Ontario, where he has since had 
a successful practice. Later he entered the Hahnemann Medical College at Chicago, 
from which he graduated in 1871. He is a Republican, and has taken an active part in 
the political affairs of his town and county, having been United States pension ex- 
aminer five years. In 1866 he married Augusta Boynton, a daughter of L. S. Boyn- 
ton. 

Putney, Hubbard W., was born in Hampshire county, Mass., March 28, 1819, end 
came to Lyons in 1840, and established the wire cloth industry in all its branches, 
making the different grades of fanning mill wire cloth a specialty. In 1842 he com- 
menced to manufacture fanning mills, and at different times opened branch offices in 
Amsterdam, Hudson, Poughkeepsie and Nyack, N. Y., also Williamsport and North- 
umberland, Pa., and Washington, New Jersey. In 1872 he erected the brick block in 
Lyons known as the Putney block, and where he has carried on business for the past 
fifty-four years. At twenty-four years of age he married Clara A. Wilds, of Litchfield, 
Conn., and they have three sons: Cassius H, Edwin B. and George E. He is a Re- 
peblican in politics, and has been assessor, road commissioner, trustee and a member 
and trustee of the M. E. Church for forty-four years. Subject is one of the oldest 
manufacturers in Wayne county, identified in the leading events of the day, and of 
sterling worth and integrity, whose life has proven his word to be as good as his bond. 

Putnam & Co., J, H, manufacturers of barrels and staves at Wolcott, have their 
factory located upon Lake avenue, near the railroad. This plant is a branch having its 
central business at Wayne Center. There are also branch shops at Savannah, Lyons, 
Sodus and Clyde for the manufacture of barrels, and Mr. Putnam is largely interested 
in mills located in Ohio and in Michigan, holding valuable, exclusive patents for special 
machinery for crozing and chamfering staves. The works at Wolcott have a capacilty 
of one thousand barrels per diem, and are under the management of Mr. L. D. Sopher, 
a gentleman of wide experience and ability. 

Pickering, William, was born in England, June 29, 1858, coming to this country in 
1870, and settled in Sodus. For seven years he worked at farming by the month, then 
rented farms and worked for himself. Nine years ago, in 1885, he bought the Robert 
Hale place, consisting of 114 acres. In 1876 he married Harriet Briggs, of Arcadia, 
and they are the parents of four children : Willie J., George A., May N. and Harry 
C, all living at home and attending school. Mr. Pickering is a Democrat. 

Palmer, L. H., was born in Nassau, Rensselaer county, January 31, 1835. His 
father, Jonathan Palmer, came to Lyons in 1844, and purchased a farm north of Lyons. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 91 

He was a very prominent man in the town and at one time held office as supervisor. 
L. H. Palmer was educated in Lyons Union School and Lima Seminary, after which 
he entered the employ of Herrick & Co., of Albany. He remained with them till 1861 
and then moved to Newark. In 1865 he came to Clyde and in company with S. H. 
Briggs established the Briggs & Palmer Bank, which continued up to 1880, when the 
bank was reorganized, and is now known as the Briggs National Bank. Mr. Palmer 
married Louisa M. Briggs, and they are the parents of these children : Edwin B., 
Louis R., of Baltimore, Briggs S., Mrs. Olive Miller, of Brooklyn, May L. and Anna R. 

Peer, Barton P., was born in Williamson, March 20, 1828, the son of Thomas and 
Emily Pratt Peer, he born in New Jersey, December 2, 1800, and she in Williamson. 
February 22, 1806. The father of Thomas Peer was Abram, a native of New Jersey, 
who came to Williamson in 1809. Thomas was a farmer, and died in 1875. Our 
subject was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools and Walworth 
Academy, and studied dentistry with Dr. D. J. Peer, and finished his education in 
this line at Menervia Medical College. In 1852 he went to Palmyra and practiced 
there until 1856, when he came to his father's farm and then practiced his profession, 
and in 1875 he came to the village of Williamson, and purchased twenty-one acres, 
off of which Elm street has been principally built. Mr. Peer has been assessor, in- 
spector of election, justice of the peace, and notary public for eight years. He is a 
member af Pultneyville Lodge No. 159, F. & A. M., and of the Williamson Grange No. 
338. September 2, 1848, he married Loraine Merrill, of Madison county, and they have 
had two children : Duane, who died at the age of twenty-two months ; and Ellen 
Isabelle, who died at the age of four years. This family is of Holland descent, and 
trace their ancestry to three brothers coming from Holland in 1776, one of whom was 
the father of John Peer, and the great-grandfather of our subject. 

Plyte, Isaac, was born in Holland, April 24, 1823. He is the youngest of the five 
children of John and Anna Miller Plyte, natives of Holland. Their father died in Hol- 
land, and the mother in Williamson in 1871. Our subject came to America in 1846, and 
settled on a farm in Williamson, and he now owns 150 acres of land. He is a Re- 
publican in politics. In 1846 he married Matilda Ver Dow, a native of Holland, and 
daughter of Lucas and Matilda Berdine Ver Dow. Mr. Plyte and wife have had these 
children : John, who married Amanda Englison, of Marion ; Peter married Kate Van 
Bortle in 1880, and has four children ; Matilda married Abram Collier in 1881, and they 
have had these children; Annie, at home; Joan, wife of John Van Bortle; Diana, de- 
ceased, was the wife of William Van Holde, and had one daughter, Clara ; Isaac mar- 
ried Susa Collier in 1886 ; Alice, wife of Marinus Braser. a farmer of Williamson, they 
have one daughter. 

Paddock, W. W., has been for nearly forty years the leading dealer in hardware 
and kindred goods in Wolcott. He was born June 6, 1832, at Vienna, Oneida county, 
N. Y., and in 1850 began his business career with Bradish & Brown at Lyons. For 
seven years their trusted employee, he then formed a copartnership with S. H. Foster, 
at that time practically founding the large business now conducted under the firm 
name of Paddock & Son. In 1871 he built the store which he now occupies at No. 14 
Main street, and in 1891 his son, William H., then twenty-five years old, became a part- 
ner in the bnsiness. 

Paget, Tom, was born December 1, 1836, in Knightley, Yorkshire, England, and is the 
oldest living child of William and Mary Blakeley Paget, natives of Yorkshire, England, 
and who came to America in 1849, and there lived and died. Our subject was reared 
in Lyons, and in 1853 went to Canada, and on February 1, 1859, he returned to Lyons. 
In 1868 he went to Sodus, and in 1879 he came to Williamson, and has since resided 
here on his farm of thirty- one acres. He also has thirteen acres near here. He has 
twenty-two acres of berries and other small fruits. Mr. Paget is a Democrat, a mem- 



92 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

ber of A. O. U. W., and the Select Knights. September 26, 1859, he married Mary 
Jones, of Gloucestershire, England, who came to Canada with her parents, and they 
both died there. Mr. and Mrs. Paget have had ten children : Sallie, Thomas W. 
(deceased), Mary A. (deceased), Martha J. (deceased), Tom (deceased)/Alfred J., Fran- 
cis (deceased), Joseph H., Elmer, and Hannah (deceased). Mr. Paget was a carriage 
maker until he came to Williamson, and worked at Sodus with J. W. Stuver for seven 
years. 

Pierce, Eugene Herbert, was born in Huron, May 31, 1850, a son of John Pierce, of 
Yorkshire, England, born in 1817, who came in 1826 with his parents, John and Eliza- 
beth (Barker) Pierce, to Wayne county. Here, in 1860, John bought the farm of 103 
acres, where his son Eugene now resides, and here he spent quietly the remainder of 
his life. He was one of the first to vote the Abolition ticket in this town. He married 
Matilda B., daughter of Ahiel and Diantha Guthrie, born in Sodus, February 10, 1823. 
They had three children: Matilda B., wife of Daniel W. Gibbs, of Sodus; Eugene H., 
and Lyman C, who is now a teacher in New York. Mr. Pierce died in March, 1894, 
aged seventy- six years, and his wife in 1876, aged fifty-three. John Pierce, the grand- 
father, after some years' residence in this and Ontario counties, removed with his wife 
to Wisconsin, whence they went to Iowa, where they both died. Their children were: 
John, William, Thomas, Jane, Mary, Ann, Elizabeth, Harrison, and Deborah. Ahiel 
Guthrie was of Scotch ancestry, and spent most of his life as a school teacher. His par- 
ents died when he was a youth, and he had one sister, younger, who died when five 
years of age. His wife was Diantha Bockas Bullock, and they were married in 1818. 
They lived first in Montgomery county, then removed to Sodus, and afterwards to 
Huron, this county, where they settled on the farm now owned by our subject. The 
grandfather died March 7, 1851, and the grandmother January 30, 1873. E. H. Pierce 
was reared to farm life, and was educated in Wolcott Union School and Sodus Acad- 
emy. He has spent m^st of his life on the farm with his father, engaged in general 
work together with fruit raising. In 1877 he married Emily S. Overton, daughter of 
Sheldon R. and Catharine Overton, of Wolcott. She was born in Huron in 1847, one 
of seven children. Mr. and Mrs. Pierce have bad two children : John H., born January 
4, 1883; and Anna E., born July 21, 1889. Mr. Pierce is a Republican, and has served 
as assessor five years. 

Porter, George E., M.D., was born in Hartford, Vt., June 8, 1867. His father, W. 
B., was one of the leading farmers in his town. George E. was educated in New 
Hampshire Agricultural College and Mechanic Arts, located at Hanover, from which he 
graduated in 1888, receiving the degree of B.S. He then entered the Dartmouth Medi- 
cal College, graduating in 1891, first locating in Chatham, Mass., and came to Wayne 
county in 1893. He engaged in general practice. At the age of twenty-one he mar- 
ried Mary J., daughter of Nahum G. Turner, and they have two children, Laura May 
and Clara L. Our subject is a member of the Massachusetts General Medical Society, 
and is recognized as a man of ability in his profession. 

Palmer, Oscar, born in Ontario, May 5, 1844, was a son of Rensselaer and Mary 
(Miller) Palmer, both natives of Wayne county, he born in 1803, and she in 1807. He 
died in 1881, and his wife in 1890. A brother of our subject, John Palmer, enlisted 
in September, 1863, in the 97th New York Infantry, and was killed at the battle of the 
Wilderness. Oscar was educated at Macedon and Genesee Wesleyan Seminary. He 
was engaged in teaching for a while, then in the mercantile business at Lakeside, being 
the first to carry on the business there. He gave up that business and purchased a farm 
on the Lake road, where he has since resided, engaged in general farming and fruit 
raising. The house is known as the Palmer house, and they entertain a high class of 
boarders from the city during the summer months. October 14, 1869, he married 
Amelia A. Botsford, daughter of Henry and Diana (Foster) Botsford, he a native of 
Canton, St. Lawrence county, and she of Marion county. Mr. and Mrs. Palmer have 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 93 

two sons : Myron B., born August 27, 1873, now in State Normal School at Geneseo ; 
and Howard L., born December 23, 1879. Mr. Palmer was a soldier in the late war, a 
member of the 8th New York Cavalry, went in 1864, and remained until the close of 
the war. He was in Sheridan's division under Custer, and was wounded at Five Forks. 
In politics Mr. Palmer is a Republican, and is now justice of the peace. He has been 
notary public a good many years. 

Pound, Charles Edward, born July 15, 1868, is the only son of Edward H. Pound, 
born in Farmington, Ontario county, N. Y., February 9, 1828, and Lucy Pease Pound, 
born in Ontario, Wayne county, N. Y., April 23, 1835. His grandfather, Nathan K. 
Pound, was born in New Jersey, January 18, 1798, and carne to Ontario in March, 1835, 
purchasing a farm, where he resided until his death in 1882. He had four sons : Addison 
S., Edward H., Jacob M., and Stephen B. Edward H. Pound early engaged in farm- 
ing, bought the homestead in 1878, and there resided until his death in June, 1893. 
His wife is now living at Ontario Corners. Charles E. was educated at the Walworth 
and Canandaigua Academies, and has always been a farmer, residing on the homestead, 
which he now owns. He has 192 acres, and carries on general farming and stock 
raising. In November, 1891, he married Lizzie, the adopted daughter of Amos and 
Dorcas Woodhams, and they have one child, Norma May, born November 30, 1893. 
Mr. Pound attends the M. E. Church. 

Quereau, William, one of Huron's representative men, was born in Cayuga in 1847, 
son of William Quereau, a native of Westchester county, N. Y., born in 1819, whose 
father was John Quereau, a farmer in Cayuga county. William, father of our subject, 
came to Wolcott in 1850, and was prominently identified in the politics of his county. 
His wife was Mrs. Sabra (Myers) Lewis. Our subject began for himself when twenty- 
one years of age, and in 1883 purchased his present farm, his principal crops being fruit 
and gram. From 1888 to 1890 he served as under-sheriff of Wayne county, from 1887 
to 1890 as commissioner of highways, and was re-elected to the same office from 1892 
to 1896, constable two years, and collector one year. In 1868 he married Minnie A., 
daughter of Watson and Harriet Dowd, of Huron, born in 1852. Their children are : 
Sabra A., born in February, 1873 ; Elliott, born in June, 1875 ; Rosa W., born Septem- 
ber, 1886 ; and Ray D., born in January, 1890. 

Pierson, Forest R., was born in Tyre, Seneca county, December 6, 1842. He is the 
elder son, and now the only one living, of the late Ogden and Julia A. Pierson, who came 
to Butler in the spring of 1845, and settled upon a farm near the present village of 
South Butler. Forest Pierson's mother died in 1887, when seventy-five years of age, 
his father had reached the age of eighty-five, died November 27. 1892. Forest was 
identified with the Ninth Artillery during three years in the thick of the Civil War. A 
musician and member of Company Gr, and despite the protracted and desperate character 
of the service, he escaped physical injury. His wife is Melvina J., daughter of the late 
Loami Beadle, of Savannah. They were married February 26, 1873. Of three children 
but one daughter living, Alta, born February 23, 1874, and now the wife of Cyrus 
Aikins. Asa and Lillie did not survive infancy. Mr. Pierson is a member of the M. E. 
Church at Butler Center, and has been superintendent of the Sunday school for the past 
seven years, and being deeply interested in all moral reforms, was the first person in the 
town of Butler to espouse the cause of Prohibition, and was a candidate on that ticket 
for member of assembly for the First District of Wayne county in 1890, and may be 
reckoned among the citizens of Butler a representative citizen of that place. 

Pallister, Richard, was born in Yorkshire, England, January 6, 1820. He is the 
second of four children of Thomas and Mary Pierson Pallister, of England, who came 
to Williamson in 1828, and here iived and died; he in 1860, and she in 1841. He was a 
farmer by occupation, and a sailor when a young man. Our subject owns fifty-one acres 
of land. He is a Prohibitionist, and both he and she are Methodists. In 1846 he mar- 



94 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

ried Lovina E., daughter of Glover and Sarah Munson, born in Onondaga county, N. Y., 
July 18, 1826. Mrs. Pallister's parents came to S^dus in 1830, and here her father, Mr. 
Munson died in 1883, and his wife in 1832. Mr. Pallisler and wife have had two 
children : Mary, the wife of Sidney A. Baker, of Williamson, and they have three 
children; and George, who married Louisa Steele, and they have one son. 

Rising, Henry C, is a prominent landmark among the farmers of Northern Savannah. 
He is the son of Joseph H. Rising, who is also a resident of Savannah, and eighty- 
three years of age. Henry C. was born August 4, 1840, at Lorraine, Jefferson county, 
N. Y., educated at Watertown, N. Y., at the Jefferson County Institute and Brown's 
Commercial School, taught school prior to his marriage, January 1, 1862, to Ellen M. 
Chapin, of Worth, Jefferson county, N. Y., by whom he had one child, Grace E., born 
May 10, 1870, and who died June 26. 1881. Mr. Rising again married, October 13, 
1870, Augusta C. Cooley, of Rodman, Jefferson county, N. Y., who has two children, 
Byron O., born November 16, 1873, and Mattie A., born January 13, 1889. He came 
to Savannah February 3, 1877, and bought the present homestead and engaged in 
farming and fruit growing, is a life-long Republican, now serving his th,ird term as 
justice of the peace. He has also been notary public for ten years and for several terms 
an associate justice in the Court of Sessions. 

Perry, D. H., was born in Oneida county, March 27, 1864. His father, John, was a 
native of Switzerland, came to the United States in 1854, and was a farmer by occupa- 
tion. D. H. Perry was educated in the common schools, to which he has added through 
life by reading and close observation. In 1883 he came to Marengo and followed 
farming until 1890, when he established his present business, carrying a large and well 
selected stock of general merchandise, being one of the largest dealers in pork, butter, 
eggs, and poultry in Wayne county. In 1890 he received the appointment of post- 
master, which position he still holds. Our subject is the leading merchant and produce 
dealer in the town. 

Rising, Joseph H., was born in the south of Jefferson county. N. Y., February 2, 
1812, the son of Abner and Jane Rising. He has one sister in Wayne county, Miranda, 
widow of Jeremiah Smith, of Wolcott. February 22, 1838, he married Rachael P. 
Wakefield, of Watertown, N. Y., born in Vermont in 1814 and who died at Savannah 
October 28, 1886. Of her four children one son died in infancy. Byron J. died in 
1862, sixteen years of age, and the biography of Henry C. appears elsewhere in this 
volume. Alice A., born December 26, 1850, and not married, is a member of her 
father's family at present, a lady of superior mental endowment and refinement and 
a life-long member of the M. E. church. The subject of this sketch, commencing life 
in the wilds of a new country and under adverse circumstances, has by his own un- 
aided efforts acquired a valuable competency and is now living upon his fine farm in 
the northern part of Savannah. He has for the greater part of his life been a 
prominent and substantial member of the M. E. church, has served fcur years as jus- 
tice of the peace, but has not sought official honors. He is of decided convictions, 
outspoken and consistent, in all respects worthy of the high esteem in which he 
is held. 

Pintler, Freeman, was born in Fairfax county, Va., April 10, 1854, a son of Peter 
and Emma Pintler, he a native of Delaware county, and she of Orleans county, N. Y., 
born in 1820. They went to Virginia in 1851 and resided there until 1861, owning a 
farm adjoining the Robert E. Lee estate. In 1860 Peter was one of seven men in 
Fairfax county that dared to vote for Lincoln. Mr. Pintler was warned three times to 
leave, and finally, after the first battle of Bull Run, he was driven from his home, 
took his family to Washington, and after a few weeks came to Orleans county, and 
four years after to Ontario countv, and was killed by lightning in 1869, and his wife 
died in 1872. Mr. Pintler was a contractor and builder, and remodelled the Robert E. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 95 

Lee house while in the south. His father was Adam Pintler, a native of Germany. 
The father of Emma Shaw was Elijah Shaw, of this state, and of German descent, who 
was in the war of 1812. His wife was Lydia Freeman, and they had six children. 
Our subject was seven years old when his parents came to Orleans county. He was 
fifteen years old when his father died, and his mother two years later. At eighteen 
he began teaching and afterwards completed a course at the Oswesro Normal School. 
He has been a very successful teacher, having taught thirty-three terms. In 1886 
he engaged as traveling salesman with the Niagara Grape Company, and sold enough 
grapes to plant 3,000 acres of land. He went to Europe in the interest of that com- 
pany and traveled in England, Scotland, and France. In 1893 he was elected school 
commissioner, and has served as supervisor of the town of Ontario during 1892 and 
1893, heading the first straight Republican ticket that had been elected in that town in 
twenty years. He is a member of Wayne Lodge No. 416, F. and A. M., and also of the 
A. 0. U. W., No. 306. March 23, 1883 he married Hattie J., daughter of Edward 
Thompson, of Williamson, and they have two children, Leon F., born February 12, 1884, 
and Minnie, born November 13, 1885. 

Rooke, Thomas, was born near York (England), April 6, 1833, and came to the 
United States with his father, John Rooke. in 1833, who settled in the town of Galen. 
John married Sarah, daughter of Mathew Robinson, by whom he had ten children. He 
died in March, 1862, aged seventy-two. Thomas Rooke was educated in the common 
schools, to which he has added through life by reading and close observation. He has 
accmired by purchase of the other heirs his father's estate, subject to the rights of the 
widow, hi.- mother, who still lives, and also purchased part of the Charles Tyndall estate 
and other adjoining pieces of property, having 120 acres. He raises fruit, hay and 
stock. Our subject was taken with erysipelas at the age of ten years, resulting in the 
loss of the use of both legs, and since then has been obliged to use crutches to get 
about. Notwithstanding this great calamity he has been successful in business, and 
gained the confidence of his associates. He never was willing to accept public office, 
but is trustee and steward of the M. E. Church of Lock Berlin. 

Raymour, L. S., a native of Macedon, born November 24, 1824, is the oldest of a 
family of thirteen children of John and Alzina (Aldridge) Raymour, he a native of Ver- 
mont, born in 1S02, and she of New York, born in 1804. The grandparents were early 
settlers of the town of Walworth, where they lived and died. John came to Ontario 
about 1832, and bought a farm on the town line, between Williamson and Ontario, 
which he sold and bought the farm now owned by Samuel Raymour. They went to 
Palmyra, where they died, he May 12, 1880, and she July 7, 1872. He was a Republi- 
can, and they were Methodists in religion. L. S. was reared on a farm, and has always 
followed farming and fruit growing. In 1835 he bought the farm he now owns, where 
he has since resided. He married in 1847, Emily Thayer, of Orleans county, by whom 
he had two daughters: Addie, wife of Harda Bunday, a civil engineer of Monroe 
county, N. Y.. and has one son, Clifford, and a daughter, Winnifred, and Martha, wife 
of Jacob Verdow, who is now working the farm. They are principally engaged in 
growing fruit. They have two sons, Bertley and Spencer. Mrs. Raymour died, June 
14. 1881. Mr. Raymour is a Republican. 

Roffee, E. M., was born in Scipio, Cayuga county, August 31, 1838. His father, 
Christopher, was a native of Providence, R. I., was a sea captain, and later was a promi- 
nent contractor and builder at Providence. R. I., erecting a number of the churches and 
public buildings in that city. In 1834 he lemoved to Scipio, Cayuga county, and en- 
gaged in farming. He died in 1885, aged seventy-eight years. E. M. Roffee was edu- 
cated in the common schools, and finished his preparatory course at the Antioch Col- 
lege, Springfield, O. The year 1857 he entered the office of Dr. Hines, of Elmira. and 
learned the profession of dentistry. In October, 1859, he came to Clyde, and established 



96 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

himself in business, being associated with Dr. T. C. Olds, and after his decease purchased 
the entire business, which he has since continued. The year 1882 went to Grayling for 
his health, a thriving village in the northern part of Michigan. During his stay was in- 
duced to purchase village lots, also eighty acres adjoining the village, and at once platted 
the same. With the proceeds of his sales of lots built a number of houses, and he has 
not missed an annual visit since his first there, and in meantime regained his health. 
At the age of twenty-two he married Emma A., daughter of J. S. Hood, and they have 
had two children : Mrs. George H. Hardisty and Nellie, who died, aged twenty-three, a 
devout Christian. Our subject takes an active interest in education and religious insti- 
tutions, and has been a member of the Presbyterian Church thirty- five years. 

Rector, Mrs. Sarah, of Savannah, was born January 30, 1842, a daughter of Peter 
and Hannah (Carncross) Albright, of Lysander, who settled on the farm now occupied 
by Mrs. Rector in 1834. Here the mother died in 1855 and the father in 1886, he be- 
ing then in his eighty-third year. Sarah Albright was born on the farm where she 
now lives, and which is now operated by her only son, John W. Rector. She was 
married in 1863 to John W. Rector, of Wolcott, who died fifteen months later, Her 
son, John W., was born March 18, 1864, and by trade is a machinist, but he has re- 
turned to the farm, and in 1884 he married Minnie Ulum, of Alamo, Mich., who died 
in 1886, leaving- one son, Ray, born March 8, 1885. January 26, 1887, he married 
again, Ursula May Schuyler, of Alamo, Kalamazoo county, Mich., by whom he had 
two children : Rose, born November 20, 1889, and Anson, born December 8, 1891. 
The subject of this sketch is a woman of most estimable character and mental ability, 
who has always devoted herself to her family. Her husband, before his death, was 
one of the prominent figures in the early life of Wayne. 

Ray, C. H, was born in Piffard, Livingston county, October 12, 1854. His father, 
Rev. Charles Ray, now in charge of the Presbyterian Church at Marion, has been an 
ordained clergyman for forty years. C. H. Ray was educated at the Temple Hill Acad- 
emy and Hamilton College, graduating from the latter institution in 1877. Afterward 
was principal of the Cayuga Lake Academy at Aurora, N. Y ., for one year, and then 
began the study of the law. He read with Hon. John L. Parker, of Parker & Green- 
field, at Moravia, Cayuga county, N. Y., also taking the Hamilton College Law School 
course, and was admitted to the bar in 1880, and in September of the same year he 
entered into general practice at Lyons. At the age of twenty-six he married Hattie, 
daughter of Dr. Dennison R. Pearl, of Sherwood, Cayuga county, and they are the 
parents of two sons: Reginald P. and John P. In 1S85 he was elected district attor- 
ney of Wayne county, and has been identified with most of the leading events of the 
day, taking an active part in political and educational mattera. 

Richman, Thomas I., was born in Onondaga county February 3, 1824. His father, 
Jacob Richman, was a native of New Jersey, moving to Manlius, Onondaga county, 
where he married Esther Clark, daughter of Christopher Clark. Mr. Thomas I. Rich- 
man was connected with the building of several different railroad-', viz. : A portion of 
the Ogdensburg Railroad running east of Malone, a portion of the New York Central 
running through Wayne county, also west of Batavia, and forty miles of railroad in 
Canada, and in company with his brother built several sections of the Erie Canal en- 
largement, including the aqueduct in Macedon. He is now engaged in farming. 

Rouch, Frank, of Macedon, was born in the town of Ontario June 10, 1857, a son of 
Max Rouch, a native of Germany, who came to this country when a young man and 
settled in Ontario, where he engaged in farming. He served in the late war three years, 
where he was wounded and disabled for any further hard work, for which he drew a 
pension. He died in Ontario in 1888, aged sixty-three. Frank married Adella Gard- 
ner, of Macedon, February 28, 1883, and they have no children. He owns a place of 
sixty-six acres. In politics he is a Republican, and has served as school trustee. He 
is also a member of the Grange. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 97 

Robertson, Dr. J, N, was born in Wolcott June 10, 1853. His father, Jonn, who 
died in 1880 at the age of fifty-five, was a prominent member of the M. E. Church, 
and a staunch adherent to the Republican party. Dr. Robertson received his diploma 
from the University of Vermont in 1877 and afterwards took a post-graduate course in 
New York city. He began practice at Sterling, N. Y., removing to Wolcott two years 
later. December 1, 1880, he married Anna M. Howard, of Sterling, and they have one 
daughter, Eva Lucille, born July 23, 1885. Dr. Robertson is a member of the Board 
of Education of Woleott and an elder in the First Presbyterian Church. 

Redfield, Albert F., was born in Victor, Ontario county, April 15, 1817. His father, 
Luther, was a native of Richmond, Mass., who located in the town of Junius in 1800. 
He removed to the town of Galen in 1822, purchasing 108 acres, to which he added 
fifty acres adjoining. He died in 1867, aged eighty-seven years. The family trace 
their genealogy back to the Puritans of Massachusetts. Albert F. was educated in the 
common schools, to which he has added through life by reading and close observation. 
After following farming fifteen years he went into the mercantile business in Clyde, 
remaining five years, and then engaged in the distillery business, which was burned in 
1857. He also was in the tan and curry business for nine years. He also engaged in 
the malting business ten years. In 1869 he was elected county clerk and served three 
years, and was elected supervisor of his town for five terms. At the age of thirty-six 
he married Susan A., daughter of Aaron Griswold, and they had one daughter, Mrs. 
Mary G. Whiting, who died, aged thirty-three years. 

Rice, Stephen D., was born in Butler, July 26, 1835, a son of Jonathan G., a native 
of Rowe, Mass., born May 28, 1813. He married, in 1832, Levinne H. Doolittle, born 
September 11, 1814, daughter of Stephen and Polly Doolittle, of Granby, Conn. Mr. 
and Mrs. Rice had seven children : Stephen D., Levinne A., George E., Charles G., 
Harriet J., Jared F. and Franklin J. The grandfather of our subject was Ebenezer 
Rice, a native of Massachusetts, who married Sallie Glazier, and had seven children. 
He died aged eighty-seven, and his wife aged ninety. At the age of sixteen Stephen 
D. began learning the miller's trade, which he has followed for the past forty-three 
years. In 1857 he married Lydia J., daughter of Nicholas and Anna Taylor, of Victory, 
Cayuga county. She was born October 15, 1839. Their children are as follows : 
Franklin J., born March 17, 1862; Levinne, who died in infancy, and George W., born 
January 6, 1872. Both sons are millers. Mr. Rice is a Mason, and is a Republican in 
politics, though he has always declined nomination. He was a captain in Company D, 
107th Regiment, 25th Brigade, 7th Division, N. Y. S. Militia. 

Robinson, the late John N., was born in Arcadia, February 28, 1822. He was edu- 
cated in the district school and spent his early life on the farm. He afterward became 
a blacksmith and carriage maker in this village. He married twice ; first, Maria Austin, 
by whom he had three children : Cordelia, Frances, who died at the age of six years, 
and Osman C. Mrs. Robinson died in 1862, and he married second, November 6, 1863, 
Lydia Weaver, and they had one son, J. Floyd, who was educated in the Union School 
and Academy, and is learning the jeweler's trade in the village. He resides with his 
mother. Mr. Robinson was a successful business man, and died April 2, 1882, mourned 
by a bereaved wife and family. Mrs. Robinson's father, Jacob Weaver, was born in 
Dutchess county January 1, 1812, and came here with his parents when he was a boy. 
He was educated in the district schools and followed farming. In 1831 he married 
Sylvina Hoysrodt, formerly of Dutchess county, and they had six children: Homer, 
Lydia, Lewis, Christina, Esther and Jacob, jr. The ancestry of this family are English 
and German. 

Redner, Dr. P., was born in Orange county, September 8, 1841, and is the son of 
Peter and Elizabeth Hall Redner, both natives of Orange county, where both families 
had resided for over a hundred vears, and where the father died in 1848 and the mother 



98 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

at Patterson, N. Y., in 1890. Dr. Redner, when seven years of age went to live with 
Martin Litchult, of Ramsey, N. J., where he remained six years. He then went to 
New York city and remained five years, learning the butcher's trade. He then came 
to Wayne county and attended school under Professor Curtis, and speculated during 
the summer. In 1865 he went to Buffalo and was engaged with the Western Trans- 
portation Company. He afterward went to Nevada and Montana and engaged in 
mining for three years, and then went to Denver and engaged in the feed and stock 
business, taking the first load of cattle that went over the Union Pacific from Omaha 
to Cheyenne. He next entered the Homoeopathic Institute in Cincinnati, from which 
he graduated in 1874, and practiced his profession for twenty years in various places. 
In 1889 he came to Ontario, where he has since resided, and is an extensive property 
owner. He is a member of the Sodus Lodge, No. 392, F. & A. M. November 20, 1872, 
he married Mary H., daughter of Hezekiah Hill, who was born in Ontario in 1811. His 
parents were natives of Massachusetts and settled in Ontario in 1800. His father died 
when he was four years old, leaving his mother and nine children, the eldest but four- 
teen years old. Mr. Hill's educational advantages were limited, but by hard study he 
was able at the age of eighteen to teach school, which he did for six winters. He was 
school commissioner one year and school inspector two years, and held the office of 
constable two years, assessor nine years, justice four years, and was the railroad com- 
missioner of the town. In 1840 he married Pamelia, daughter of Samuel Stuck, of 
Ontario. In 1849 he bought the Pratt farm of 320 acres at Inman's Corners, now 
Ontario Village. He began at once to sell lots, and a large part of the village was built 
by him. for those to whom he sold lots. He became a large real estate owner in On- 
tario, Canada and Michigan. He died in 1889. Dr. Redner and wife have four chil- 
dren : Wilfred H, who died in 1876, Howard H, Vera A. and Boyd A. 

Russell, W. D., was born in Marion in 1836, on January 27. He is the sixth of a 
family of nine sons of Daniel W. and Mary Turner Russell, he a native of Williamson, 
and she of Washington county, N. Y. Daniel Russell came to Williamson about 1793 
from Conn., and first settled at Pultneyville and afterwards on the farm now owned by 
Darius, his grandson. The father of our subject held various offices of public trust, and 
died in 1868 and his wife in 1873. Our subject was educated in the common schools 
and Sodus Academy, and learned the printer's trade with Richard Olyphant, of Oswego, 
but was poisoned by the ink, and gave up the business and went to Lockport, 111., and 
was connected with the construction of the Joliet & Chicago Railroad. He then went 
to the county surveyor's office with A. J. Matheson, of Walworth, N. Y., and after a 
year he came to Marion, and owing to his father's sickness he remained on the farm 
until the war broke out in 1861. He enlisted in Company I, 98tb N. Y. Volunteer In- 
fantry as first lieutenant. After the consolidation of the 98th and a portion of the 
Franklin County Rifles, subject enlisted as a private and was soon promoted to second 
lieutenant, and was in these battles : Fairoaks, White House Landing, Seven Days fight, 
White Oak Swamp, Malvern Hill, Siege of Yorktown, Second Fair Oaks, Charleston, 
and was mustered out through another consolidation in June, 1863, and then returned 
to the farm. In January, 1865, he married, re-enlisted, and was detailed on recruiting 
service at Auburn, N. Y., then recruited eighty-four men for the 194th Regiment, and 
was at Elmira in command of barracks, and was to be made captain of Company A, 
194th Regiment, but the company got no further than Elmira when they were mustered 
out of service. At the close of the war he engaged in farming for five years, then 
went to Binghamton and was general agent for the Singer Sewing Machine Company. 
After three years he returned to Williamson and bought a farm of fifty-three acre*, 
where he resided thirteen years, when he engaged in the sale of agricultural imple- 
ments. After four years he retired from business, and in 1891 he came to the village 
of Williamson, where he owns a fine residence. He is a O. A. R. man, having been 
commander of John Hanes Post, also aid-de-camp on the department commander's staff, 
as well as the commander-in-chief's staff, and also a member of the fire company and of 
the Grange. His wife is Lucy M., daughter of Roswell B. Harkness, of Williams. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 90 

Riker, John, a native of Dutchess county, was born December 10, 1810. His parents 
died when be was very young, and but little is known of the history of the family. 
About 1836 he came to Ontario, Wayne county, and bought seventy-six: acres of land, 
to which he added about 125 acres, and which he left to the family. He married Mary 
Thorne, of Dutchess county, by whom he had four sons and five daughters, one son 
and four daughters are deceased. Mr. Riker died November 2, 1882, and his wife 
April 17, 1886. In politics he was a Democrat, and in religious faith they were Friends. 
The surviving children are Julia, wife of Wilfred M. Burke, a farmer of Meridian, 
Cayuga county ; James H., J. F. and Edward L., who are now on the old homestead 
and carry on the farm business, J. F. and E. L. in partnership. They are engaged in 
general farming and fruit raising, and grow about four or five acres of raspberries, ten 
acres of apples, and thirty-eight acres of grapes. Edward married, January 27, 1887, 
Carrie J., daughter of Margaret and W. S. Hawley, of Webster, N. Y., by whom he 
has had one son, John H., born December 13, 1887. J. F. married Annie S. O'Dell, 
who died February 21, 1887. In politics they are Democrats. Mrs. Riker is a member 
of the M. E. church, which they attend and support. 

Ruf, John P., was born in New York city May 23, 1860. He was educated in the 
Freehold Institute, of New Jersey, graduating in 1877, located in Clyde in 1878. In 
1883 entered the Philadelphia Dental College and Hospital of Oral Surgery, from 
which he graduated in 1885. Dr. Ruf is a member of the Seventh District Dental 
Society and of the Garretsonian Society, of Philadelphia, the latter having a 
membership of 3,500. He is interested in local affairs, and at one time held office as 
trustee of the village. He is also president of the Clyde branch of the Wayne Building 
& Loan Association. Dr. Ruf is active in Masonic circles and was for four years 
master of Clyde lodge, F. A. & M., No. 341. At the age of twenty-seven he married 
Hattie B., daughter of John Thomas, of Clyde. 

Robinson, William Henry, is one of the prominent citizens of Huron and was born 
August 14, 1833, in Ontario county. He is a son of Thomas Robinson, whose early 
life was spent at the mason's trade, and his last years as a farmer. Thomas was born 
in 1801 in Mantlin. Ireland, where he married Christina Gibson, by whom he had 
eleven children. About 1830 he came with his family to America. He landed at 
Quebec, and at once began working on a farm. Later he removed to Phelps and 
afterwards came to Huron, where he bougnt a place of fifty acres, cleared the land and 
built him a home. He owned at his death 100 acres. Seven children grew to 
maturity : Richard, Eliza, Mary, William H., Minerva, Rebecca and John W. The 
grandfather of our subject was George Robinson, who married Elizabeth Gibson, and 
had thirteen children, all of whom grew to maturity. Thomas died in November, 1886, 
and his wife in June, of the same year. At the age of twenty-two William H. began 
life for himself, having learned the stone mason and bricklayer's trades. In 1868 he 
married Catharine, daughter of James M. and Eliza (Stout) Cosad, of Junius, born 
August 9, 1838, and they have had one child, Lizzie C, wife of Charles Gilkey, of 
Butler. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson and daughter are members of the Wolcott Grange. 
Our subject is a Republican, and has served as justice of the peace eight years, and as 
collector one year. 

Reed, Jared A., M. D., was born in the town of Williamson, Wayne county, Decem- 
ber 13, 1858. He was educated in the public schools, Marion Collegiate Institute, 
Sodus Academy, graduating in 1878. He then entered Cornell University, taking a 
four years' course, and graduated from that institution in 1882. He then took a two 
years' course in the Homoeopathic Medical College, New York, graduating from that 
institution March 15, 1884. Began to practice medicine the same year, which he con- 
tinues with much success. Dr. Reed is a member of the Wayne County Homoeopathic 
Society, also of the State society of the same school. April 15, 1885, he married Jennie 
E. Trimble, of the town of Ontario. They have two children, Mildred and J. Stuart. 



100 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

The doctor's father, David B., was born at Fort Ann, Washington county, October 16, 
1828. Came to the town of Marion with his parents when he was four years old, was 
a farmer by occupation. He married Mary Ackerson, of Ontario, Wayne county. 
They had five children : William B., Jared A., Oscar, David S., who died in infancy, 
and Mary E. The Dr's. grandfather, Fitch Reed, was born in Vermont, about the 
year 1800. He married twice, second marriage to Almira Gibbs. The family came to 
the eastern part of this State to Washington county, and had six children : Laura, 
Jerusha, David B., as noted above, John L., William E. and James T. Fitch Reed was 
one of the minute men in the French and Indian War. He died in about the year 1865 
or 66, and his wife in the year 1885. 

Stever, Jacob E., was born in Newark, this county, January 16, 1839, was educated 
in the Union schools and Sodus Academy, and his early years were spent on his father's 
farm. At the age of eighteen he taught his first school, following this occupation for 
several winters. December 13, 1863, he enlisted in Campany F. 2d Mounted Rifles, N. 
Y. Volunteers, Army of the Potomac, under Burnside, Ninth Army Corps, till October, 
1864, at which time his regiment was transferred to Sheridan's command, and was 
honorably discharged May 13, 1865. March 21, 1860, he married Rebecca J. Lefurgey, 
of Sodus, and they had five children : Lettie E., who died aged thirty-three; Cleon E., 
who died aged ten ; Frankie J., who died aged five months ; Sadie and Edith M. 
Lettie married Emerson D. Warren, of Buffalo, having one son, Frank S. Mr. Stever's 
father, James M., was born in Columbia county, July 22, 1814, aud came here with his 
parents when young. He married Elizabeth Filkins, of his native county, and they 
had three children ; Jabob E., Sarah C. and an infant son living only a few hours. 
Dennis Lefurgey, father of Mrs. Stever, was born in Columbia county, in 1805, and 
came to Sodus, where he married Margaret P. Steegar, and they had eight children : 
Jac )b, Rebecca J., Emmarette, John B., William W., Dennis W., Anna P., and an 
infant daughter living only two days Mr. Stever is a member of Vosburgh Post. No. 
99, G. A. R., of which he has been commander two terms. He is a member of the 
I. 0. O. F. and of the A. 0. U. W. Mr. Stever is a manufacturer of flavoring extracts. 

Ray, William L., was born in Canada September 17, 1862, the fifth of seven children 
of John and Mary Ray, the former a native of Canada, and the latter of England. The 
father of John Ray was Robert Ray, aged 84, a native of Ireland, who came to Can- 
ada in an early day, where he died in 1863. The maiden name of Mary Ray was 
Fowler, her father Walter, aged 93, whose father came from England and lived and 
died in Canada. Subject's father has been a mill man, came to Ontario in 1865 and 
engaged in the mill business a number of years, where he has since resided. Mrs. Ray 
died January 11, 1888, aged seventy years. Our subject was reared on a farm, and 
educated in the common schools. He learned the engineer's trade and followed it fif- 
teen years. He and his brother purchased thirty-two acres of land in Ontario, and in 
1889 subject bought his interest and follows fruit raising, having four acres of berries. 
He is a Prohibitionist in politics. He and his wife are members of the Free Methodist 
church, and he has been trustee and steward, superintendent of the Sunday school, and 
is now trustee. Mr. Ray married, June 9, 1882, Anna E. Willard, a native of Ontario 
and daughter of George Willard and Adelaide (Gibbs) Willard. They have one son, 
Norley L., born June 16, 1891. 

Strauss, Jacob was born in the provir ce of the Rhine, Prussia, August 22, 1822, and 
came to the United States in September 1852, and located in Clyde in 1854, where he 
established a large clothing store and merchant tailoring business. He married Mary 
Jane, daughter of David Stoddart and they had three children : Saty Theresse, Charles 
A., William S. Mr. Strauss is an energetic and upright business man and has won 
the respect of all with whom he has been associated. 

Slocum, Smith JE., was born in Macedon February 11, 1855, the second child of nine 
children born to Benjamin and Catherine P. Slocum, the former a native of Perrington, 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 101 

Monroe county, born in 1820, and the latter a native of Dutchess county, born in 1827. 
Mr. Slocum came to Macedon in 1854 and then to Ontario in 1861, settled two miles 
north of Ontario Center, and in 1864 came on the farm he now owns, and here his wife 
died January 24, 1885. Mr. Slocum has been a Democrat, and was highway com- 
missioner. He and his wife have for many years been members of the Baptist church, 
since 1854. Our subject was reared on a farm and educated in Marion Collegiate 
Institute. He followed teaching ten years, but his principal occupation has been farm- 
ing, and he now has charge of his father's farm of seventy acres, and follows general 
farming. He is a Democrat. He married in Batavia in 1885, Emma Foster, a native of 
South Butler, and daughter of James P., and Carroline Collier, the former a native of 
New Brunswick and the latter of England. He died August 29, 1891, and his wife 
December 31, 1887. Mr. Slocum and wife have had two children, Leon F., and Elmer 
R. The grandfather of subject, Smith Slocum, was born in Massachusetts, was one of 
the first settlers of Macedon, and went to Monroe county, and died in Perrington, 
October 25, 1835. His wife was Elizabeth Bliss, a native of Massachusetts, who died 
January 27, 1858. He had a family of nine children, three sons of whom were in the 
war of 1812. Subject has been deputy sheriff under Sheriff Knowles. The family is 
of English descent, and started from three brothers coming from England in 1630. 

Seelye. Jesse, of Savannah, is one of the typical old residents, having occupied his 
present residence on a farm one-half mile west of Savannah, since 1837. His parents, 
Benjamin and Anna, moved from Queensbury to Galen during the building of what was 
then locally known as "Clinton's Ditch." Jesse was born in Warren county, came 
with his parents to Wayne county when twelve years old, and has spent most of his 
life in farming, although in earlier life he acquired and practiced the trades of shoe- 
making and coopering. November 4, 1832, he married Mary A. Stackus of Savannah, 
and their only child, Ursula, born February 15, 1835, died November 6, 1854, unmarried. 

Soule, Harriet B., of Savannah, is the widow of Rowland Soule, who died in 1886, 
aged sixty-four years. He was born in Duanesburg. October 30, 1855, he married 
Harriet B., daughter of Orestes and Sally (White) Hubbard, of Butler, and bought the 
farm one-half mile north of Savannah in 1867, erecting thereon the residence now occu- 
pied by Mrs. Soule and her children. Mrs. Soule's children are : Ella S., born September 
27, 1857 : Herbert O, born November 29, 1859, who married, in 1887, Ella, daughter 
of Rev. P. H. Wiles, of Savannah, and has one son, Harold W., born in 1891 (they 
reside at Rochester) ; Carrie, born June 12, 1862, who married, in 1891, Milan Sherman, 
of Savannah, and has one daughter, Helen Grace, born in 1891 ; and Grace L., born in 
1868. 

Stebbins, William H. H., was born in the town of Arcadia, May 2, 1840. He was 
educated in the public schools, and for the past thirty years has been a farmer and 
dealer in agricultural implements and phosphate. In September, 1868, he married 
Phoebe A. Fuller, of his native town, and they have had two children : Charles A., who 
died at the age of four years and eight months; and Ella L., who resides with her 
parents. Mr. Stebbins' father, Carlos A., was born in the town of Phelps, Ontario 
county, in 1789. He was a pioneer farmer He married Cynthia Seargent, of the town 
of Sodus, and they had eight children : George, Thomas, William H. H., Jerome, 
James, Ella M., Carlos A., and Emily. He died in 1879, and his wife resides in this 
village. His father was a soldier of the war of 1812 at Sodus Point. Mr. Stebbins was 
a soldier of the late war in Company I, 17th Infantry, New York State Yolunteers, 
was honorably discharged on account of sickness. His business life has been successful. 
He has been overseer of the poor seven years, and is town collector. He is a member 
of Newark Lodge No. 83, F. & A. M. ; of Newark Chapter No. 17, R. A. M. ; Zenobia 
Commandery No. 41, K. T., of Palmyra; Palmyra Council No. 26, R. & S. M. ; and 
Knights Templar No. 41, K T. 



102 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Soule, Mary and Lavinia, are the daughters of Enos and Mary Soule, who came from 
Schenectady county in 1831, having a family of ten children. Lavinia was born April 
16, 1811, and Mary, October 18, 1832. Enos Soule lived in a log house a few years, 
on the site of the modern residence now occupied by the sisters, a mile north of the 
village. He was an intimate friend of Gerrit Smith, then residing at Peterboro, and 
was a practical and fearless abolitionist, personally assisting the operations of the cele- 
brated "Underground Railway," also a leader in the Temperance cause. He died here 
in 1861, and his wife ten years later, leaving seven children, of whom Mary and Lavinia 
are the sole survivors. They are ladies of education and refinement, and their remi- 
niscences of the early times are of great interest. 

Sherman, Stephen D. (deceased), was born in East Palmyra, September 16. 1811. 
His father and grandfather were among the first settlers in Palmyra. S. D. Sherman 
was educated at the Cazenovia Seminary, and after leaving school took up the profession 
of medicine. In the spring of 1848 he came to Lyons, and associated with Dr. Samuel 
Moore and engaged in the general practice of medicine. The partnership continued up 
to 1854, and was then terminated by the death of Dr. Moore. At the age of twenty- 
two our subject married Jane, daughter of Josiah Betts, of Schoharie, and they were 
the parents of four children : Warren F., of Kalamazoo, Mich. ; Charles E. ; Mrs. Mary 
E. Darling ; and Frank Sherman, of Lyons. Our subject was one of the most success- 
ful and best known in his profession, taking an active interest in educational and religious 
matters, having been a member of the M. E. Church from early boyhood. Dr. Sherman 
died February 13, 1894. 

Silver, 0. Clate, was born November 10, 1867, the son of Harvey O. and Fanny 
(Sergeant) Silver. The elder Silver was for many years a resident of Savannah, where 
he established, in 1886, the business now conducted by his son. His wife, Fanny, is 
a daughter of James Sergeant, who enjoys the distinction of being the first white male 
child born in Sodus. 0. C. Silver received his education chiefly at the Sodus Academy, 
and married, November, 29, 1887, Kate Verbridge, of Williamson, Wayne county. 
They have one daughter, Loraine, born July 28, 1891. In 1893 he assumed control of 
the business established by his father, that of furniture, undertaking and embalming, 
and has added a large line of general goods and bakery products. Mr. Silver is a man 
of enterprise, attending besides his regular business to the editorial charge of the Wayne 
County Dispatch (Savannah edition), and acting as special correspondent for some of 
the leading dailies, among them the New York World. Both himself and wife are 
members of the Savannah M. E. Church. 

Shourds, Daniel S., was born in the town of Macedon, January 11, 1842. Reuben 
Shourds, his father, was a native of New Jersey. He went to Rochester in 1826, and 
there learned the mason's trade, then moved to the town of Macedon, where he worked 
both at his trade and farming for a few years. He afterward abandoned his trade, and 
devoted himself entirely to farming. He married Esther Sisson, who was a native of 
Massachusetts. Daniel S. Shourds was their only child. He was educated in district 
schools, in the Union Springs Academy, and from there he went to Poughkeepsie, where 
he finished. He entered the nursery business as salesman, and in 1863 he started in 
that business for himself. At the present time he is dealing in all classes of fruits and 
ornamentals, and receives orders from all parts of the country. October 11, 1866, he 
married Phebe M. Pah^er, and they have four children. Mr. Shourds has been super- 
visor and commissioner of the town, and in politics is a Republican. He is a member 
of the Orthodox branch of the Friend's Church. 

Scott, Samuel & Co., maltsters. — This firm is composed of Samuel Scott and his two 
sons, William 3., and Seymour Scott. Samuel was born in Lyons in 1827, and has led 
an active and prominent business life, being identified in advancing the best interests of 
his town. At the age of thirty he married Lucy M., daughter of Daniel Spier, of Lyons. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 103 

In 1S58 he established a carriage manufactory, which he continued twenty years. For 
seven years he was engaged in the produce business, and in 1877 engaged in the malt- 
ing business, and in 1880 the Scott malt house with a capacity of 250,000 bushels was 
erected. The father of Samuel Scott, for whom he was named, came from Lincoln- 
shire, England, to Sodus, in 1810, and was called out to defend his State in the war of 
1812. Seymour Scott married Mary C, daughter of H. C. Atkins, of Brattleboro, Vt., 
at the age of twenty-seven, and they have two sons, George and Harry. William S. 
Scott married, at the age of twenty-four, Bertha L.. daughter of James Thomas, of 
Baltimore, and they have two children : William Sebert, and Lucy. The firm of Samuel 
Scott & Co. is one of the leading houses in malting in Western New York. Scott 
Bros, are dealers in essential oils, making a specialty of oil of peppermint, for which 
Wayne county has a justly celebrated reputation in the production of this particular oil, 
which in amount exceeds one-half of the total production in the United States, this 
firm now are the largest dealers in the county. The firm has a deserved reputation for 
business ability and strict integrity. 

Saunders, Enoch, came to Palmyra from Litchfield, Conn., and worked for John 
Swift. After the latter sold his business, Mr. Saunders received as compensation for 
his services a piece of land, of which he took possession immediately after leaving Mr. 
Swift's employ. He next journeyed to Connecticut, where he married Abigail Hilems, 
returning with his wife to his property here, and began farming. He died in 1825, and 
his wife in 1857, their children are : Orlando Lorenzo, who moved to Michigan ; Ben- 
jamin, who also moved to Michigan ; Orson, who died in 1825 ; Malissa, who married 
Willard Chase; Alice, who married James Seely, and has a son, Andrew, who now re- 
sides in Palmyra. Orlando was born in 1803, and had four sons, two of which are now 
living : Alexander, who lives in Michigan ; Septimius, born in 1834, who has always 
resided on the homestead farm. He has 105 acres in Palmyra, and forty-five in Ontario 
county, all in one tract. 

Stuber, Seymour, was born in Switzerland, September 14, 1850, one of eight children 
of Horace and Elizabeth Stuber, of that country, who came to America and to Utica in 
1853, where they died, she in 1857, and he in 1872. Our subject was three years of 
age when he came to Utica, and learned the blacksmith's trade at Deansville. He then 
went to Clinton, where he worked at his trade three years, then to Deansville, where 
he remained about six months. In 1872 he came to Ontario Center, where he has since 
had a successful business. He married, March 20, 1871, Mary DowDarrow, a native of 
Oriskany Falls, by whom he has had five children : Minnie, William B., Seymour, Lizzie, 
and Grover. He is a Democrat in politics. 

Shepard, Albert, was born in the town of Galen, October 16, 1834. His father, 
Harry, and grandfather, Silas Shepard, came from the northern part of Vermont, near 
Lake Champlain, and settled three miles northeast of Clyde, when the country was new, 
taking up a farm from the United States Government, and which is still in the posses- 
sion of the family, known as Shepard's Corners. Albert was educated in the common 
schools, finishing at the Clyde High School, after which he returned to his father's farm. 
At the age of twenty-nine he married Phoebe McNeill, and they are the parents of two 
sons: Fred and Harvey. After his marriage he took up his residence on his farm on 
the Clyde and Rose plank road, where he continued to reside until the year 1889, when 
he was appointed keeper of the County Poor House, where he still remains. 

Stanford, Daniel J., was born in Oneida county April 7, 1837, a son of Richard and 
Sally A. (Thorn) Stanford, early settlers of Oneida county, who came to the town of 
Ontario, Wayne county, April, 1858, where they spent the remainder of their days. 
The father died October 1, 1889, aged 81 years; the mother, December 9, 1881, aged 
68 years. The maternal grandfather, Daniel Thorne, was in the war of 1812, taking 
the place of his son, who was drafted. Jonathan Stanford, the father of Richard, was 



104 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

one of the first settlers of Oneida county, where he lived and died. Daniel J. Stanford 
received a common school education and was by occupation a farmer. In 1858 he 
came to Ontario, Wayne county, with his parents, and in August, 1862, enlisted as a 
private in Company B, 138th N. Y. Volunteer Infantry for three years, and during the 
war was in the battles of Coldharbor, Monocacy, Winchester and Cedar Creek, where 
he received a gunshot wound in the right leg which disabled him for life. He was dis- 
charged as a sergeant of Company B, 9th N. Y. Heavy Artillery, from the Satterlee 
U. S. General Hospital. Philadelphia, Pa., July 31, 1865, by reason of the close of the 
war. He then returned to Furnaceville, Wayne county, and was in the employ of the 
Ontario Iron Company as weighmaster for five years, from May, 1870. From that time 
he lived a retired life till 1889, when he was appointed assistant postmaster under 
W. Birdsall at Ontario, and reappointed under Henry E. Van DerVeer in 1893; was 
elected justice of the peace for the town of Ontario, Wayne county, in 1890. 

Smith, Horace W., and Addison P., of Savannah, are the sons of Willis G. Smith, 
who was for twenty years a practicing physician at Otisco, Onondaga county, and who 
came to Wayne county in 1864, engaging in general merchandise business under the 
style of Stults & Smith, on the site of the Newton House. He was a prominent figure 
in the Presbyterian Church Society, and for several years was postmaster of Savannah. 
In 1845 he married Almira Whitney, by whom he had these children : Chandler H., 
born in 1848, now of Iowa; Horace W., born January 1, 1852; Willis H., born in 1855, 
now of Pasadena, Cal.; Addison P., born December 30, 1866, and Charles A., born in 
1860, now of Madera, Cal. Willis G. died in California in 1891, aged sixty-nine years, 
after a residence of five years at Pasadena. After an academic course in Lyons, Horace 
W. Smith attended Grammar School No. 35 in New York city, and later the College of 
the City of New York (now New York University), but on account of ill-health did 
not graduate. For twelve years he practiced telegraphy at Clyde, Rochester, Syracuse, 
and Troy, at the latter place being chief operator. In 1864 he formed a co-partnership 
with his brother, Addison, as general storekeepers on Main street, Savannah, which stil 
continues. He was postmaster from 1889 to 1894, was six years on the Board of Edu- 
cation, three years as village trustee, etc. He is a Knight Templar of Zenobia Com- 
mandery, and for five years was master of Savannah Lodge No. 764, F. and A. M. Mr. 
Smith has rare oratorical powers, often using that talent as the exponent of justice and 
right. May 29, 1877, he married Estelle O, daughter of James Carris, of Tyre, N. Y., 
and has two sons : Raymond W., born March 16, 1880, and Frederick O, born Decem- 
ber 2, 1885. The business career of Addison P. Smith began at twenty-one years of 
age, with E. N. Leonard. He succeeded his father in the management of a general 
store in Savannah. Five years later, in 1884, Mr. Leonard transferred his interest 
to Horace Smith, thus forming the present firm of Smith Brothers. May 8, 1884, Addi- 
son married Cora, daughter of Delos Betts, of Savannah, and their children are: Florence 
May, born June 12, 1885; Anna Whitney, born May 2, 1887. Like his brother, Mr. 
Smith is an ardent Republican, at present representing Savannah in the County Legisla- 
ture for the second term. Besides the many minor offices of trust, which come un- 
sought to the man of ability and enterprise, he served for seven successive years as 
town clerk. 

Sampson, Thomas, was born in the town of Lyons January 7, 1826, being born and 
remaining on a farm, he followed that as an occupation. Thomas Sampson, sr., his 
father, came to this country from England in 1806, then thirteen years old. He settled 
at Lyons, where he continued to live up to his death, which occurred in 1868. Mr. 
Sampson married Melinda Clark, of Penfield, September 3, 1821. They were the 
parents of five children, of which there are three living, including Thomas. Thomas 
Sampson, jr., married Anna Underbill, September 3, 1856, and to them were born seven 
children, five of whom are living. Mr. Sampson is a farmer. In politics he is a Repub- 
lican and has served as assessor twelve years, and as town clerk. He is a member of 
the M. E, church.' 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 105 

Smith, Menzo, of Macedon, was born in the town of Ontario, Wayne county, April 
28, 1839, a son of David Smith, a native of Ontario county (now Wayne county), who 
was born in Palmyra June 5, 1805. The latter married Arvilla Pratt, a native of 
Madison county, by whom he had five children three now living. David was also a 
farmer and lived in the town for thirty years, dying December 24, 1893, his wife having 
died about sixteen years previously. Shubal Smith, the grandfather, conducted a dis- 
tillery where the Downing Brothers' malt house now stands in the village of Palmyra. 
Our subject has always followed farming. In December, 1869, he married Hannah, 
daughter of Seth Beal, one of the oldest families in this part of the county, and they 
have had five children : Beal Mj, Frank E., who died aged eight years ; Mary E., Walter 
P., and Agnes G., all residing at home at the present writing. Mr. Smith is a Repub- 
lican and served in the late war for nine months, in the 111th N. Y. Volunteers, Com- 
pany A. 

Sutton, Ezra B., was born in Seneca Falls in 1850, and in 1870 became associated 
with the Cleveland Base Ball Club, as third baseman, remaining with that club until 
1873, when he joined the Athletic Club of Philadelphia, remaining there until the close 
of 1876. He was then with the doston Base Ball Club until 1890, being in conninual 
service as third baseman throughout the seasons of base ball for more than twenty 
years. In 1886 he bought his home in Palmyra, and since 1890 he has furnished about 
1,200 tons of ice annually to the citizens of Palmyra, cutting it all from his own 
pond. March 13, 1872, he married Susie M. McKeg, and their children are : Bessie, 
born in 1874, died in 1881, and Georgia May, born in 1889. 

Sawyer, S. N.. was born in Palmyra in 1858, and educated at the Classical Union 
School here, and at the Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass. He read law with S. B. 
Mclntyre, and at the Albany Law School, and graduated in 1883. He then began the 
practice of his profession in partnership with David S. Aldrich, under the firm name of 
Aldrich & Sawyer, which firm continued till January 1, 1889, from which time he was 
alone until July, 1893, when he took a partner, and the firm became Sawyer & Tinkle- 
paugh. He was justice of the peace one term, village clerk from September, 1884, till 
April, 1893, when he was elected president of the village, and re-elected in 1894. He 
has been district attorney since 1889, and in politics is a Republican. He is also promi- 
nent in Masonic orders, being past master of Palmyra Lodge, No. 248; F. & A. M., 
past high priest of Palmyra Eagle Chapter, No. 79, R. A. M.; past master of Palmyra 
Council, No. 21, R. & S. M.; past commander Zenobia Commandery, K. T., No. 41 ; 
past district deputy grand master of Grand Lodge, of the State of New York. He is 
at present member of the Commission of Appeals, of Grand Lodge, of the State of New 
York. He was for three years secretary of the New York State League Building and 
Loan Association. October 20, 1885, he married Augusta, daughter of Rev. John G. 
Webster, of Palmyra, and they have two daughters. Samuel W., father of our subject, 
was born in Camden in 1821, and moved to Macedon in childhood. He came to Pal- 
myra about 1840, where he has since resided. He has served as assessor, trustee and 
president of the village. 

Sweeting, William H'., M.D., was born September 22, 1851, at Victory, Cayuga 
county. His father is Mortimer F. Sweeting, M.D., a native of Oneida county, who 
came into Wayne in 1853, being still a practicing physician at South Butler. His 
mother is Colan, daughter of Israel J. Clapp and Betsey (Swain) Clapp, of Butler, both 
deceased recently, at the advanced ages of ninety-seven and ninety-five, respectively. 
William H. Sweeting received the basis of his education in South Butler, and at nine- 
teen years of age entered Cornell University, taking a scientific course. At twenty- 
three he entered the office of the Deputy Secretary-of- State Anson S. Wood, as clerk of 
criminal statistics. In 1878 he began the study of medicine with his father, and a year 
later entered the Hahnemann Medical College at Chicago, remaining two years, and re- 



106 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

ceiving his diploma in 1881. He began practice in Lyons, removing to Savannah in 
1882, where he has since resided. January 15, 1885, he married Mary E. Van Wickle, 
daughter of Simon and Maria (Lloyd) Van Wickle, of Savannah, by whom he has two 
children: Charles Lloyd, born May 16, 1890, and Marjory Amelia, born May 14, 1893. 
Dr. Sweeting has a large practice, and is very popular among his townspeople. 

Sweeting, Volney K., was born in Camillus, Onondaga county, September 19, 1840, 
a son of Mortimer F. Sweeting; remained there until about ten years of age, when he 
removed to South Butler, Wayne county, was educated in the common and classical 
schools at that place. In September, 1861, he left school and enlisted in Company E, 
75th N. Y. Volunteers as a private, and continued with said regiment until the close of 
the war in 1865, receiving promotions to sergeant, first sergeant and second lieutenant. 
While second lieutenant had command of Company C; was with his regiment in the 
various engagements on Bayous La Fourche and Teche, and the Red River in Louisi- 
ana, and on the 14th of June, 1863, received a severe wound in the charge on Port 
Hudson on the Mississippi, from which he has never fully recovered. Also served on 
the James River, and in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, and after the battle of 
Cedar Creek left the Shenandoah Valley with his regiment, and proceeded to Savannah, 
Ga., where the regiment acted as a provost guard after its capture by General Sherman. 
After the close of the war returned to South Butler, and January 1, 1867, accepted the 
position of deputy county clerk with Judge T W. Collins, was also deputy clerk with 
A. H. Gates, and in the fall of 1875 was elected county clerk for a term of three years. 
In 1888 was elected county treasurer, and re-elected in 1891. In 1870 he married Anna 
E. Dratt, of South Butler, who lived but two years, and in 1876 he married H. Louise, 
daughter of Morton Brownson, of Lyons, and they have had two daughters, one of 
whom, Mary L. survives. Harriet T. died in 1893, aged thirteen years. • 

Taft, Newell, was born in Goshen, Mass., April 4, 1794, came to Wayne county, and 
settled in Lyons in 1816, where he established a manufacturing business, and as con- 
tractor and builder erected several dwellings and other buildings, and later established 
the first iron foundry in Wpyne county, where he put in practical operation the first 
steam engine ever used in the community. This foundry became justly celebrated 
throughout the State, and its products were shipped to all parts of the United States 
and Canada. He married Jane Sterrett, who was born in Elmira, and they had twelve 
children, five of whom are still living. He was a prominent business man of his town 
for over forty years, always interested in promoting its best interests, and particularly 
identified with the Presbyterian church, of which he was an elder and liberal supporter 
for more than fifty years. He died in December, 1874, at the age of eighty years, after 
a life which commanded the respect of all who knew him. His son, Col. Edward F. 
Taft, served in the 9th N. Y. Heavy Artillery, was wounded at the battle of Monocacy, 
and lost a leg. At the close of the war he was appointed United States consul to Nica- 
ragua, but the climate aggravated the enfeebled condition of his health, and he was ob- 
liged to return to his home in Lyons, where he died January 20, 1867. The youngest 
son, James N., was also in the 9th Artillery, leaving college to enlist after his brother 
Edward was wounded. He also gave up his life at the call of duty, his death resulting 
from exposure while in the service of his country. Morton Brownson, deceased, was 
born in Montgomery, Orange county, N. Y., December 15, 1816. Early in life he mani- 
fested a preference for mercantile pursuits, and while yet a young man was so fortunate 
as to accumulate a sum sufficient to enable him to embark in business on his own ac- 
couut. He came to Lyons in 1840 and established himself in the dry goods business. 
In 1842 he married Harriet J., eldest daughter of the late Deacon Newell Taft, who sur- 
vives him. Soon after he disposed of his interest in the dry goods trade and en- 
tered into partnership with his father-in-law, who at that time was owner of the iron 
foundry on Broad street. For several years prior to his death he was not engaged in 
any active business. His family consisted of his wife and five children : Newell T., 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 107 

who died in 1874 ; Willard EL, now commander in the United States navy ; Mrs. Vol. 
ney H. Sweeting; Albert M., who died in 1882; and Jennie T. Mr. Brownson was 
prominent and interested in all the leading events of the town. He died May 30, 1891, 

Sprague, John A., M.D., was born August 28, 1852, the only son of Dr. L. L. Sprague 
mentioned in this work. He was educated at Union Springs Academy, and studied 
medicine with his father for about four years, and graduated from the Medical Univer- 
sity of New York city in 1879. He located in his native village, where he has since had 
a successful practice. He has been coroner of Wayne county for three years, and health 
officer of Williamson from 1882 to March, 1893. Dr. Sprague is a member of Pultney- 
ville Lodge No. 159, F. & A. M., and of A. 0. U. W., and also of the Select Knights. 
He is a member of the Wayne County Medical Society, and of the New York State 
Medical Association. On October 2, 1879, he married Maud A. Stevens, of New York 
city, but a native of Ohio. Her mother was Harriet Giberson, and resides in William- 
son. Dr. Sprague and his wife have three children: Edward A., Georgia M., andLa- 
throp S. 

Smith, F. B., was born in East Rush, Monroe county, January 1, 1845. His father, 
Isaac O, was a native of the same county, the family originally coming from New 
Haven, Conn. Isaac 0. was a prominent farmer in his town, and died in 1884, aged 
sixty-nine years. F. B. Smith was educated in the common schools, to which he has 
added through life by reading and close observation; after which he returned to his 
father's farm, and in 1865 engaged in the livery business. In 1876 he engaged in the 
milling business, remaining there until burned out May 30, 1885, then, in 1886, came to 
Clyde and purchased the Clyde hotel property, one of the leading hotels in Central 
New York. At the age of twenty-one he married Adrienne C, daughter of Andrew 
Young, of Honeoye Falls, and they have three children: Charles M., F. Vernon, and 
Mrs. Lelia M. Cornwell, of Palmyra. Subject is identified in advancing the best inter- 
ests of the town. 

Spencer, John M., was born in Hillsdale, Columbia county, October 11, 1828. His 
father, Truman P., was a native of Columbia county. The family is of English descent, 
four brothers having come from England at the same time. John M. was educated in 
the common schools, to which he has added through life by reading and close observa- 
tion. In 1844 he came to Clyde and entered the employ of John S. Gay, and in 1850 
established the firm of Terry & Spencer, lumber dealers and builders. In 1852 he sold 
out and engaged ir the manufacturing of sash and blinds. After 1856 he made a spe- 
cialty of building and contract work. At the age of twenty-one he married Wealthy 
R., daughter of Peter Knapp, of East Newark, and they have had four children, two of 
whom are now living, Ford A., and Mrs. Christiana T. Brooks, of Clyde. Subject is 
one of the leading men of his town. 

Sherman, Durfee A., was born in East Palmyra June 24, 1815, was educated in the 
public schools, and succeeded his father in the distillery business. When he attained 
the age of twenty-one he sold the business and became a drover for twenty years. In 
1851 he moved to Newark, where he has since lived. He bought a warehouse where 
the opera house now stands, and became a dealer in produce and coal. In 1884 he 
erected the Sherman Opera House Block. February 9, 1837, he married Susan H. 
Fish, of Pultneyville, and they have five living children : Helen A., Francis A., Ste- 
phen F., Wilson H. and Julia. Mr. Sherman's father, Alexander, was born in Cam- 
bridge, New York, May 28, 1790, and came to this State with his parents when an in- 
fant, where they located in Palmyra. He married Amy Sherman, of this county, and 
they had six children: Ira D., Durfee A., Erastus, Abigail, Wilson O. and Myron, all 
deceased except our subject. Alexander died August 1, 1823, and his wife in 1832. 
Humphrey, the father of Alexander, was born in Rhode Island in 1758 and married 
Mary Durfee, of his native place. They had fourteen children, and settled in East Pal- 



los LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

myra, where they purchased from Phelps & Gorham 1,000 acres. Our subject's ma- 
ternal grandfather was a cousin of Roger Sherman, one of the signers of the Declara- 
tion of Independence. Mr. Sherman's father was a soldier in the war of 1812. Mr. 
and Mrs. Sherman celebrated their golden wedding February 9, 1887. 

Siegrist, Dr. Alois, was born in Meisterschwanden, Switzerland, October 5, 1823, was 
educated in the public schools, and studied surgery with his father, practicing three 
years. He then began the study of medicine and practiced both, doing military 
service on the German frontiers on the Rhine in 1848, and was assistant surgeon at the 
hospital. In 1S51 he came to this country, first locating in Rochester at the time of 
the cholera. In the fall of 1853 he came to Newark, having practiced with much suc- 
cess since. He married Mary Ann Taeschler, of his native country, and they have one 
son, who was educated in the Union Schools and Academy. He married Mary An- 
drews, of Newark, and they have two daughters, Ella and Marie. He is agent for his 
father in caring for his property. Dr. Siegrist is one of the foremost real estate owners 
in Newark. He is a member of the I. 0. 0. F., No. 250, of Newark, and a member of 
Wayne Encampment 85, I. 0. 0. F., and his father was town clerk and surgeon in the 
old home in Switzerland twenty-five years. His grandfather, Jacob Siegrist, was a 
surgeon in the French army under Napoleon I. 

Stow, De L., was born in Clyde September 4, 1841. His father, William S. Stow, 
was a native of Middletown, Vt., and came to Clyde and engaged in the practice of 
law, building the office now occupied by his son, and which has been the place of busi- 
ness of father and son for seventy years as a law and insurance office, and is claimed to 
be the oldest insurance office in the United States. He married Maria A. De Zeng, 
daughter of Mayor Frederick A. De Zeng, who was one of the first settlers in Clyde, 
and who was one of the nobility of Germany. Mr. De Zeng was born at Dresden and 
came to America during the Revolution as major of one of the German regiments. 
After the close of the war he was largely interested in public enterprises for the devel- 
opment of Western New York, and was the father of the glass industry of the United 
States. De L. Stow was educated at the Yates Polytechnic Institute and at Hobart 
College, Geneva. He read law with his father and was admitted to the bar December, 
1862, and engaged in general practice. He married Miss Eunice S. Scott, daughter of 
Jacob Scott, and to them the following children were born : William S. Stow, who died 
in 1884; Alice, Agnes and Edith. Mr. Snow has been police justice of his town for 
twenty years. 

Selby, Amos E., was born in the town of Nelson, near Cleveland, Ohio, in April 
1850. He is the oldest son of Stephen F. Selby, was educated at Shaw Academy, East 
Cleveland, and spent two years at the Western Reserve University at Hudson, O. He 
commenced his business career as builder and architect, which he followed for a number 
of years. He married, in 1883, Evalyn Warren, of Cleveland, who was born at Warren, 
O., and daughter of D. H. and Martha (Robinson) Warren. Mr. Warren was a shoe 
merchant. He died in 1868, and his wife resides in Cleveland. They are the direct 
descendants from the Joseph E. Warren of Revolutionary fame, and trace their ancestry 
to one of three brothers, who came to Massachusetts in the Mayflower. Mr. Selby 
came to the town of Williamson in the spring of 1883, and purchased the farm where he 
has since resided and is largely engaged in fruit growing and evaporting. Mrs. Selby is 
a member of the Disciple Church, but they attend and support the M. E. Church at 
Pultneyville. 

Sansbury, Alfred W., of Palmyra, was born in Princeton, N. J., in 1820, and came to 
Palmyra when about twenty-four years old. He clerked for Lovett & Scotten a few 
years, then for J. C. Lovett, who succeeded the above named firm, where he remained 
till the closing of the business. Mr. Sansbury then embarked in the furniture trade 
several years, but at the present time is not engaged actively in business. June 21, 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 100 

1854, he married Margaret A. Heminway.of Palmyra, the youngest of four children of 
Truman Heminway, of Palmyra, who died August 28,1863. Mrs. Sansbury's mother 
Mary (Aldrich) Heminway, died January 21, 1861. Mr. and Mrs. Sansbury have had 
these children: Alfred H., born February 8, 1857, died March 15, 1862; Mary Louise, 
born April 28, 1863, now Mrs. H. E. Milles, and Albert Truman, born June 18, 1866. 

Sherman, the late Wilson 0., was born in East Palmyra, Wayne county, April 16 
1821. He was educated in the public schools, and his early life was spent in that town. 
January 3, 1850, he married LydiaA., youngest child of Stephen and Lydia Fish, of 
Newark, and moved to Newark, N. Y., in 1853, and they had one son, Charles W., who 
was well educated. On account of ill health he had to abandon a college course. He 
became a coal merchant and died when he was twenty-seven years old. Mr. Sherman 
was a farmer and produce dealer. He died March 4, 1870. Mrs. Sherman's father, 
Stephen Fish, was born in Middlebury, Mass., May 19, 1778. April 18, 1805, he mar- 
ried Lydia Bowman, of Leverett, Mass., who was born July 5, 1784. They had these 
children : Henry, William B., Emeline, Mary M., Henry L., who was mayor of Ro- 
chester, where he resides ; Susanah H. and Lydia A. He died February 1, 1849. Mrs. 
Sherman's grandfather, William Bowman, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, 
and was a surveyor by occupation. He surveyed Montreal and Quebec. Her grand- 
mother lived until she was over one hundred years of age. They came here all the 
way from Massachusetts with ox teams. Mrs. Sherman has recently opened three new 
avenues, and within a year has sold nine building lots. 

Smith, Rufus, was born in the town Arcadia April 2, 1838. His early life was spent on 
a farm, and his education obtained in the common schools. He learned the trade of car- 
penter and joiner and was an efficient workman. He followed his trade until 1864, 
when he enlisted in Co. C, 111th Infantry, N. Y. Volunteers. He was in two general 
engagements and skirmishes, and was honorably discharged at the close of the war. 
Mr. Smith is a member of Vosburg Post, No. 99, G-. A. R., department of New York, 
and has filled the position of senior vice-commander. Mr. Smith's father, Tunis M. 
Smith, was born in Columbia county, January 30, 1798. He married Catherine 
Fosmire, who was born July 30, 1807. They came to Bethel soon after marriage. 
They had ten children as follows: Stephen, James, Andrew, Charlotte, Julia A., 
Francis, Rufus, Eliza E., Celesta and Edwin, only four now living. He died March 24. 
1874, and his wife January 20, 1883. The ancestry of this family is German and 
Dutch. They came to Western New York about the year 1820, and when they located 
in the town of Arcadia soon after, it was little more than a wilderness, the family were 
identified with the progress and prosperity of the town. Wild beasts were plenty, 
flocks of deer used to roam in the woods, with plenty of wild game. 

Sands, Edwin, was born in Elbridge, Onondaga county, September 12, 1836. His 
father, Daniel Sands, was a native of Maine, and came to Jordan in 1816, where he 
was one of the prominent farmers of the town, and died in 1872 at seventy years of 
age. Edwin Sands was educated at Jordan Academy, after which he returned to his 
father's farm. In 1865 he leased the Franklin House in Clyde, and in 1866 he pur- 
chased the well-known Sands farm of ninety acres. Five years later Mr. Sands 
established a flour and feed business, to which he added a large line of fine groceries 
and crockery, also provisions. At the age of twenty-three he married Emily Abrams, 
daughter of Harvey Abrams, and they are the parents of two children, Herbert and 
Mrs. Laura Corrin. Mr. Sands has held office as trustee and has been elected super- 
visor. 

Skinner, Salmon H., was born in Ballston, Saratoga county, January 9, 1816. His 
father, Major Adonijah Skinner, cavalry commander, was a, native of Connecticut, and 
also a prominent farmer in Cambridge, N Y. He afterwards moved to Monroe county, 
and died there on September 13, 1833, at the age of seventy-three. Salmon H. was 



110 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

educated in the common schools, after which he returned to his father's farm. At the 
age of twenty -four he married Sarah H., daughter of Joseph Sanford, and they have 
six children, four of whom are now living, one son, Charles S., and three daughters: 
Mrs. Alice McCutcheon, Sarah and Mary. In 1854 he came to Clyde and purchased the 
Clyde hotel property, which he exchanged for mill property in 1850. The same year 
he purchased a farm of 107 acres, which he now owns, raising fruit, hay, grain and 
stock. His family was of English extraction, and took a prominent part in the Revo- 
lutionary war. 

Stuart, Charles W., was born in Greene county, September 21. 1837. He was edu- 
cated in the district schools in that county until he was fourteen years old, when the 
family moved to Syracuse, where he finished his education He learned the jeweler's 
trade, and manufactured it ten years. In 1804 he came to Newark and began the 
nursery business, purchasing of parties who were in the business in a small way. In a 
short time he formed a co-partnership with his brother, John E., under the firm name 
of C. W. Stuart Bros. May 9, 1800, he married Caroline Emmons, of Greenwich, 
Fairfield county, Conn., and they have five children : Mary A., Charles H., Carolina M., 
Sarah R. and Kenneth E. Mary A. married E. V. Pierson, of Newark ; Caroline M. 
married George H. Perkins, of Newark; Charles H. is in partnership with his father, in 
the retail department of the business. He was educated in Cornell University, where 
the youngest son is pursuing his studies at the present time. Mr. Stuart's father. Wil- 
liam Harvey, was born in Greene county, January 7, 1810. In 1835 he married Adeline 
Boardman, of Westerlo, Albany county, and they had four children, one died in in- 
fancy : Charles W., Silas B. and John E. He died by accident at a political gathering, 
A heavy wagon, drawn by forty-six yoke of oxen, ran over him. His wife resides with 
Charles W. Mrs. Stuart's father. Isaac Emmons, was born in New York, September 10, 
1799, was educated in that city, and in early life was a grocer. Afterwards he re- 
moved to Connecticut. June 12, 1827, he married Mary E. Smith, who was born in 
Brooklyn, and they had ten children, seven survive: Henry O., Mary L., Francis, 
Amelia, Caroline, Virginia and Eliza. He died February 15, 1881, and his wife No- 
vember 5, 1880. Mrs. Stuart's father, Obed Smith, ran the first steamer up the North 
river. He was a sea man, who sailed all over the globe. This Smith family can be 
traced to the Mayflower, to John and Priscilla Alden. The ancestry of this family are 
Scotch and English. 

Sands, Alexander, was born in Westchester county, September 25, 1822. His father 
was Stephen, son of Samuel, who was a pioneer of Westchester county. The father of 
Samuel was .lames, who came from England in an early day. lie purchased Block 
Island of the natives and some of the family are still on the island. The grandfather 
of subject, Samuel, was a farmer in Westchester county, and the homestead is still in 
the family. He and wife were Quakers. Stephen and family came to Cayuga county, 
in 1823, and bought a farm where they lived and died, he in 1805, aged seventy-four 
years. His wife was Charity Piatt, and they had three sons and two daughters, all now 
living. She died in 1890, aged ninety- five years. Subject was reared on the farm, has 
been wool speculator about twenty years, and in the mercantile business at Lakeside a 
while where he built a store building. He noAV has 225 acres mostley bought and set- 
tled on in 1840, of which about 140 acres is set to large fruits of all kinds. In 1845 he 
married Abigail I. Bates, born in 1824, and daughter of Orlando and Irene D. Bates, 
of Orleans county. Mrs. Bates was a Durfee, and died in 1829. Mr. Bates was a 
farmer and miller, and died March 15, 1870. Mr. and Mrs. Sands have no children, but 
they reared a boy, John Scott, who studied law with Judge Cowles. He raised a com- 
pany of volunteers in Wisconsin, who chose him captain, but he took sick and died at 
Mound City, 111. Mr. Sands is a Republican, has been twenty-five years postmaster at 
Lakeside, was provost marshal and enroling officer of the town during the war. They 
attend and support the M. E. church. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. Ill 

Smith, J. E., M. D., was born in Hartwick, Otsego county, August 3, 1829. His 
father, Chester, was a prominent farmer of that town and married Mary Ann, daughter 
of Dr. George W. Arnold, and sister of the late Hon. I. N. Arnold of Chicago. Both 
families came from Rhode Island. His mother died at New Rochelle, in October, 1859. 
His father died at Clyde, September 9, 1892, at the advanced age of ninety-two. Dr. 
Smith was educated at Franklin Institute, Delaware county, and at Hartwick Seminary, 
and graduated in medicine at the College of Physicians & Surgeons, New York in 1854. 
He first located at Corning, N. Y., forming a co-partnership with Dr. Rufus H. Gilbert 
of that place, but after a few months moved to Waterloo, N. Y., purchasing the prop- 
erty and practice of Dr. 0. S. Patterson, where he remained nearly two years till failing 
health obliged him to give up a large and lucrative practice. He came to Clyde in the 
fall of 1856, purchasing the drug store owned by Charles E. Piatt which he conducted 
till the fall of 1860, when he again attended a course of medical lectures at the Jeffer- 
son Medical College, Philadelphia, resuming the practice of his profession in the spring 
of 1861, making a specialty of chronic diseases. He has since frequently spent several 
weeks in New York at hospital and dispensary clinics, in order to keep himself abreast 
of the progress of his profession At the age of twenty-five he married Mary E., 
daughter of George H. Derbyshire of Hartwick Seminary. Our subject is one of the 
oldest and leading members of his profession to which his life work has been devoted, 
caring little for social distinction or the emoluments of political life, but finding more 
congenial work in the line of his profession. 

Seavey, Alvah H., was born in Galen, September 23, 1843, son of John Seavey born 
in Conway, N. H., in 1807, who was first a school teacher, later a dry goods clerk, 
then a sailor, and came to Wayne county in 1840 and followed farming. He came to 
Huron in 1854, served in various town offices, and died in 1881. His wife was Amanda 
Gunn and their children were: Joseph, Josiah, Alvah H., Mary and Helena, wife of 
D. M. Otis of Wolcott. Our subject began for himself early in life and for many years 
devoted himself to saw-milling. In 1861 he enlisted in the 75th N. Y. Volunteers, and 
was discharged on account of disability. In 1864 here-enlisted in the 22d N. Y. 
Cavalry, and served till the close of the war, and went through the campaign of the 
Shenandoah Valley. In 1865 he engaged in farming and threshing, in 1875 engaged 
in the cooperage business, since which time he has been engaged in fruit growing. In 
1867 he married Emily H., daughter of Roswell E. Reed, of Huron, born in 1848. 
They have one adopted child, Grace L. Subject is a member of the G. A. R., Keesler 
Post No. 55, of Wolcott. 

Smith, Hastings B., was born in Marion, June 2, 1852, son of Dwight and Susan 
(Burred) Smith, he a native of Amherst, Mass., born September 3, 1813, and she a native 
of England. The grandparents were Samuel and Mary (Hastings) Smith, of Amherst, 
Mass., who came to Marion in 1828, where the father died, aged sixty-one. The mother 
spent her last days with her son in Tioga county. Pa., where she died, aged ninety-one. 
At the age of fourteen Dwight Smith went to live with Joseph Colwell, brother-in-law, 
and has always followed farming. His first wife was Mary Rice, by whom he had one 
daughter, Harriet, wife of Peter De Wolf, of Marion. He bought the farm where he 
now resides in 1839. He built a saw-mill on the farm, and was for many years en- 
gaged in the manufacture of lumber. He has been supervisor of Marion five years. 
Hastings B., was educated in Marion Collegiate Institute. He spent five years of his 
younger days traveling in the west. He returned to Marion, and in 1880 married 
Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas and Abigail (Howell) Negus, and they have seven 
daughters : Carrie,Cassie, Eva, Leah, Mabel, Annie and Mildred. In 1887 Mr. Smith took 
charge of the homestead farm, which he still carries on. He is also an ice dealer, and 
furnishes ice for the village of Marion. He is a member of the K. 0. T. M., Security 
Tent, No. 137. 



112 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Sprague, L. S., M.D., was born in Bristol, Ontario county, April 22, 1820, one of eight 
children of Dr. Philetus and Laura Seymour Sprague, the former born in 1780, and the 
latter in 1783. They came to Bristol from Connecticut in an early day and went to 
Cayuga county in 1822, and in 1850 they removed to Battle Creek, Mich., and there Dr. 
Sprague died in 1853, and his wife in 1858. He was a member of the Medical Society 
of Cayuga county. L. S. Sprague was reared on a farm until twelve years of age, and 
was educated in Mexicoville and Skaneateles Academies. At the age of twenty-one he 
went to Kenosha, Wis., and read medicine for two years with Dr. E. C. Mygatt, and 
then one year with his father ; also spent one year with Dr. E. W. Bottum in Huron, 
Wayne county. He next took a course at Geneva Medical College, from which he 
graduated in 1845, and began his practice in South Sodus, where he remained four 
years. He came to Williamson in 1849, where he has a very successful practice. He 
is a member of the Wayne county Medical Society, and an honorary member of the 
New York State Medical Society ; also a fellow of the New York State Medical Asso- 
ciation. Dr. Spragne married. June 29, 1849, Mary, daughter of Dr. Josiah Bennett, 
and she died, August, 1877. Dr. Sprague and wife have had two children, Dr. J. A. 
Sprague, and Ellen J., born in 1858, and now wife of Jacob Collier, of Williamson, and 
they have also an adopted daughter, Mary C, born in 1870. 

Towar, Alex. H., was born in Alloway, August 14, 1836. His father was among the 
earliest settlers in the town. A. H. Towar was educated in the Lyons Union School, 
after which he learned the jewelers' trade with W. D. Perrine. and remained ten years, 
In 1861 he entered the service of the United States as purveyor to Jefferson county 
35th Regiment, in connection with E. A. Dickerson, and re-entered the service at the 
expiration of his term of two years with the 50th Engineer Corps and remained until 
the close of the war, and then returned to Lyons and bought a farm, making a specialty 
of coach and road horses. In 1892 he established the New Haven Silver Plate Com- 
pany, which he still carries on. At the age of twenty-six he married Harriet E., 
daughter of Alexander B. Williams, of Lyons, and has one daughter, Frederica Towar. 
Our subject is one of the most active business men in his town, taking an interest in all 
educational and religious matters. 

Towar, H. T., was born in Lyons September 2, 1832. His father, James, born in 
1806, was also a native of the town. The grandfather was Henry Towar, and came to 
Wayne county with Charles Williamson, agent of the Pultney estate, and settled in 
Alloway, where he was prominently known, erecting the mills and dug the raceway 
at that place. He came from Alloa, Scotland, and gave the name of Alloway to that 
place, where he settled. The family were among the French Huguenots that were 
driven out of France by the revocation of the edict of Nantes and went to Scotland, 
and came from there to the United States. Henry Towar conveyed Louis Phillippe, 
King of France (in exile), from Newtown (now Elmira) to Harrisburg on a flat boat. 
H. T. Towar was educated in the Lyons Union School, after leaving which he chose 
the profession of dentistry, studying under E. W. Sylvester, of Lyons, and estab- 
lished himself in business in 1855, and which he now carries on. At the age of 
thirty-one he married Mary A., daughter of Hon. Alexander B. Williams. Our sub- 
ject is one of the leading men in his profession in Lyons, identified in advancing the 
best interests of his town also in educational and religious matters, and has been con- 
nected with the Grace church of Lyons since 1852, and is now senior warden. 

Taylor, William, was born in Sodus, Wayne county, July 26, 1844. His father, E. P. 
Taylor, came from Northampton, Mass., to Lyons in 1805, and was one of the first 
tanner and curriers in Wayne county, and the business is still continued by his son, 
who makes a specialty of rough and sole leather. Our subject was educated in Lyons 
Union School, to which he has added through life by reading and close observation. 
At the age of twenty-four he married Mary M., daughter of Alfred Underhill, of 
New York, and they have three children : Willard U., Morgan D., and Myron C. He 



FAMILY SKETCHES. II'! 

takes an active intelligent interest in educational and religious matters, and is identified 
in advancing the best interests of his town, and is recognized as a man of high business 
ability and sterling worth. 

Warner, John A., was born in Ontario August 12, 1835, the third child of eleven 
children born to Alanson and Catharine (Albright) Warner, natives of Worthington 
Mass., and Holland respectively, she being five years old when she came to America! 
In 1816 Alanson Warner came to Ontario with his parents, Andrew and Chloe (Fair- 
man) Warner. Andrew Warner was born in Mansfield, Conn., in the year 1778, the 
son of Matthew and Eunice (Stowel) Warner. Matthew Warner's paternal ancestor 
was one of those brothers, who came from England at an early day previous to the 
Revolutionary War. Matthew Warner had a brother named Andrew, who was a 
soldier in the Revolutionary War, and who had a powder horn made for him and carved 
with his name and a picture of the first liberty pole ever raised in America. This 
powder horn descended to his nephew, Andrew Warner, who was a teamster in the 
War of 1812, and is still in the possession of the family of our subject. Alanson 
Warner was a farmer and spent his days in Ontario. He died November 3, 1883, and 
his wife now lives in Ontario at the age of 83. His father died in Ontario in 1871 and 
his mother in 1867. John A, Warner was reared on a farm, educated in the common 
schools and Walworth and Macedon Academies, is a carpenter by trade and followed it 
thirty-three years. He also owns a farm of ninety-seven acres, follows general farming 
and fruit raising and has fifteen acres of orchard and six acres of berries. Mr. Warner 
is a Republican, and he and his family are members of the Second Advent church. He 
married in 1860 Harriet Morris, a native of Springwater, Livingston county, N. Y., 
born July 10, 1838, daughter of Lyman and Anna (Millet) Morris. He is a native of 
Cazenovia, Madison county, and she of Williamson, Wayne county, N. Y. They had 
ten children and died in Livingston county, he April 18, 1865, and she May 11, 1874. 
Subject and wife have had six children : Clarence M., Rosco D., deceased ; S. Edith, A. 
Emma, deceased ; Francis L. and Arthur A. 

Waldorf, Reuben, was born in Columbia county, N. Y., in 1840. His father, Peter 
Waldorf, now eighty-two years of age, is a resident of Clyde. His mother, Hannah 
died in 1884, leaving a family of ten children, of whom our subject is the sole represen- 
tative in Wolcott. Until 1870 he remained at Clyde with his parents, purchasing at 
that time the farm, where he has since^resided. February 16, 1869, he married Lottie, 
daughter of Henry Sheldon, and of their four children, two are now living: Harry, 
born March 11, 1872, and Frank, born February 11, 1877. Lena, born June 26, 1870^ 
died in infancy, and Mae, born November 4, 1873, died when 18 years. old. The eldest 
son, Harry, is a graduate of the 0. C. Seminary at Cazenovia, N. Y., and now occupies 
a position as teacher at Leavenworth Institute, Wolcott, N. Y. 

Wood, Sidney W., was born in Kingston, Ulster county, April 10, 1829. His 
father, Israel Wood, a native of G-oshen, N. Y., came to Wayne county in 1830, and 
purchased a farm in the southwest part of Galen. He died in 1834, aged 44 years. S. 
W. Wood was educated in the common schools, after which he learned the machinist's 
trade at Geneva. In 1866 he came to Clyde and established the machine works, in 
connection with his brother, Seth H., which is now carried on under the firm name of 
S. W. Wood & Son, manufacturers of portable and stationary steam engines and 
boilers, and for which they have received awards from all parts of the States of New 
York, Pennsvlvania, Michigan and Maryland. At the age of twenty-five he married 
Catherine Whitmore, who died in 1868, and in 1876 he married second Catherine 
Queeman. By his first wife he had three children : Henry S., Ray G. and Ella. 

Taintor, C. A. L,, was born in Butler, where he now resides, January 24, 1845. He 
is the youngest son of the late John R. Taintor, M. D., who died in 1879, aged 



114 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

eventy-five. John R. Taintor wasjoneof the early settlers of Butler/erecting amidHis 
primeval forest a frame house, which is now the home of his son, C. A. Taintor. in 
wife, Roxana, was the mother of eight children, and died in 1879. John R. died 
1866, aged about seventy-five years. 

Ellenwood, Ensign W. (deceased), was born October 26, 1818, in the town of Butler 
and early in life removed to the town of Rose. At the age of twenty- three he married 
Catherine, the adopted daughter of Benjamin Fisk, who died in 1887. Mr. Illenwood 
married in 1889 Mrs. Sarah J. Brant, daughter of John Holmes, of Salisbury, Conn. 
Our subject was a prominent man in his town and county, was banker fifteen years at 
Wolcott, and a large dealer in real estate in different parts of the county. Highly 
educated and intelligent, he was a passionate lover of music, and was for some years 
teacher throughout his county. He was killed in crossing the railroad track at New- 
ark. He was seventy- one years of age on the day of the accident. Egbert Brant 
(deceased), was born in Dutchess county in 1821, came to Wayne county in 
1826, and settled in Sodus. He followed farming, and buying and shipping cat- 
tle. At the age of twenty he married Sarah J. Holmes. He was prominently 
identified in advancing the best interests of his town, and took a leading part in the 
formation of the militia of his county in 1839, holding the rank of sergeant, lieutenant 
and captain, and quartermaster, till they disbanded. In the fall of 1862 he was taken 
ill, confined to the house all winter, and continued in gradually weakening health till 
his death, April 2, 1875, regretted by all who knew him. He bore his sufferings with 
the greatest patience, and those who knew him best loved him most. 

Bumpus, E. D., was born in Madison county, January 30, 1831, son of James and 
Eliza A. (Caswell) Bumpus, he a native of Nelson. Madison county, born in 1798, and 
she a native of Fenner, same county, born in 1801. The paternal grandfather, Salathiel 
Bumpus, was a native of Massachusetts and came to Nelson, Madison county in 1794, 
where he died. The maternal grandfather was Zelotus Caswell, who died in Fenner 
Madison county. The father of subject died in Fenner July 5, 1871, and his wife in 
1876. Subject was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools. He went, 
to California in 1859, engaged in mining for seven years, and in 1869 settled on the 
farm he now owns of 150 acres, and follows general farming. He married in 1865 
Charlotte Whipple, a native of Fenner, Madison county, and daughter of Elisha and 
Lucy Whipple, who died in Nelson, Madison county. He attends and supports the 
M. E. Church. 

Stalker, Robert, a native of Rochester was born September 19, 1843, son of Isaac 
and Esther (Clague) Stalker, he a native of Isle of Man, born in 1813, and she a native 
of the same place, born in 1809. The paternal grandfather was Thomas Stalker a 
native of England, who emigrated from the Isle of Man to Rochester in 1828, where he 
died in 1857. His wife was Catharine Lord, a native of Isle of Man and of Scotch de- 
scent. She died in Rochester in 1856. The father of subject was a wool sorter by 
occupation, and came to Rochester in 1826 where he died in 1885. He was secretary 
of the old volunteer fire department in Rochester, was an exempt fireman at the time of 
his death, and a member of the police force for a number of years. His wife died in 
1887. Subject was reared in Rochester, was a wool sorter twenty years, and was on 
the police force from 1873 to 1877. He was also a member of the old volunteer fire 
• department a number of years. He came in 1878 to Walworth and purchased forty 
acres, but now owns seventy acres. He married, July 5, 1869, Henrietta Deane, a 
native of East Walworth and daughter of John and Mary (Mercer) Deane, natives of 
England who came to Walworth in an early day, and died in Macedon. Mr. Stalker 
and wife have four children: Charles A., born March 11, 1870, in Rochester, and educated 
in the Walworth and Macedon Academies. He has followed farming and also was a 
book-keeper for William Stalker of Rochester, and was in the hospital one year, where 
he had his right leg amputated. He is a regular correspondent for the Wayne County 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 115 

Dispatch. He now holds the office of collector for the second time, and is secretary 
of the Phoenix Lodge No. 276, I. 0. G. T. ; Eobert W., born March 27, 1872, who 
resides at hcne and has charge of the farm; Harriet E., born August 29, 1874, and 
died October 15, 1883; and LillieB., born August 26, 1884. 

Hoyt, Daniel, was born in Marion August 22, 1821, son of George and Harriet 
(Skinner) Hoyt, he a native of Poinpey, Onondaga county, born June 29, 1796, and 
she a native of New York, born in Marion April 8, 1800. George Hoyt came to 
Marion with his parents, Asahel and Rhoda Hoyt, who lived and died in Marion. He 
was a butcher by trade and died November 13, 1848, and his wife in Walworth March 
7, 1871. In 1850 Mrs. Hoyt married a second time John McCall, born in 1798, justice 
of the Peace in Walworth. He came from Monroe county previous to the war. and 
died September 9, 1870. Our subject learned the blacksmith and carriagemaker's trade, 
followed it twenty-eight years and then purchased in 1861 the farm he owns at present 
of sixty-five acres, He is a member of the Patrons of Husbandry. He married twice, 
first in February, 1853, Mariett Cogswell, a native of Marion and daughter of Joseph 
Cogswell, by whom he had two children, Egeron E., born January 5, 1854, wife of 
George L. Lee, a merchant of Walworth. They have three children, Clinton, Marietta, 
and Daniel H. ; Frank M., born June 21, 1855, who graduated from Bellevue Medical 
Colleee in 1878 and practiced medicine in Brookline until his death July 15, 1887. His 
wife was Isabelle Sinn, a native of Maryland, by whom he had two children, Frank M. 
and Walter S. Mrs. Hoyt died April 15, 1870, and in December, 1871, he married 
Esther G. Chase, a native of Walworth, born in March, 1836, a daughter of Lyman 
and Martha A. (Andrews) Chase, natives of Massachusetts, he coming to Walworth in 
1819, where he died. He was a cooper by trade and farmer, and they had nine chil- 
dren. By a previous marriage to Comfort Green he had five children. Mr. Chase died 
in 1864 and his wife in 1884. 

Baker, J. W., born in Kent county, England, July 16, 1825, is the only child of 
William W. and Charlotte (Eves) Baker, natives of England. He was born in 1803 
and his wife in 1806. They came to Rochester in 1837, settled in Rochester, where Mr. 
Baker died in 1862 and his wife in March, 1878. Our subject was raised in Rochester, 
coming there at the age of twelve. He learned the carpenter's trade at twenty-four, 
went to Marion and there resided four years, when he came to Walworth, where he 
has since resided. He worked at his trade a short time, when in 1859 he engaged in 
the mercantile business, in which he has been successful. Mr. Baker has been post- 
master thirty-one years, first appointed in 1861. He married September 10, 1846, 
Lucy A. Potter, a native of Marion, born April 20, 1825, daughter of Thomas and 
Rowena (Hill) Potter. Mr. Baker and wife have had three children: William A., 
born October 1, 1847, who was educated in Walworth Academy and Rochester Uni- 
versity, from which he graduated. He married Catharine Kane, a native of Roches- 
ter, by whom he has had two children : George W., who died aged nine months, and 
Minnie A., bom September 9, 1874 ; Charles H., born November 30, 1849, who was 
educated in Walworth Academy. He married in 1883 Emily Parker, by whom he had 
one son, John E., who died in infancy ; and Laura E., born August 10, 1851, educated 
in Walworth Academy. She married Dr. H. L. Chase, of Palmyra, and they have two 
children, Hattie and Willie. 

Hoag, Myron L., Macedon Center, was born May 17, 1840, in Walworth. Humphrey 
H., his father, was born in Macedon December 22, 1810, always followed farming, and 
is still living in Macedon. Benjamin Hoag, the grandfather of our subject, was one of 
the pioneer settlers. Humphrey Hoag held the office of supervisor and highway com- 
missioner several years. He married in March, 1836, Rachel L. Briggs, and they had 
four children : Isaac R., Henry C, Lindley M. and our subject, Myron L. Our subject 
is a farmer, and at present is an extensive landowner in'Madecon. He married, Febru- 



116 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

ary 8, 1866, Alice Smith, daughter of A. C. Smith, and they have had four children : 
Nora E., Lena A., Willard S. (deceased) and Marian E. The family are devout mem- 
bers of the M. E. Church. 

John E. Baker was born on his present farm in 1836. His father, John Baker, was 
born in England, came to this country in 1832, returned to England and married Eliz- 
abeth Hall, and in 1883 settled here and bought the farm now owned by our subject. 
In his family there were seven children including John E. Baker, who married Mary J. 
Park in 1868, she a resident of Gates, Monroe county, and daughter of John and Rachel 
Park. They are the parents of five children: Emma B. Everett, Fred D. of Rochester, 
E. Percy, Albert M., and John, at home, the latter being the fifth John Baker by direct 
descent. Mr. Baker is now justice of the peace in his third year. He is secretary and 
treasurer of the Producers' Milk Company of Rochester, which has thirteen wagons now 
running in the city, and in politics is a Republican. 

Darling, Martin, was born in Milan, Dutchess county, February 28, 1840, son of the 
late Peter Darling, who died December 27, 1891, aged eighty-two. Martin, educated 
at Leavenworth Institute at Wolcott, taught a select school at Rose for a time, also in 
the public schools. Some years of his earlier life were spent in Lowell, Mich., in a 
wholesale grocery. Returning to Wayne county he traveled with tinware and house- 
hold utensils until the opening of the Civil War, when he went to the front with Co. 
D, of the 9th Artillery, a participant in their hard fought battles- until disabled while in 
the hands of Mosby's guerrillas. January 11, 1866, he married Phoebe, daughter of Daniel 
Lovejoy of Rose. Mr. Darling is a Republican, and while in Michigan was a deputy 
sheriff. He is a member of the Odd Fellows and the Grand Army of the Republic. 

Tator, Jacob, was born in Columbia county September 12, 1816. He was educated 
in the district schools, and has always followed farming. January 30, 1845, he mar- 
ried Phoebe T. Shumway of his own county, and they have one son, Cyrus A., who is 
a business man in the gents furnishing goods business in Newark. The family came to 
Phelps, Ontario county in 1859, where they resided until 1883 when he retired, but still 
owns the farm. The son, Cyrus A., was born at the old home in Columbia county Feb- 
ruary 28, 1847. He has married twice, first October 12, 1870, Mary J. Burgess of 
Phelps, and they had one son Oay E., born November 3, 1879. She died November 
27, 1880, and he married second October 5, 1887, Estella Cline, by whom he has one 
daughter. Bertha C. Mr. Tator's father, George A., was born in Columbia county 
March 8, 1877. He married twice, first to Gertrude Groat, by whom he had eleven 
children: Henry, died young; George, Mary, Gustina, Catherine, William, Hannah, 
Peter, John, Jacob, and Gertrude. Mrs. Tator died November 30, 1818. He married 
second Mrs. Rebecca Miller, by whom he had six children : Margaret, Sophia, Harriet, 
David, Sarah, and Henry second. Mr. Tator died irt 1832 and his wife in 1862. Mrs. 
Jacob Tator's father, Iaaac Shumway, was born in Ohio September 6, 1786, and died 
January 22, 1865. He married Mary Evans, born April 29, 1787, died October 23, 
1861. They had eleven children. He was a soldier of the War of 1812. The family 
came to reside here in 1848, 

Clasby, Patrick W., was born in the province of Minster, Ireland, March 15, 1827, 
came to the United States in 1848 and in 1856 to Clyde. At the age of thirty-two he 
married Bridget Mulligan, daughter of Michael Mulligan, by whom he has three sons: 
William J., Francis P., and James H., also one daughter, Mrs. Maria Crawley. In 1862 
he bought the Darius Cole property of fifty acres, and in 1870 he bought the Sigmund 
property of fifty acres. In 1872 he added fifty acres of the Abraham Ferguson farm, 
and in 1887 bought fourteen acres of L. Malchoff, having nearly 165 acres in all, on 
which he raises fruit, hay, grain and, stock. Our subject is one of the representative 
farmers of Wayne county, taking an active interest in school and church matters. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 117 

Smith, Gideon, of Macedon, was born here February 16, 1820, a son of Asa Smith a 
native of Farmington, Ontario county, and a son of Jonathan Smith, one of the first 
settlers of the town of Farmington, and a native of Massachusetts. The latter took 
up a large tract of land in Farmington, and was one of the first to build a dam at 
Manchester. He was killed at an early age, while raising a new building. Asa was a 
mechanic, and also followed farming. He married Anna Herendeen, daughter of Wel- 
come Herendeen. The mother of Anna was a member of the Durfee family of Pal- 
myra. Asa and wife had these children: Elizabeth D., a namesake of her grand- 
mother Durfee; Gideon H., Addison C, who died at an early age; George W., now in 
California; Hulda Peacock (deceased), and Martha J. Appleby (deceased). Our sub- 
ject worked at home until May, 1841, when he married Mary S., daughter of William 
and Anna Clark, of Dutchess county, and settled on the farm he now owns in Mace- 
don, comprising 114 acres. To this place he has added until he now owns 290 acres. 
He has also just bought another of thirty acres, part of the old Colvin farm. Mr. 
Smith is the oldest man living in the town who was born here, and has resided con- 
tinually, a strict attendant at the Friends' church, of which Mrs. Smith has been a life 
member, and in politics is a Republican. 

Palmer, William A., was born in Argyle, Washington county, May 22, 1847, son of 
Levi H. Palmer, born in Butler, Wayne county, in 1826. The grandfather was William 
Palmer. Levi married Eleenor Sebring, of Wolcott, and their children are: William 
A., Mrs. Amanda To'ungs, Levi and John. At the age of fourteen subject began life 
for himself, has always been industrious and upright, and built a home for and sup- 
ported his parents in their old age. In 1885 he purchased his present farm near the 
village of Wolcott, and from 1877 to 1880 was interested as traveling salesman in the 
nursery business. In 1880 he married Mary M., daughter of Elias Lasher, of Mont- 
gomery county. Subject and wife are members of the Wolcott Grange. 

Watkins, R. H, M.D., only son of Ralph and Emily Watkins, of Camillus, Onondasra 
county, was born January 5, 1861. His father was a civil engineer and died in the 
vicinity of Pike's Peak in 1860, while engaged in the United States geodetic survey. 
His fate was never definitely ascertained. Mrs. Watkins thenceforward devoted her 
life and energies to the education and advancement of her son. She died at her home 
in Wolcott June 8, 1890, aged sixty-two years. Dr. Watkins was graduated from 
Syracuse University in 1883, and after a year of practice at St. Joseph's Hospital, 
Syracuse, he assumed medical direction of the Onondaga county insane. In 1888 he 
came to Wolcott. He married, July 15, 1891, M. Addie, daughter of H. E. Cornwell, 
of Wolcott. 

Wheeler, Hiland Hill, was born at Cairo, Greene county, November 23, 1808, 
the offspring of three of the early and iufluential families of Connecticut, his mother, 
Grizel Osborn, his grandmother, Sally Burr. His father, Eli Wheeler, who had emi- 
grated from New England, came to Butler in 1810 with his aged parent, Jedediah 
Wheeler, who, dying soon after, was the first white man known to be buried in that 
town. Reared in the wilderness, scholastic advantages were rare ; but native talent 
and a desire for mental development and knowledge made up for the lack. A few 
months' attendance in the common schools and a short course with Dr. Ostrander at his 
academy in Lyons supplementing a habit of assimilating whatever came under his ob- 
servation, keen at all times, made him a more than ordinary scholar — an educated man. 
In early manhood he went West in search of fortune, and spent a season in Cincinnati, 
but ill-health compelled his return. He went to New York city, studied law, and 
practiced successfully till about the year 1860. Financial reverses, the loss of three 
children in quick succession, the disappointments incident to his life, a retiring disposi- 
tion, a love of quiet study and attachment for the home of his childhood brought him 
back to his country residence, where he passed his days until his death, July 1, 1894. 
In 1842 he was married to Margaret, the daughter of Robert Mathison, a merchant of 



118 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

New York city, and Sarah Nelson, his wife, of Scotch-Irish and English parentage. 
She died in the year 1865. They had eight children : Annie, Hiland H., Robert M., 
Margaret, Lauder M,, Thurlow W., Claude H., and Stella, of whom the former two 
and the latter two survive. He was a mettlesome boy, full of life and activity, 
physically and mentally ; a business man, prompt, thorough, clear-headed, painstaking, 
and capable of great endurance ; a citizen, quiet, law-abiding, patriotic, honorable; a 
husband and father, generous, indulgent, and loving ; a friend and neighbor, kind, 
sympathetic, self-denying, and benevolent; a gentleman of the old school, courteous 
and reserved ; a Christian, pure, devout, and consistent ; a man of rare exactness and 
patient persistence, in intellectual acquisition, and in the proper conduct of life accord- 
ing to the standard of principles adopted in early life, maintained unflinchingly. His 
motto was, " Be calm," and his self-control was remarkable. He took a deep and 
lively interest in the affairs and progress of the whole world, reading, thinking, and 
writing about them almost to the day of his death. Extreme diffidence and a too 
great confidence in the rectitude of humanity interfered with the obtaining of such a 
measure of what men call success in life, as his talents unquestionably entitled him, and 
as he doubtless desired. But his life was successful in the accomplishment of the wish 
he often expressed. The world is the better off for his having lived in it. 

Fisher, John N., was born in Williamson November 16, 1857. He is the youngest of 
four children of James and Diana (Laco) Fisher, who settled in Williamson in 1844, 
where he died in 1866, and his wife in 1893. Mr. Fisher was always a farmer, and was 
a Republican. Subject was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools. 
He has made his own way in the world, owns thirty-seven and one-half acres of land, 
and follows general farming and fruit growing. He was a Republican. He married in 
February, 1887, Jennie Wemesfelder, a native of Walworth, and daughter of Jacob and 
Mary Wemesfelder, and they have had one child, Mervyn, born November 11, 1887. 

Garlock, Frank, was born in the town of Phelps, Ontario county, October 4, 1852. 
He was educated in the district schools in the town of Manchester, came to Newark 
and attended the Union school and Academy. At the age of seventeen he became a 
clerk in the post-office and was a clerk for two years. He then came to the store he 
now occupies and owns, as clerk for J. S. Cronise & Co., eight years; then became a 
partner as junior member of the firm. In 1886 Mr. Cronise retired from the business, 
and Mr. Garlock bought the entire stock of hardware and building supplies, and is still 
conducting it with success. The Reed Manufacturing Co. was organized October 1, 
1890, for making anti-rust tinware and specialties. He is its manager, director and stock- 
holder. September 15, 1875, he married Alida Brown of Port Gibson, N. Y,, and they 
had five children : Frank F., Mabel F., Alida M., Harriet E., and Jennie E. Mr. Garlock's 
father, James, was born in the town of Phelps June 1, 182S. He was educated in the 
Union school at Phelps, and is a machinist and pattern maker. February 6, 1851, he 
married Elizabeth Van Dusen of his native place, and they had two children, Frank, as 
above noted, and Jennie E., now Mrs. Charles A. Welcher, of Newark. The ancestry 
of this family is German and Dutch. 

Campbell, W. P., was born October 3, 1853, at Adams, Jefferson county. His father, 
Alexander, who died in 1889, was a Seventh Day Baptist clergyman and evangelist, 
and during a public life of fifty years and the founder of the De Ruyter Institute in 
Madison county, known as the first high school of that denomination. William was 
educated at Verona, Madison county, and at seventeen years of age was placed in 
charge of a large merchant milling business. September 28, 1874, he married Elizabeth, 
daughter of H. C. Coon, of De Ruyter, and their children are : Glennie M.,who died in 
1887, when six years four months old ; Alexander, born September 4, 1884 ; and Wil- 
liam P., born March 8, 1893. In 1875 Mr. Campbell engaged in the clothing business in 
Wolcott in partnership with Delos Whitford, conducting the same until his appointment 
as postmaster in 1890. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 110 

Pritcbard, John, youngest son of William and Lydia Pritchard, was born in Butler in 
1843. The elder Pritchard, born in Albany in 1810, came to Butler when eleven years 
of age, driving an ox team to Albany, a prodigy of youthful endurance and resolution. 
He became a citizen of prominence, and was at various times assessor and overseer of 
the poor, and died in 1884. His wife, Lydia, surviving him four years, and reaching 
the age of eighty-one years. Our subject enlisted in 1862 in the Ninth Artillery, and 
experienced all the vicissitudes of a' soldier's life until the close of the war. A brother, 
Chester B. Pritchard, enlisted August 22, 1861, in the 75th N. Y. Vol., re-enlisted in 
January, 1864, was killed at the battle of Winchester September 19, 1864. His wife is 
Mary, daughter of Jeremiah and Eliza Hollenbeck of Butler. They were maried Feb- 
ruary 26, 1868, and have no children. 

Rosenberg, M. M., was born in Seneca Falls September 28, 1847, was married to 
Cora, daughter of Joshua Lautenschlager, February 8, 1832. They have one daughter, 
Myrta Mae, born November 19, 1884. His father, the late Andrew Rosenberg, moved 
from Seneca Falls thirty years ago to the town of Butler, his occupation being carpen- 
ter and joiner. He followed his occupation until his death, which occurred July 2, 
1887. 

Hamm, Andrew J., was born in Walworth November 27, 1861, the only child of 
Jacob and Margaret (Smith) Hamm, the former a native of Columbia county, whose 
parents were Andrew and Hannah Hamm, also of that county, who in 1854 came to 
this town. Jacob was a farmer, and the first hop grower in Wayne county. His 
widow now resides on the homestead, where his death occurred January 3, 1892. Our 
subject was educated in Walworth and Macedon Academies and Lima Seminary. He 
is a farmer, and in partnership with his cousin, Edward Hamm, (who was reared by 
Jacob), owns seventy-six acres of land and makes a specialty of hop growing, having 
seventeen acres. He has also engaged in evaporating apples. In 1883 he married 
Emma L. Butler, daughter of William Butler, by whom he has three children : Libbie, 
Fanny and Bert. William M. Butler was born in Ontario, September 21, 1820, a son 
of Orman and Lydia (Reed) Butler, and a grandson of Israel Butler, of Hartford, Conn., 
born in 1761, who was one of nine brothers who all served in the Revolutinary war. 

Lamb, Chauncey B., was born in the town of Galen, October 7, 1819. His father, 
Joseph Lamb, came from Connecticut to Wayne county in 1800, and there raised a 
family of eleven children, of whom Chauncey B. is the only one now living. He was 
educated in the old log school house, and is practically a self-made man. At the age 
of twenty-three he married Elizabeth, daughter of William Vandemark, and they are 
the parents of three children, two of whom are now living: Eugene Lamb and Mrs. 
Catherine E. Hopkins. Eugene married Stella A., daughter of Charles Servis, and 
they are the parents of one son, Charles, and one daughter, Grace. Alonzo married 
Addie, daughter of Jacob Carven, and they have one son, Clarence. Our subject is one 
of the oldest farmers in Wayne county, having 112 acres of land and raising fruit, hay, 
grain and stock. 

Fisher, Charles, was born in Alloway, Wayne county, N. Y., June 2, 1864. His 
father came from Bakern, Glenminster, Germany, in 1858, settled in Alloway and fol- 
lowed the blacksmith trade, which was his trade in Germany. Leaving school at the 
age of sixteen Charles worked one year as a farm laborer. In 1881 he entered the em- 
ploy of Tomas & Collier in Rose Valley, N. Y., learning the trade of his father before 
him, returning to Alloway in 1884 and starting in business for himself in the small 
shop owned by M. M. Rogers. Two years later finding his work increasing he built 
two shops in that place. In 1893 sold out to William Kiser, came to Lyons and built 
the block now occupied by him on Water street, as a carriage and sleigh repository and 
a first-class horse shoeing shop, which is one of the finest furnished and largest in the 



120 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

State. Being an expert at his business, and one of the best informed men on the 
structure of the foot of a horse in Central New York, horses are sent him from all parts 
of the country. At the age of twenty-four he married Martha Whitlock, who lived 
less than a year, and in 1894 married Anna, second daughter of the late Chauncey Mus- 
selman of Phelps, Ontario county, N. Y. Our subject is the leading man in his business 
in Wayne county and surrounding counties, and is recognized as a man of sterling worth 
and integrity. 

Curtis, Daniel, was born in Marion November 1, 1808. He was reared on the farm 
he owns, and educated in the common schools. He has always been a farmer and owns 
150 acres of land, the farm his father settled. He has been highway commissioner and 
poormaster. He married May 33, 1833, Harriet D. Peckham, a native of Palmyra, 
born November 16. 1812 (died August 20, 1877), and daughter of Charles Peckham, one 
of the early settlers of Palmyra where he lived and died. He was a merchant of that 
placp. They had three children : Mary A. J., wife of Thomas Clark of Marion, who 
has four children ; Charles D., born in 1839, who was raised on a farm and educated in 
Marion Collegiate Institute. He married Mary A. Dean January 2, 1861, a native of 
Marion, born April 2, 1841, daughter of Daniel Dean of Marion, where he died. Mrs. 
Curtis died January 25, 1893, and Mr. Curtis has always resided on the homeatead. 
Daniel F., born Sep'ember 12, 1852, physician of Rochester, who was educated in 
Marion Institute, and graduated from Bellevue Medical College in 1878. The father 
of Daniel was Seth, born in Connecticut November 24, 1878. He was a son of Daniel, 
born May 15, 1735, whose father, Caleb Curtis, was born October 26, 1703 and died 
November 25, 177S. Daniel died July 18. 1817. Seth Curtis married Mary A. Case, 
born January 23, 1780. He died May 31, 1861, and his wife died October 8, 1834. 

Powers, Israel, was born in Galen on the old Powers homestead March 26, 1836. His 
father, Edwin Powers, was a native of Herkimer county, and came to Wayne county 
in 1815, settling on the farm now occupied by his descendants. Edwin Powers died 
in 1844, aged forty-four years, a man who was respected by all who knew him. Israel 
Powers was educated in the district school house standing on the Powers estate. At the 
age of thirty he married Phoebe A. Cooper, who died in 1879. He married second in 
1882 Pauline L. Nichols, and they have two children: Porter I., and Lina E. In 1862 
he purchased the homestead property of seventy acres, in 1886 purchased part of the 
Israel Wise estate of forty acres, raising fruit, hay, grain and stock and making a 
specialty of butter making. Our subject is one of the representative men of his town, 
taking active interest in educational and religious matters. 

Gates, Joseph J., was born in Sodus, N. Y., in 1844, and he is the third of the six 
children of John and Elizabeth Gates. He is a native of Yorkshire, England. In 1831 
he came to Sodus and died in 1886, and his wife in 1885. He was a farmer and owned 
180 acres. Our subject was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools, and 
has always been a farmer. He owned a farm in Williamson and traded it for the farm 
he now owns, and has 124 acres. Mr. Gates is a Republican and a member of the 
Williamson Grange. December 15,1880, he married Mary A. Hall, a native of Sodus 
and daughter of John and Anna Hall. They have one son, William J. 

Wood, Rose E., the youngest daughter of the late Cornelius and Elizabeth Foster 
Wood, has her home among the historic associations clus'ering about the old homestead, 
where her parents settled nearly seventy years ago, and where they lived and died. 
They came from Saratoga county and into a wilderness almost unbroken. Six children 
were the fruit of their marriage : Byron B., Eveington D., Francis A., Euphama E., 
Harriet E. and Rose E. Five children still survive their parents. 

Russell, Darius F., was born in Williamson January 24, 1839, a son of Nathaniel and 
Rachael W. (Prescott) Russell, he a native of Williamson, born in 1804, and she born 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 121 

in Vermont in 1803. She was a daughter of Capt. Zacheus Prescott, of the Vermont 
militia, and her grandfather and two uncles were Revolutionary soldiers from Vermont. 
Nathaniel was a son of Daniel Russell, who owned the farm now in possession of our 
subject. Darius F. was reared on the farm, educated in the common schools arid in the 
Marion Collegiate Institute, and began teaching at the age of eighteen, continuing for 
seven winters. He was the first man to enlist in the first war meeting in the town of 
Williamson, enlisting September 11, 1861, in Company], 17th N. Y. Vols. He served 
three years in the Army of the Potomac, and was in the seven days fight before Rich- 
mond, second battle of Bull Run, and other engagements. He enlisted for eleven dol- 
lars a month when he could readily get twenty dollars for teaching. He is a Prohibi- 
tionist and has been chairman of the Wayne County Prohibition Committee seven 
years. For several years he was a member of the Prohibition State Committee, and 
has served as delegate to their State Conventions several times. In 1888 he was a del- 
gate to the National Prohibition Convention at Indianapolis, representing his congres- 
sional district; and he voted for Clinton B. Fisk a? the nominee for president. He was 
elected justice of the peace twice while residing in Marion. He is a member of the 
grange and was master one year, and has also been chief of the lodge of Good Tem- 
plars. He organized the Town Sunday School Association, of which he was president 
seven years, leaving it in a flourishing condition. He and his wife are members of the 
M. E. Church and he has taught the young people's class in the Sunday-school for 
eighteen years, being also superintendent of the Sabbath-school a portion of the time. 
March 9, 1865, Mr. Russell married Maria Van Ostrand, a native of Marion, and they 
had two children, Fred. D., a real estate dealer, and Katie L., both residing in Buffalo. 
His second wife was Dora V. Tuttle, a native of Steuben county, and they have three 
children, Charles Prescott, Rachael E., and Mildred C. The father of our subject was a 
strong anti-slavery, anti-whisky and anti-tobacco man, precepts which Mr. Russell has 
followed strictly. He is now extensively engaged in fruit growing, cultivating four- 
teen different kinds of fruit. 

Burghdorf, Adonijah, was born in Huron in 1847, and is next to the youngest son of 
the late Jacob and Miranda Burghdorf. Educated chiefly at Wolcott, he began farming 
in Wolcott in 1867, coming to his present locality in 1894, after a residence of three years 
in Victory. He married, January 1, 1870, Catharine, daughter of John Bloommgdale, of 
Fairhaven, and their only child living is Harry, born in 1879. An elder son, Howard, 
died May 7, 1891, when twenty years of age. From the residence of Mr. Burghdorf a 
view of Lake Ontario may be obtained, this being the highest point of land in Wayne 
county. 

Pangburn, George W., who in July, 1893, first assumed his duties as postmaster at 
at South Butler, was born May 2, 1865 near the village of Clyde, in the town of Galen. 
He was deputy postmaster during the latter part of Cleveland's first administration and 
so well did he execute his official duties that his friends vigorously pushed his name to 
the front for the postmastership at the beginning of President Cleveland's second term 
which resulted, after a decidedly warm fight, in his being appointed. He is considered 
an eminently capable and acceptacle official. He is the youngest son of William Pang- 
burn, who is general traveling agent for A. W. Stevens & Son, of Auburn, N. Y. On 
March 28, 1888 he married Minnie Draft the youngest daughter of Abram and Sarah 
Dratt, of South Butler, N. Y. In connection with the post-office, Mr. Pangburn carries 
a choice stock of cigars, tobaccos, stationery and confectionery. 

York, Dr. George Dauson, was born in Huron, August 17, 1857, and is the son of the 
Rev. George P. York, born January, 1831, whose father was John York born Decem- 
ber, 1798, a native of Maine, of English ancestry, who came to Huron in 1819. His 
wife was Mary H. Dawson, born May, 1799, and they had eight children, of whom 
George P., the father of our subject, was the fourth, reared on a farm. Later he 
p 



122 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

studied for the ministry and is now a pastor of a Methodist Protestant church. He 
maried first Elizabeth J., daughter of Nathaniel Tooker, of Huron, and they had two 
children, George D., and Ella, who died at the age of twenty-three. His first wife died 
in October, 1876, and in 1882 he married Ella J. Cole, of Jefferson county, N. Y. Rev. 
George P. York, is now president of the Onondaga Conference. Our subject's prelim- 
inary education was received in the Wolcott and Sodus academies, and at the age of 
eighteen he commenced studying medicine wi}h Dr. E. W. Bottom, of Lyons, where he 
remained four years. In 1881 he graduated from the medical department of the Buffalo 
University, and in 1889 he took a course in the New York Post-graduate Medical Hos- 
pital and has been in practice in Huron for thirteen years, enjoying a large and exten- 
sive practice. In April, 1882, he married Minnie H, daughter of William W. and 
Louisa Gatchell, of Huron and their children are : Louise E., born April, 1883 ; Edwin 
Whittier, October, 1892. Our subject is a member of the Wayne County Medical 
Society (of which he has also been president) and the Masonic order, Rose Lodge, No. 
590, and has been county coroner. 

York, Thomas, was born in Lyons November 21, 1830. His father, Thomas, came 
from Maine with Robert York, who took part in the War of 1812, and were among 
the earliest settlers in the county. Thomas was educated in the common schools, to 
which he has added through life by reading and close observation. Afterward he 
returned to his father's farm. At the age of forty he married Cephese, daughter of 
Abraham Barclay, and they are the parents of three children : Edwin E., Albert T., 
and Sadie C. In 1860 he inherited the York homestead of seventy-five acres, which 
has been in the possession of the family for ninety years, raising hay, grain and stock. 
In August, 1862, he enlisted in the 9th N. Y. Heavy Artillery, being one of the non- 
commissioned officers of that regiment, and took part in the battles of Monocacy Junc- 
tion, Cold Harbor and other engagements, and received an honorable discharge at the 
close of the war. Our subject is one of the conservative men of the town, identified in 
advancing its best interests, and the leading events of the day. 

Ellison, Richard T., a native of Dutchess county, born in 1834, it the only son of 
Tripp and Mary Ann (Arnold) Ellison, natives of New York, he born August 6, 1792, 
and she June 4, 1798. The grandparents were Thomas and Amy Ellison, natives of 
Long Island, but early settlers of Dutchess county, where they died. Tripp Ellison was 
reared on a farm, but learned the trade of tailor, at which he worked in Poughkeepsie. 
He spent about fifteen years on a farm in Palmyra, Wayne county, and died in Palmyra, 
Wayne county, March 8, 1853. His wife died November 12, 1841. Subject was 
reared on a farm, and has always followed farming. He came to Walworth in 1856, 
and bought the farm where he now resides in 1860. January 6, 1860, he married 
Phoebe A. Parker, born in 1834, and daughter of John and Eleanor (Fields) Parker of 
Walworth. John Parker died in 1873, and his widow survives him in Walworth. 
Mr. and Mrs. Ellison have had one daughter, Celia E., wife of Leon M. Sherburne, of 
Walworth. He has been justice of the peace since 1869, and eight years supervisor of 
Walworth. He and wife attend and support the M. E. Church of Walworth. 

Harrison, George, was born in the town of Palmyra November 19, 1819. His father, 
Luman Harrison, was born in Cornwall, Litchfield county, Conn., in 1776, and came to 
Palmyra in the spring of 1797. In 1811 he was married to Phebe Culver, who was 
born at Southampton, L. I., August 5, 1793, and came to Palmyra in 1796 with her 
parents, George and Ruth Culver, and the grandfather Moses Culver and family, travel- 
ing by the inland water route, and landing near the east line of the town. In the spring 
of 1811 Luman Harrison purchased of John Swift and James Galloway the grist mill, 
and one acre of land on the south side of Mud Creek, together with about four acres on 
the north side from Stephen Post, of Southampton, L. I., and Joel Foster, of Palmyra; 
upon this he built a house, moving into it the same year. There they lived during their 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 123 

entire married life. As a farmer, miller and distiller Mr. Harrison was a successful busi- 
ness man. Buying land as opportunity offered, he owned, at the time of his death in 
1831, a farm of about 160 acres adjoining his first purchase. George Harrison has re- 
sided from his birth on the premises purchased by his father in 1811. From 1839 to 
1882 he carried on the farming and milling business with energy and success. At the 
latter date his sons took charge under the firm name of Harrison Brothers. On the 
19th of May, 1846, he married Susan Reeves of the same town, the only daughter of 
Lyman and Hannah Arrilla Reeves, and to them were born three children : James L., 
born February 27, 1847 ; Jane Arrilla, now the wife of Rev. Willard K. Spencer, of 
Adrian, Mich., born May 4, 1854, and Charles Reeves, born September 4, 1856. ' At 
the age of twenty he received a commission from Gov. William H. Seward as aid-de- 
camp to the brigadier-general of the 24th Brigade, N. Y. State Militia, and served as 
such until the disbanding of the brigade in 1844. In politics he is a Democrat. In 1875, 
after having filled several minor offices, he was elected supervisor of the town, and 
held the office for five successive terms, ranking as one of the ablest members of the 
board. In 1875 the old house which had been the birthplace of his father's children 
and his own, was removed and a commodious new house was erected on the same site 
in which he still lives. 

Gilbert, N. B., was born near Canaan Four Corners, Columbia county, on a farm 
February 9, 1802. He was the oldest of seven children, and at the age of about four- 
teen his father died. From that time he assisted his mother in rearing the family, and 
about six years later they removed to Troy, where Mr. Gilbert learned the carpenter and 
joiner's trade, at which he worked summers, teaching school in the winter. He had a 
select school at the Townsend Nail Works (now the Burden Iron Works). March 29, 
1829, he married Mary Ann Swartwout in Troy and soon after removed to the old home- 
stead, conducting the farm and also engaging in carpentry at which he employed sev- 
eral men. In 1837 he came with his family to Lock Berlin, Wayne county, and en- 
gaged at his trade. In the summer of 1838 he built the church at Lock Berlin and soon 
after one at Fairville and another at Junius, Seneca county. He was elected superin- 
tendent of schools of the town of Galen, serving a number of terms, and was elected 
justice of the peace in 1841. In 1849 he engaged in the manufacture of carriages, em- 
ploying from eight to twelve men, continuing to the time of his death in December, 
1875, aged seventy-three years. His wife died in June, 1889, aged eighty-one. He 
was a Whig and later a Republican on the formation of that party, and was an active 
politician. He was a prominent member of the M. E. Church and active in the cause 
of temperance. He left two children : W. H., who now resides in Lock Berlin, and 
Mary Antoinette of Syracuse. William H. was educated in Lock Berlin, and at the age 
of twenty-nine married Martha L., daughter of Absalon Tyndall, by whom he has one 
son, Loring H. In 1880 Mr. Gilbert bought part of the Cookingham estate, and also 
now owns his father's estate. He is a prominent man in his town, having served as 
justice of the peace twelve years. He is a steward and trustee of the M. E. Church. 

Morse, John J., was born in Walworth, January 9, 1848, a son of Amos and Lucina 
(Finley) Morse, natives of Walworth. The father of Amos was Jedediah, one of the 
earliest settlers of Walworth, who first settled in Connecticut, then came to Walworth, 
where he died. The father of Lucina was John Finley, son of Charles, a native of 
Ireland, who was also one of the early settlers who owned at time of his death about 
240 acres of land in Walworth, where he died. Amos Morse is a farmer, owning 100 
acres in Walworth, where he now lives. Mrs. Morse died in 1867. John J. was edu- 
cated in the public schools and Walworth Academy and has followed farming chiefly, 
though he has been engaged in mercantile pursuits both in Michigan and New York 
and has also acted as traveling salesman for the Buffalo and Syracuse Fertilizing Co's. ; 
now the Crockers of Buffalo. He now owns the place known as the Joel Pratt farm, 
which comprises 125 acres, in which he has a beautiful residence, and the place is con- 



124 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

sidered one of the best in the county. Mr. Morse also owns a fine residence in the 
village of Ontario, where the family now reside. He has served as assessor and is a 
member of the Wayne County Lodge No. 416, F. & A. M., of the K. 0. T. M., Cyrene 
Tent No. 203 and is a charter member of the A. 0. U. W, of Ontario, also a Granger. 
February 1, 1871, he married Celia M. Griswold, a native of Afton, Chenango county, and 
a daughter of Charles and Lydia (Colburn) G-riswold, natives of Rose, this county, the 
father of Charles having been one of the earliest settlers of Rose. Mr. Griswold died 
January 12, 1893, and his widow resides in Palmyra. Mr. and Mrs. Morse have had two 
children ; Nellie L. wife of F. L. Pollock of Geneva, manager of the Singer Sewing 
Machine Co. and Myrta E., who resides at home. 

Bills, William, was born in Kent county, England, May 28, 1827, son of Richard and 
Mary Bills, natives of England who came to Palmyra in 1832 and thence to Penfield and 
finally to Walworth, where Mr. Bills died in 1879 and where Mrs. Bills still resides. 
The grandfather was Richard Bills of England, who came to Palmyra in 1833 and died 
in Walworth in 1858. His wife was Elizabeth Bills who died in Walworth in 1854. 
Father of our subject was a mason by trade, spent his last days as a farmer and owned 
a small farm in Walworth. Subject was educated in the common schools of Penfield, 
started in life as clerk in West Walworth, carried mail from here to Palmyra by East 
Walworth two years, and was there on a farm and also clerking for Mr. S. L. Miller, 
his father-in-law. He then purchased a small farm about 1850, followed farming for a 
number of years, and was also connected with the mercantile business. In 1892 he 
purchased the store, a two story building 24x30 ft, where he has since been in business, 
carrying a general stock. Mr. Bills has been constable, collector one term, commis- 
sioner of highways eighteen years, which office he still holds. He married in 1849 
Caroline A. Miller a native of Walworth, and daughter of S. L., and Charlotte (Chase) 
Miller. Subject and wife have had four children : George W., W. J., Charles L. and 
and Burtus H., all of whom live in Walworth, W.J. being in the store with his father 
and the other engaged in farming. Mr. Bills owns a farm of 140 acres, and follows gen- 
eral farming and fruit raising. He was postmaster from November 26, 1875, to April 
16, 1887. 

Brinkerhoff, Hon. George W., was born in Wolcott, October 23, 1838. Called from 
the plow, like Cincinnatus, to serve his country in the halls of legislation, and upon the 
field of battle, he achieved renown as a soldier and a statesmen. He went into the field 
as a private soldier, of the famous Ninth Heavy Artillery, participating in all of the most 
important battles, and by personal bravery gained rapid promotion, soon becoming 
captain of his own company. He was also brevetted major for gallant service by Abra- 
ham Lincoln. In 1891 he was elected to the Assembly by nearly one thousand ma- 
jority and at Albany was largely instrumental in the passage of measures of great im- 
portance. One of these was a bill providing for the abolition of county clerk's or sheriff's 
fees, the beneficent effects of which are now appreciated by the tax paying people. In 
October, 1860, he married Marie Frost of Wolcott, and they have four children, Leslie, 
Ernest, Eliza and Delia. In his present retirement to his pleasant home upon a farm of 
200 acres he needs not title save that which is his by inheritance, the grand old name of 
" gentleman." 

Bockoven, W. H., was born in the town of Galen, January 23, 1832. His father, 
Samuel, came from New Jersey with his parents, who were among the early settlers in 
Wayne county. Samuel learned the blacksmith trade, and moved into the village of 
Clyde. W. H. Bockoven was educated in the common schools and in 1868 bought the 
VanAmburgh property of 100 acres, and in 1892 the Alfred Griswold property of 100 
acres, now raising a large amount of fruit and peppermint. He married Elizabeth Roy, 
daughter of Israel Roy, and they have one son, Elmer R. Mrs. Bockoven died in 1890 
at the age of fifty-two. Onr subject is prominent in town affairs, and has served as 



FAMILY SKETCHES. ^5 

commissioner of highways for two terms. W. H. was for thirteen years interested in 
blacksmithing and carriage making. Elmer R., son of our subject, is the owner of a 
farm of 100 acres willed him by his grandfather, Israel Roy, who died in 1892 and 
since coming of age has been interested in the grocery and glass business Samuel 
Bockoven carried on the blacksmi thing and carriage making trade at Lock Berlin for a 
great many years, moving into Clyde in his old age. He was born in 1800 dyincr in 
1876. Elmer R. is also interested in Western real estate. ' ° 

Frawley, Jacob, was born in Alsace, France, April 1, 1837. He was the second of 
two children of Henry and Eve Frawley natives of Alsace, France, where they died 
Our subject was only two years of age when his father died, and he was brought up by 
an uncle, Jacob Frawley. At the age of seventeen he came to Oneida county and 
there lived until 1869 when he came lo Walworth and settled on the farm he owns of 
130 acres. He and his wife are members of the M. E. Church. He married in 1850 
Hannah Hartman, a native of Germany, who came to the United States when a child 
with her parents, Frederick and Hannah Hartman. He died in Fond du Lac Wis 
where his wife resides. Subject and wife had two children : George, who married Lena 
Kuttruff in 1882, by whom he has one daughter, Clara ; and Charles, who married Lena 
Wagner of New York in 1891. 

Van Eenwyk, John, a native of Williamson, was born June 14, 1854, and is the old- 
est child of Henry and Maria Van Eenwyk, natives of Holland, and who came to Wil- 
liamson in 1850. His wife was the widow of Phillip Brezine, elsewhere mentioned in 
this work. Our subject is a farmer and owns fifty-two acres and is a Republican He 
and his wife are members of the Reformed Church of East Williamson. In 1876 he 
married Cornelia Cuvelier, of Williamson, and they have four children ; Ma°-o-i e M 
Frank, Henry and Bertha. bb 

Catchpole, Robert, an enterprising man, was born in England in 1823, son of Robert 
Catchpole , a farmer, and a grandson of Daniel Catchpole, both natives of England 
When fourteen yerrs of age our subject went to sea and sailed five years when he 
shipped an American vessel, landed in New York City, thence to Albany on boat via 
canal to Montezuma, thence to Geneva, where he spent manv years in farming and 
threshing. He came to Huron in 1848 and purchased a farm. He soon engaged in 
the manufacture of lumber and was the first one to ship sawed cord wood to Toronto 
across the lake. In 1854 he purchased a schooner and shipped freight from Sodus 
Bay to Genesee river, and followed this business four years. In 1858 he purchased his 
present farm consisting of 140 acres, on which he erected commodious and modern 
buildings. He has also built and sold many yachts, and in 1894 erected for his own use 
the handsome yacht " Resort Belle." He married ;in 1848 Elizabeth Bond of England 
Mr. Catchpole served three ypars as poormaster. Mr. Catchpole has on the stocks two 
fine yachts, one to be called " Resort Belle " and to be run on Great Sodus Bay the 
other being built to run on the Great Lakes. ' 

Brundedge, Philip, was born in Oneida, June 20, 1828, the oldest of two children of 
Hiram and Parmeha (Louk) Brundedge, natives of Oneida county, the former born in 
Weston, October 4, 1803, and the latter Januarv 27, 1808. Thev came to Penfield in 
1831. He died in Ontario, Wayne county, N. Y., in 1860, and his wife in 1870 
Subject was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools. He has always 
been a farmer and owns a farm of 110 acres, on which he has resided since 1853. He 
married in 1848 Malora Sherman, a native of Ontario, Wavne county, and daughter of 
Henry J., and Fanny (Scott) Sherman, he a native of Bedford, Mass., and she of 
Covington, Vt., and early settlers of Webster, coming there in 1813 and he was in the 
war of 1812. They had seven children, two of whom were killed in the Civil War 
William A., and Daniel J., the former killed at Antietam, the latter lost an arm at Bull 
Run, and died of his injuries soon after reaching home. Subject and his wife have had 



126 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY 

five children : Calvin S., who married Emma Crandall, and has one son, Edgar L. ; H. 
Duane, who married twice, first Annett Ray and they had four children : Winnie M., 
Eva H., Stanley, and Bessie R. ; H. Lafayette, who married Alice Cary, by whom he 
had one child, Ada M. ; Carrie M., wife of George Woodhams, by whom she had one 
child, Norma C, Mrs. Woodhams died in 1892 ; and Alberton P. The mother of 
Malora Brundedge taught the first school in District No. 11 of Ontario. 

Ramsdell, Frank G., Macedon Center, was born November 21, 1866. William II., 
his father, was born in January, 1840. The grandfather was Gideon Ramsdell, whose 
occupation was farming and contracting, as was also William H., the father. He atone 
time was a noted man in this line, owning some very valuable timber land in Savannah, 
Wayne county. He married Emma G. Westover, and they had three children: Louisa 
M., George, and our subject, Frank G. He is at present situated on the homestead in 
Macedon Center. Although quite a young man he is prominent in the line of work, 
and looked upon as a first-class farmer, having a large dairy connected with his farm, 
makes it a very profitable business. Subject married, January 18, 1893, Sarah Emma 
Webster. He it a member of the Masonic fraternity, and also of the Grange. 

Viele, Lucius H., representative of one of the oldest and best known of the leading 
families of Butler, was born in a log home, near the site of his present handsome home, 
December 26, 1838. His father is Charles J. Viele, a pioneer in the business interests of 
Butler and of Wolcott, and now retired from active life. His mother, Angeline, died 
JanuaryS, 1889. Lucius Viele received a liberal education at Falley Seminary. Mr. 
Viele has large farming interests in Central Butler, which engross most of his attention. 
He married, January 8, 1868, Emily L., daughter of Webster Mackin, of Eaton, N.Y. 
They have two children : Charles W. and Harriet E., both of whom are graduates of 
the Leavenworth Institute at Wolcott, and Charles, of the Rochester Business Uni- 
versity, and Harriet, also a graduate of Cazenovia Seminary. In the center of one of 
Mr. Viele's cultivated fields, but as sacred as if enclosed, is a grave of antique interest 
bearing this inscription : " Sarah Mills. Departed this life December 9, 1809, in the 
sixty-fifth year of her age." She was the widow of Captain Mills, of Revolutionary 
fame. 

Snyder, William Henry, a native of Herkimer county, was born September 24, 1844, 
a son of Martin Snyder, whose father was also Martin Snyder, and born in the same 
county. His wife was Tina Archer, whose mother lived in Oneida county, for one 
hundred and four years. Our subject's father was a farmer, who came to Huron in 
1865, with his wife, who was Catherine Peeler. Their children were Reuben, Calvin, 
and William H. Our subject came to Huron in 1865, and in 1862 enlisted in Co. K., 
9th Heavy Artillery and participated in all the battles of that regiment. He was 
wounded at Cold Harbor in a hand-to-hand conflict in the Confederate lines, returned 
to his regiment and participated in the following battles : Ocequan Creek, September 
19, 1864, Cedar Creek, October 19th, Fisher's Hill, Petersburg and Richmond and Sail- 
or's Creek. Was captured on picket line in front of Petersburg at night and escaped 
by crawling under a brush pile. His rank was sergeant and he served three years. His 
brother, Calvin, joined the same company, and was wounded in 1864 and died later at 
City Point. In 1865 William purchased his farm and has made tobacco his special crop. 
In 1867 he married Eliza E., daughter of Philip and Charlotte Thomas of Huron. Their 
children are Flora A., widow of Edwin Cleveland of Rose, born in 1870 and Horace O, 
1873. Our subject is a member of G. A. R. Keeslar Post, No. 55, and a Democrat, and 
has served as inspector several terms. 

Seeber, James W., was born in Huron, February 10, 1850, a son of Jacob W., and 
Alvira (Chase) Seeber, the other children being: Anna M. ; Mason; Smith, who en- 
listed in the 9th N. Y. Heavy Artillery, and died at Martinsbur^ during service of 
fever; William, a sailor, who was drowned in Lake Ontario on June 17, 1871 ; and 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 127 

Frances. Jacob, the father, was a native of Madison county, born in 1808, and was a 
son of William Seeber, also of this State. Jacob came to Huron about 1841, and died 
here in 1800. His widow now lives with James W., and is in her eightieth year. She 
is a daughter of Daniel and Jane Servis Chase, a native of Minden, Mass., who died in 
1874. aged ninety-nine years, nine months and fifteen days. After the death of her 
husband Mrs. Seeber and her son Smith conducted the farm until 1861, and after the 
death of Smith the farm was conducted by her alone until in 1882 our subject purchased 
it. He lost his house by fire, but has replaced it with a larger and more commodious 
one. The place consists of eighty-six acres. In 1871 he married Mary, daughter of 
Martin and Abida McLanglan ot: Huron, who was born in this town March 8, 1851. 
They have had three children: M. Dewey, born October 14, 1879, and died June 19, 
1894; Willie F., born February 8, 1876; who died aged eighteen months; and J.Clay- 
ton, born May 29, 1884. Mr. Seeber is an Odd Fellow and a Eepublican, who cast his 
first ballot for U. S. Grant. Mr. and Mrs. Seeber are members of the Huron Grange 
No. 124. 

Cahoon, William Reynolds, was born in Little Falls, Herkimer county, February 14, 
1823, a son of Reynolds Cahoon, born about 1786 in Salisbury, the same county, and 
he was a son of Benjamin, a native of Rhode Island, and a ship carpenter by trade, who 
died at Middleville. In 1844 Reynolds came to Huron, where he bought the farm now 
occupied by William R. He married Bathania Whitoomb, and had six children : Salome 
S., Benjamin S., William R.. Lyman, Emily J., and Mary A. He died in 1879, aged 
ninety-three years, and his wife in 1874, aged seventy-five. William R. learned the 
carpenter's trade, which he followed about forty years, and in 1892 he and his son 
bought the homestead farm, of eighty- three acres. In May, 1847, he married Jane 
Utter, of Sodus, daughter of John M. Utter. She was born in January, 1824, and their 
children are : Charley E. and Clara J., who died aged six years. The former married 
Imogene Nichols, and has one child, William, born May 5, 1881. They also live on the 
homestead farm. Mr. Cahoon is a Masor, and a Republican, and has served as excise 
commissioner in Sodus. 

Terbush, Mrs. Sophronia (Tory) was born in Madison county in 1831, daughter of 
John and Lany (Adle) Tory. Subject's mother died when she was young and she was 
adopted by Jacob and Alvira (Chase) Seeber, and came with them to Huron in 1841. 
In 1855 she married George Walker a native of Butler, whose father was John Walker, 
by whom she had two children, Edward F., born in 1856, and Clarence, born 1861, who 
died when twelve years of age. Mr. Walker enlisted in Co. H, 25th N. Y. Infantry, 
and died in Tennessee in 1862. In January, 1877, she married William Terbush a 
farmer of Huron, born in Rockland county, who died in 1889 aged eighty-four. Mrs. 
Terbush is a member of the Huron Grange, and since her husband's death has conducted 
her farm of fifty acres very creditably. 

Trowbridge, Noble P. (deceased), was born in Arcadia September 21, 1830, educated 
in the common schools and finished at Newark Academy. At the age of twenty-four 
he married Mary, daughter of Gideon Robinson of Lyons. In 1870 he gave up his farm 
and bought a residence in Newark. He was one of the substantial men of his town, 
identified in advancing the best interests, his aid was freely given to all worthy enter- 
prises. At his death February 22, 1883, at fifty- three years of age, his loss was felt 
among a large circle of friends and relatives. Alfred Dunn (deceased), was born in 
Narrowsburg, Pa., November 4, 1836, with his parents, James Dunn and wife and pur- 
chased the Dorsey property south of Lyons. Alfred was educated at the Lyons Union 
School, and at the age of twenty-seven married Elizabeth, daughter of Gideon Robin- 
son of Lyons. Our subject was one of the prominent farmers and builders in his town, 
erecting a number of private residences. He was a large producer of tobacco and pep- 
permint, and after erecting a still, produced essential oils. He took an intelligent in- 
terest in educational and religious matters, being a member of the M. E. Church of Ly- 



128 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

ons. He died in July, 1886, in his fifty-fourth year, leaving a wife and large circle of 
friends to mourn him. 

Wilson, Eoyal P., was born in Williamson, N. Y., June 19, 1853. He is the only 
grandchild of Ralph and Rebecca Sheffield Wilson, natives of Middlesex, Conn., who 
came to Williamson about 1810 and settled near Pultneyville and there lived and died. 
Mr. Wilson was a farmer by occupation and died in 1886 and his wife in 1873. Our 
subject learned the miller's trade and followed it for ten years at Pultneyville, and pre- 
vious to this was a sailor on the lakes. He engaged in farming near Pultneyville, 
which he sold in 1889 and purchased the farm he now owns of 125 acres, on which he 
follows general farming and fruit growing. Mr. Wilson is a Democrat. June 20, 1878, 
he married Nettie, daughter of Jacob De May of Holland, who came to Williamson in 
1871. Her father died in Holland in 1868 and her mother in Williamson in 1871. Mr. 
and Mrs. Wilson have seven children : Royal F., who died at the age of five, Leland A., 
Claude R , Roy A., Ella M., Stanley who died in infancy, and Ruth. 

Hurlburt, John, of Macedon, was born the town of Ontario, February 23, 1835. His 
father was Charles Hurlburt, born May 29, 1807, who died January 26, 1884. aged 
seventy-six years. January 29, 1834, be married Margaret Gregory. Of this mar- 
riage our subject was the eldest son. The others were: Lyman, born March 30, 1836, 
died April 30, 1892, aged fifty-seven ; Charles, born November 17, 1837, died October 
16, 1874, aged thirty-seven years; he left a widow who resides in Manchester; Theron, 
born January 38, 1846, died September 25, 1883, aged thirty-seven years. Charles 
Hurlburt, the father, came to this town in 1862, where he died. In politics our sub- 
ject is a Democrat. 

Wood, Mason Garton, born in Lyons August 7, 1849, was a son of Richard and 
Rebecca (Garton) Wood, natives of England. Richard was a farmer, came to America 
in 1843, and settled in Wayne county. Their children were: Louise, Percilla, and 
Ann, who were born in England; Sophia, William W., Mason G., Phoebe, and James 
R. Mr. Wood has followed the vocation of farming throughout, and came to Huron, 
Wayne county, in 1879. In 187S he married Eliza Blanchard, born in 1851 and 
daughter of Benjamin Blanchard, who came to Huron about 1834 with his parents, 
Elijah and Roxina (Mitchell) Blanchard. Elijah was prominent in the early days, and 
was foreman many years on the large farm owned by the Shaker Colony in Huron. He 
raised two children : Benjamin (deceased) and Anna E. He was an active business 
man, for many years engaged in buying and shipping wood to Toronto. He died in 
April, 1890, aged seventy-one years. Mr. and Mrs. Wood have one child, Benjamin 
Blanchard, born in March, 1888. Mr. Wood has acted as agent for the Lummis and 
Purdy estates for several years and is at present their confidential agent. 

Thatcher, Cyrus, was bom in Ontario June 12, 1812, the third of thirteen children of 
Peter antl Phoebe Thatcher, he a native of Rhode Island, born July 13, 1783, and she a 
native of New York, born November 24, 1785. They came to Ontario in 1810, and 
here Mr. Thatcher died February 1, 1847, and his wife April 30. 1866. Cyrus married, 
in 1837, Mercy Gage, born in 1815, and daughter of John and Abigail (Harrington) 
Gage, he a native of Chesterfield, N. H., born May 17, 1789, and she a native of Rhode 
Island, born August 4, 1786. After living in Walworth two years they came to On- 
tario in 1819. Mr. Gage died October 12, 1869, and his wife December 14, 1863. Mr. 
Thatcher and wife have had five children : E. Sophronia, James H., Riley L., died in 
the late war in 1865; E. Lurissa, and Frank, who died in 1884. Mr. Thatcher was 
originally a Democrat, but a Republican after the organization of the party. Mrs. 
Thatcher is a member of the Second Advents. Mr. Thatcher was captain of State 
militia, and his father was captain in the war of 1812. Mr. Gage was also in the war 
of 1812. E. Lurissa married Albert W. Hathaway a native of Macedon, born July 17, 
1841, by whom he had seven children. Mr. Hathaway was a son of Abram Hathaway, 



FAMILY SKETCHES. t3 g 

a native of Cattaraugus county. His wife was Deborah Barnura, a relative of P T 
Barnura. They came to Macedon at an early date, where he died in 1842, and his wife 
resides in Dunkirk, N.Y. Frank died in 1884. E. Lurissa is living. 

T.SiT n ' J8I i«V, b0r ^ n ? 0l i and April 4 ' 1859 > is the youngest of nine children of 
James born in 1814 and Sarah (Cappon) Goossen, born in 1817, natives of Holland who 
came to Rochester in August, 1862. He afterward came to Marion and engaged^n 
farming on fifty acres, winch he sold after three years and rented a 350 acre farm on 
£ J!, re 7i n j d th !' ee ^ ears - ? e went t0 Kalamazoo, Mich., and purchased a farm 
which he traded for city property there, later went to Oshtemo and engaged in farming 
and then traded for the farm he settled in Marion when he came from Holland which 
he now owns. He now lives retired, aged eighty, and his wife aged seventy-seven! Sub- 
ject was educated m the common schools of Marion and Kalamazoo. He started selling 
fl° ^ Z™*?*' firSt ° n f ° 0t ^ afterward with a wagon; and in 1879 commenced in 
q ! «ql S g f p° W 0wns '/" d , carries the la rgest stock in Marion. He married, May 
°'/B Sara h Goossen of Kalamazoo, a native of Marion and daughter of Abraham 
and Catharine (Farmeau) Goossen, natives of Holland. 

Warner, Erotus, born in Madison county September-12, 1850, oldest of five children 
of R. K., and Ramoma (Vai Warner. He was reared on the farm and educated in 
TrS^W J , and K haS always followed farming and evaporating fruit. He married in 1872 
Ellen Wake, born in 18o3 and daughter of John and Marietta rRice) Wake. Mrs. 
Wake died in 1853. Mr. and Mrs. Warner have two sons and one^ daughter: Melville 
E Oscar Czar and Florence May. Mr. Warner now has 105 acres, and makes a specialty 
W o U f mE^ g * ^ ^ member of the Gran g e and of * h e A O. U. 

Tv^A^^ Ma ^ 27 ' 1M8 > a son of James and 

Si^fl Tt TwS the l 0Tm ^ a Dative 0f 0neida count y born Ja nuary 31, 
1815, and the latter of Walworth. The parents of James were James and Gertrude 
Peacock who m 1816 came to Wayne county. The great-grandparents of our subiec! 
were Jonathan and Ann Peacock, of England, who came to this country A J Pea- 
cock was educated in Walworth Academy. He owns a farm of 114 acres of land with 
as fine buildings as can be found in the locality. In 1873 he married Mercy M 
daughter of Joseph Gould, who was a son of Daniel mentioned in this work. Joseph 
was born in this town March 12, 1819, and has been one of the leading farmers of the 
S'^f he now resides on Long Island. He married Julia T. Bancroft, born in 
1823 by whom he had five children. She died March 17, 1876. Mr. and Mrs Pea- 
cock have had one son, Ora S., who resides at home. 

anSv G rP^°w m ^ ari ° n ? ae IV 816 '" the third of seven children of Garner 
r!lW ^ ISi ' i \ n 1 tlVe ° f Massach usetts and she of Rhode Island. They 
came to Marion in 1811, lived there until 1836, and then moved on the farm now 
owned by subject, where Mr. Wait died April 5,' 1858, and his wife January 6 1874 
He was assessor and commissioner of highways in Marion. He was in the war of 
1812. Subject was educated ra the common schools, owns the old homestead of ninety- 
nine acres, and follows general farming. He has been trustee of schools of Walworth 

yZ 1% TS - "T 16 / ? 1843 ( ° Ct0ber 18 ) EmiJ y J - S weezey of Palmyra/daughter 

of Isaac Sweezey who died when she was an infant. Mr. Wait and wife had two 
children, Winfield S who is a traveling salesman for the Anti-Rust Tin Works of 

l e Z*MoK / S W1 /n S ^? hnda Pulver ' ^ Wh0m he has °ne child, Elnora, wife of 
Irvm McKinley of Onondaga county; and Minnie E, wife of Alex F. Estey of Wal- 
worth, by whom she has two children Glenn W., and Floyd J. He is a traveling sales- 



130 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Payne. George, a native of England, born July 20, 1840, is the youngest of six 
children of John and Sophia Payne. My mother's maiden name being Reader, natives of 
England, and there they died. Subject was reared in the town of Sheerness, county 
of Kent, England. In the year of 1866 he came to this county. While in England he 
worked eleven years in London at iron ship building, he worked on the Great Eastern 
after the laying of the Atlantic cable, also on the Rapanhance, when being fitted for 
the Confederate service. After crossing to America he worked in New York in a 
boiler shop on Cherry street. He soon came to town of Macedon and engaged in farm - 
ing and there became interested in concrecting wood for the railroad company with 
George Glover and after four years in the wood business came to Walworth, pur- 
chased a small farm of fifty-seven acres, where he now lives ; he has added 103 acres to 
it known as Philites Miller farm. He has been highway commissioner and super- 
visor of the town. Mr. Payne married August 4, 1860, Charlotte Copping of Eng- 
land, by whom he has ten children, John, Lottie, Annie R., Flora, who were born in 
England, and George J., Willie W., Walter J., John W., Nellie E., Guy, were born in 
this country. Six are now living. 

Johnson, Samuel J., was born in Waterloo, Seneca county, November 7, 1853, son 
of George and Margaret Scott, natives of Ireland, he born December 25, 1811, and 
she born in 1821. He came to the United States in 1836, and his wife soon after. He 
was a gardener, a resident of Waterloo fifty-seven years, and died December 24, 1893, 
and his wife February 10, 1886. They were members of the Presbyterian Church. 
Subject was reared in Waterloo, N. Y. , and educated in the common scl ools. He 
started in life working for Sidney Warner taking care of a carriage horse, learned the 
tinner's trade of Julius Smith of Waterloo, and in June, 1878, came to West Walworth 
and has since had a successful business. He owns a building 24x50 ft. which he oc- 
cupies. 

Brandt, George, a native of Walworth, born January 27, 1832, is a son of Joshua and 
Susan Brandt. He was reared on a farm, educated in the common schools, and has al- 
ways followed farming. He now owns two farms consisting of 140 acres. Mr. 
Brandt married in 1855 Louisa L. Aldrich, a native of Henrietta, N. Y., born July 7, 
1836, a daughter of Nathan and Oliva (Perry) Aldrich, who spent most of their life in 
Wayne county. The father of Nathan Aldrich was Brice, a native of Massachusetts 
and one of the early settlers of Farmington, Ontario county. The father of Oliva was 
Elnathan Perrv. a native of Massachusetts, who was seven years in the Revolutinary 
war, being captain part of the time. He fought at Bennington, Saratoga, Monmouth, 
Ontario, and was present at the surrender of Cornwallus. He served three years under 
Lafayette, came to Rush, Monroe county in 1806, and was one of the first to enlist in 
the war of 1812. He died July 5, 1849, aged ninety-one years. Mr. Brandt and 
wife have three children, Emma J., wife of Gardner L. Tiffany of Walworth, and they 
have two children Fred E. and Hattie L.; Nathan G., who married M. Albertie Allen, 
of Penfield, and has two children George A. and Calla B. He is postmaster at Lin- 
coln; and Hattie, who died aged twelve. Our subject represented Lyon & Fisk, 
nurserymen in Rochester, and also traveled in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Michigan. 

Bixby, John H., is a son of Nathan Bixby, who was born in the town of Green- 
field, Saratoga county, in 1808 and came to Wayne county in 1836. He bought a farm 
of 100 acres, a mile and a half northeast of Savannah, the birthplace and present home 
of our subject. Nathan was twice married, the first time to Mary, the daughter of J. 
J. Klock of Montgomery county, December 19, 1832, and there were born to them 
seven children, -namely : Sally A., Caroline, Andrew, Jerome, Alphonso, Joshua K., 
John H. Mary died August 6, 1850. His second wife was Mary Deuel of Saratoga 
county. He was a patriotic citizen, and in politics a strong Republican. The three 
oldest sons, Andrew, Jerome and Alphonso, enlisted and served their time in the Union 
army. Andrew was taken prisoner at the battle of Monocacy, and died in the rebel 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 131 

prison at Danville, Va. There are only two surviving members of the family, Jerome 
of Castalia, Ohio, who is a general merchant and farmer, and John K., the subject of 
the present sketch. John H. was born June 3, 1848, and married May 2, 1877, to 
Mattie M., daughter of Abijah Spoor of Savannah. They have two children, namely : 
J. Howard, born May 12, 1879, and George Raymond, born July 4, 1886. Mr. Bixby 
is a prosperous farmer making a specialty of shipping dairy produce to Rochester. For 
six years he has been a justice of the peace, and elected again to that office last spring 
for a term of four years more. 

Boynton, Lorenzo R., born in Walworth, May 12, 1815, was a son of George and 
Annie (Twitchel) Boynton, he a native of Massachusetts, and she of Wayne county. 
George came to Walworth at eighteen years of age, and there spent the remainder of 
his life, dying at the age of sixty. His parents were Mary and Samuel (Robinson) 
Boynton. Mary Robinson lived with Robert Treat Payne, one of the signers of the 
Declaration of Independence, and spent her last days with her son, George. The family 
are of English descent. George Boynton was a pioneer of Walworth and followed 
farming. He had four sons and six daughters, of whom one son and four daughters 
still survive. His wife died in 1834, and in 1835 he married, second, Sarah Hibner of 
Penfield, who died in 1857. He was a Republican, and was justice many years. He 
died in 1854. L. R. Boynton was a well informed man and before his death was pos- 
sessed of 230 acres, on which he made many improvements and built a fine brick resi- 
dence. He was twice married, first to Mary Hopkins, by whom he had one son and 
one daughter, Frank H., an oculist in New York, and Mary, widow of Oliver 
H. Palmer. Mrs. Boynton died October 7, 1854, and Mr. Boynton married second, 
April 5, 1855, Harriet, daughter of Ransom and Eunice Northrup of Webster. Mr. 
Northrup was a farmer by occupation. He died January 14, 1875, aged sixty-eight 
years, and his widow lives with her children. Mr. and Mrs. Boynton have had four 
sons : Charles H., graduate of Brockport and Rochester Colleges, three years in New 
York Seminary, and is rector and pastor of the Episcopal Church of Geneseo, N. Y. ; 
George E., graduate of Brockport, two years in Rochester College, and is attending 
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore ; Willis, graduate of Brockport and New York 
Medical College, is practicing in New York ; L. R., graduate of Brockport and at the 
death of his father came home, and has since had charge of the farm. The sons have all 
been engaged in teaching, Mr. Boynton died August 16, 1890, was killed by a train at 
Webster. Mrs. Boynton still resides on the farm. Mr. Boynton was a Republican and 
served twelve years as magistrate. 

Allyn, John L., of Macedon, was born in this town January 13, 1846, a son of Rus- 
sell Allyn, who was a native of Connecticut, and came to New York State in an early 
day. He was a carpenter by trade and took up farming later. He was at one time the 
owner of the Macedon Mills. He was the father of seven children by his 
first wife. His second wife was a Miss Servoss by whom he had five children. 
He died in 1876 at the age of sixty-nine years, and the mother of our subject 
died in 1876. Our subject, John L., came from the old pioneer family of Laphams, 
so widely known in this section, has been a farmer all his life, and connected 
with his farm is a small dairy from which he ships quite a quantity of milk. He mar- 
ried Elizabeth Lapham by whom he had four children, of whom Nettie died September 
17, 1892, aged twenty-three. His wife died and he married, second, Florence, daughter 
of DeWitt C. Beal, one of the oldest families of this section. 

Hogan, Sarah A., was before marriage Sarah McWithy, daughter of the late Timothy 
Mc Withy, of Savannah. She is the widow of Augustus Horton Hogan, a well-known 
resident of Savannah, to whom she was married October 2, 1850, and who left but one 
child ; Eva J., born October 29, 1855. In 1877 Eva married F. E. Davis, then engaged in 
mercantile business at Conquest, Cayuga county. He removed to South Butler in 1880, 
erected a new and moderate building, and conducting a general store business. The 



L32 LANDMARKS OP WAYNE COUNTY. 

children of Frank and Eva Davis are : Charles, born 1878, and Raymond, born 1 880. 
Augustus Horton was a staunch Republican, and an active worker for his party. 

Eddy, Charles W., was born at Manchester, Vt., September 9, 1827, the son of 
Stephen Eddy, who settled near Buskirk's Bridge, Rensselaer county, N. Y., in 1829, 
and who reared a family of nine children. Of that family but three now survive, and 
our subject is the oniy one in Wayne county. Charles bought a farm here in 1864, came 
here in 1864, and by his industry and business ability has achieved an unusual degree of 
success in his chosen calling, now operating nearly 275 acres. He has been honored 
with many positions of trust, has served as commissioner of highways, and of excise, 
and was for nine years an assessor. In 1868 he married Asenath Sprague, of Butler, 
and they have four children: Sarah, Jennie, Mary, and Sprague. 

Spurr, John, was born in England July 23, 1835, emigrating to America in 1836 with 
his parents, Edward and Eliza Spurr, who settled at Burlington, Yt. During his boy- 
hood, his father was engaged in business at Chittenango, as overseer in a woolen mill 
and at Canaseraga, where he conducted a grocery. Edward and Eliza now live at 
Yictory, Cayusra county, aged eighty-six and eighty-two years respectively. John 
Spurr came to Wolcott in 1866, and has for twenty-eight jears been engaged in farm- 
ing. He has four sons : Edward H., Macy, Clayton and Harrison. Edward, a 
machinist is married and lives at Kalamazoo, Mich. During the war, our subject was a 
soldier of Co. F, 160th N. Y. Vols., suffering imprisonment and sickness. He was dur- 
ing the latter part of the war a wardmaster in the hospital at New Orleans, having 
developed a valuable capacity as a nurse. Our subject is a member of the M. P. Church 
of Y/ olcott, holding the office of steward and trustee. 

Worthy, Henry, son of William and Rachel Worthy, of Williamstown, Mass., was 
born at that place, September 19, 1825. William Worthy was a prominent farmer, 
operating 300 acres of land. Henry and Elisha, of Williamstown, are the sole survivors 
of a family of twelve children. Henry has been for twenty-one years a suburban resi- 
dent of Wolcott, where he purchased a farm in 1873. His early life was spent as a 
builder, erecting factories and mills at North Adams, Mass., where he remained fourteen 
years. November 25, 1852 he married Hannah Larrabee, of Adams, Mass., and they 
have five children : Abbott, Arthur, Charles, Leila, and Nellie. Leila is now Mrs. 
George H. Green, of Port Byron, N. Y., and Nellie is Mrs. C. G. Walker, of Lyons, 
N. Y. 

Hendee, Alpheus (deceased), was born September 19, 1809, at Cazenovia, N. Y., 
came to Lyons in 1832, and engaged in the livery stable business. At the age of thirty 
he married Rosetta, daughter of James Dunn, and they are the parents of four daughters : 
Addie (Mrs. Kate Goodman) ; Mrs. Hittie Barton, and Eliza Hendee. In 1859 he 
bought the George Gee property of fifty acres, in 1866 bought part of the Elisha Barton 
property of thirty-three acres, and which is now carried on by the heirs in connection 
with his son-in-law, Israel Goodman, who was a native of Bedfordshire, England, who 
married Kate Hendee in 1878, and who are the parents of one daughter, Rosa, having 
115 acres of some of the best farm lands in Wayne county, raising large amounts of 
mint, hay, grain and stock, making a specialty of small fruits. Alpheus Hendee died in 
1893. at the age of eighty-four years, respected and regretted by all with whom he 
came in contact. He was always foremost in the furtherance of all good works. 

Viele, Charles J., was born January 2, 1812, at Saratoga, came with his people to the 
town of Wolcott when six years of age. His parents were pioneer farmers here, and 
he has always followed the same vocation, besides dealing largely in Jive stock. He 
married in 1834, Angeline Hibbard of Butler, who died January 8, 1889. Of their 
three children one now survives, Lucius H., who married Emily Mackin, and now re- 
sides on the homestead farm. Sarah E., who become the wife of H. A. Graves of 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 133 

Wolcott, died in 1870, and Columbus J., the youngest son, died in 1874. The latter 
was a young man of much intellectual promise, and a practicing lawyer at the time of 
his decease. He left a wife and one daughter. At the ripe age of eighty-two our 
subject is still hale and vigorous; a genial gentleman, full of reminiscences of early 
days. 

Scott, Irving, son of Lewis and Evelyn (Brooks) Scott, was born at Cato, Cayuga 
county, June 25, 1841. Lewis Scott died in 1887 at the age of seventy-seven, and his 
wife in 1894, aged eighty-seven years. Irving has been a resident of Wolcott fifty 
years, and has spent most of that period at home. He was a soldier of Gompany G-, in 
the 9th Heavy Artillery. His wife was Fanny Scott, of Clay, Onondaga county, 
daughter of William and Ellen Scott, whom he married November 25, 1886. They 
have one child, Ella, wife of George L. Baker of Oswego. Mr. Scott and wife are 
members of the M. E. church. 

Westcott, Horace T., was born in Oneida county November 22, 1838. His father, J. H. 
Westcott, was a farmer of Oneida county. Horace T. was educated in the common 
schools, to which he has added through life by reading and close observation. At the 
age of twenty-five he married Algenia daughter of Frederick Petrie of Vienna, Oneida 
county, and they are the parents of three children : Edgar T., Arthur H., and Nora E. 
In 1872 he came to Lyons and purchased the grocery on lot No. 56, which he has con- 
tinued for the past twenty-three years. In 1883 he bought the Prime property of 
seventy-eight acres, raising hay, grain and stock. Subject is a member of the M. E. 
Church. 

Killick, Henry, was born in Huntington, county of Kent, England, March 22, 1845. 
His father, Henry, came to the United States in 1854, settled in Lockport, N. T., and 
was a miller by trade, which was the business pursued by the family in England for the 
past 200 years. Henry Killick married at the age of thirty-two Mary Alice, daughter 
of Clark J. Munger, and they are the parents four sons: Harry O, Frank R., Wilfred 
M. and Charlie E. In May,' 1885, he bought the Alloway Roller Flour Mills, making a 
specialty of patent and fine pastry flour. Our subject is one of the prominent business 
men in his town, taking an active interest in educational and religious matters. 

Hammond, Burton, was born at Dover Plains October 18, 1856, was educated in the 
common schools and finished at Willeston Seminary, East Hampton, Mass., after leaving 
which he engaged in the mercantile business as clerk for three years, then read law with 
G. & H. D. Hufcut, at Dover Plains, then read with Hon. D. W. Gurnsey, of Pough- 
keepsie, and was admitted to the bar in May, 1878. At the age of twenty-two he mar- 
ried Sophia A., daughter of William Van Marter, of Lyons, and they have five daughters. 
In March, 1880, he came to Lyons and engaged in the practice of law, in 1886 entered 
the surrogate's office and carries on a general law practice, making a specialty of cases 
before surrogate's court. He is a Republican in politics, was chairman of the Republican 
County Committee for seven years, and is now president of the Board of Education of 
Lyons. Our subject is identified in advancing the best interests of his town, taking a 
deep interest in educational and leading matters of the day. 

O'Dell, Margaret, was born in the town of Rose. Her father, Russell Winchell, came 
to that town in 1821 when it was but a wilderness without roads, making their way by 
marked trees. He married Lucinda, daughter of David Ackerman, by whom he had 
four children: Margaret, David A., Clarissa, and Betsey. He died in 1858 aged forty- 
seven, and his wife in 1879 aged sixty-four years. Margaret, our subject, married 
Alexander Harper, and in 1855 came to" the town of Galen to reside. They had three 
children: Lydia S., Bud A., and Lucinda, Lydia S. Kelsey being the only one now 
living. Alexander Harper died in 1871, and Mrs. Harper married in 1884 Ebenezer 
O'Dell, who died in 1889. Our subject has one of the model farms of Wayne county, 



134 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY 

raising fruit, hay, grain and stock, and through life has been a member and liberal sup- 
porter of the M. E. church of Clyde. 

Syron, M. Barton, was born in Romulus, Seneca county, June 10, 1826. His father, 
Jacob P. Syron, was a native of New Jersey, and came to Seneca county in 1823. In 
1837 he moved to the town of Galen, Wayne county, where he died in 1853 at the age 
of sixty- one. M. Barton Syron laid the foundation of his education in the old log school 
house of his district and also attended the high school at Clyde for two winters. At the 
age of twenty-three he married Lucinda, daughter of Ethan Angell, and they have 
three sons and one daughter: Augustus C, William A., Fenton, and Mrs. Emma Foist. 
In 1852 he bought the Waldraff property of fifty-three acres, and in 1863 he bought the 
Peleg Meade property of 100 acres, having in all 140 acres, and raising fruit, hay, grain 
and stock. Our subject is one of the representative farmers of his town, and takes an 
intelligent interest in town affairs. 

Luffman, William, was born in Elbridge December 4, 1823. His father. Abram, was 
a native of Massachusetts. He came to Wayne county in 1827, settled in the town of 
Wolcott, where he died in 1882 aged eighty-four. William Luffman was educated in 
the common schools, and at the age of twenty-seven married Amelia, daughter of John 
W. Hendrick, a native of Vermont, who came to Wayne county in 1814 and was among 
the earliest settlers in Wolcott. Mr. and Mrs. Luffman have had eight children, seven 
of whom are now living: Mrs. Arvilla Andrus, Mrs. Nellie Sanford, Mrs. William 
Stetler, Frank E., and Mrs. Cornelius Stell, Edwin and Mrs. Carrie Roberts. In 1869 
they came to the town of Galen and bought the David Ferguson property of 100 acres 
raising fruit, hay, grain and stock. Our subject is one of the representative farmers of 
his town, taking an active interest in educational and religious matters. 

Ely, Charles H., was born in Williamstown, Mass., June 1, 1837. His father, Henry 
L. was born in town of Lyme, of New London county, Conn. The family originally 
came from England. Henry L. came to Clyde in 1870, and is a carriage maker by trade. 
Charles H. was educated at Williamstown and finished at the Wilbraham Seminary in 
Massachusetts ; then learned the carriage maker's trade with his father, came to Clyde 
in 1872 and entered the employ of his father, and in 1882 established himself in busi- 
ness and is a well-known manufacturer of fine carriages and sleighs. At the age of 
twenty-five he married Abbie M., daughter of J. P. Bliss, and they have had five chil- 
dren, three of whom are now living: Charles H., jr., Grace G., and Alice B. Our sub- 
ject is prominently identified in educational and religious matters. 

Howard, Frank, was born in Galen July 10, 1857. His father, William, came to 
Wayne county from Lowville, Lewis county in 1836. He married Eliza A., daughter 
of Allen Kennedy, of Dover Station, Dutchess county, N. Y. They have had 
five children, two of whom are now living: Mrs. Ella Hoard and Frank. He died 
in 1891, aged ninety-three. Frank Howard was educated in the common schools, to 
which he has added through life by reading and close observation. At the age of 
twenty-three he married Carrie B., daughter of William B. Sears, and they have four 
children : William S., Stella N., May and Howard. In 1891 he took charge of his 
father's estate of 200 acres, raising fruit, hay, grain, and stock, and making a specialty 
of dairying, producing from 225 to 250 quarts of milk per day. Our subject takes an 
active interest in school and church matters. 

Porter, Ellory J., was born in Junius, Seneca county, January 2, 1848. His father, 
George W., was a native of that town, the family coming from the Mohawk Valley. 
Ellory J. was educated in the common schools to which he has added through life by 
reading and close observation ; after which he returned to his father's farm. At the 
age of twenty.two he married Buelah, daughter of Isaac Thorn, and they have four 
children: George S., Lottie M., Mabel and Maud. In 1870 he came to Wayne county 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 135 

and settled in the town of Huron, and in 1875 removed to the town of Galen and pur- 
chased the Furlong property of 108 acres, raising fruit, hay, grain and stock. Our sub- 
ject is one of the representative farmers of his town, identified in educational and 
religious matters. 

Graham, Albert G., was born in the town of Huron, near the head of Great Sodus 
Bay, August 30, 1831. His father, Henry, and mother, Roxana. were natives of Port 
Byron. The family were among the early settlers in the Mohawk Valley. His educa- 
tion was obtained in the common schools, to which he has added through life by reading 
and close observation. At the age of twenty-four he married Eliza L., daughter of 
Solomon Smith, who died in 1866, and he married second in 1867 Theresa, daughter of 
David Waldur. He has two children, both by his first wife: Charles H., and Emma J., 
wife of Edward C. Delano, of Sodus Centre, N. Y. In 1864 he bought the A. F. Red- 
field property of 100 acres; in 1876, the Grimsha property of eighty acres; in 1882, the 
Edwin Gilderleve property of 102 acres, and now has 265 acres of some of the best 
land in Wayne county, raising fruit, hay, grain and stock, and making a specialty of 
milk, producing 450 quarts per day. Our subject is one of the most extensive farmers 
in his town. 

Cosad, Frank, was born in Junius, Seneca county October 6, 1853, son of James 
Madison Cosad, a native of New Jersey, born in 1810. The grandfather was Samuel 
Cosad, who came with his family to Seneca county in 1820. James M. came to Huron 
in 1838, and conducted a hotel at Port Glascow. He went to California in 1848, five 
years later returned to Huron and settled where our subject now resides. Later he 
owned the farm now owned by William Robinson, where he died in 1893. His first 
wife was Elizabeth Stout of Wayne county, by whom he had two children : Cassie 
Robinson, of Huron, and George Combe. His second wife was Catherine Stout, born 
in Arcadia in 1818, by whom he had two children : Farnk and Samuel. Subject has 
devoted his time to farming, was educated in the Wolcott and Sodus Academies, and in 
1876 came to the farm he now owns, consisting of 200 acres on which he has erected a 
large and handsome dwelling; also a large and commodious barn suitable to such a farm. 
He married in 1875 Mariam, daughter of Hiram Woodruff, of Huron, and their children 
are Willis, born November, 1876, and James M., born in March, 1879. Mr. Cosad is a 
member of the Order of Odd Fellows of Wolcott, and has served as assessor three 
years. 

Turner, Albert, was born in Ontario July 4, 1860. He is the youngest of seven chil- 
dren of Thomas and Sarsh J.(Osborn) Turner, natives of England and came to Ontario 
in 1852. Mrs. Turner died June 17, 1891, and the father resides with his son, Orrin. 
Our subject was reared on the farm he owns, and was educated in the common schools. 
He has a place of twenty-fonr acres, and follows gardening and fruit raising. He is a 
Republican, and he and wife are members of the Free Methodist Church. He married 
in 1884 Delle, daughter of John Pye, of Rochester. Mr. Turner and wife have two 
daughters, Mabel and Bertha. 

Berzine Family, The. — Philip Bruyzine, (the name was afterward changed to Ber- 
zine), was a Frenchman, he emigrated to Holland, where he married a Holland lady, to 
them was born one son. Philip, whose parents died when he was but eight years old. 
He married at the age of twenty, and had three children, Philip, Susan and Mary. In 
1848 they emigrated to America, where his son Philip married Mary DeCan. After be- 
ing here about three years he and Henry Van Eenyck bought a farm of sixty acres in 
the northwestern part of the town of Williamson. This farm was all heavy timber, 
except a few acres next to the road, but by hard labor they soon cleared more of the 
land. There was a log house on the place and here they enjoyed life for a time, father 
and son being loved by all the neighbors. The son could adapt himself to any and all 
kinds of work, and was an American from the time he landed on these shores until he 



136 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY^ 

died ; he took great pride in learning the English language, and winter evenings he 
spent with his American neighbors, and attending all religious and public meetings for 
the purpose of being able to write and read the English language. As he was known 
by all his neighbors for his ingenious qualities, he was once called upon by one of them 
to superintend a bee to raise a log barn ; in some way the men let go of a log which 
fell on him ; after suffering one day and night he died at the age of thirty years, four 
months and twenty days, leaving a wife, and aged mother and three small children too 
young to realize their loss. All that knew him felt that they had lost a friend and kind 
neighbor. April 4, 1860, the father died at the age of sixty-three years. The three 
children born to Philip and Mary De Can Berzine were Lucinda, James C. and Philip. 
James C. learned the carpenter's trade and followed it sixteen years. After the death 
of his father he went to farming which occupation he followed for seven years, and 
then on April 1, 1883, he came to the village of Williamson and started in the furniture 
and undertaking business which he has since continued successfully. He is a member 
of the Presbyterian Church, Order of A. 0. U. W., Knights of L. F. 0. December 24, 
1873, Mr. Berzine married Jennie Van Cunningham ; four children were born to them, 
Fannie May, who died May 17, 1877, at the age of nineteen months, eleven days ; Minnie, 
Lois, Lucile M. and Mabel Gertrude. 

Barton, William, was born in the old log house on the Elisha Barton estate, February 
27, 1838. His father, Elisha, came to Wayne county in 1828 from Putnam county, 
and settled on lot 22, which is now the residence of William Barton. William was 
educated in the common school*, to which he has added through life by reading and 
close observation. At the age of twenty-three he married Emma Louise, daughter of 
Elias B. Reynolds, and they are the parents of one son, Albert Elias. In 1880 he pur- 
chased the homestead property of 240 acres, raising large quantities of mint, grain and 
stock. Our subject is one of the leading farmers in his town, and was one of the three 
commissioners appointed to adjudicate and settle the payment of the bonds issued for 
Sodus Bay & Corning R. R., taking an active interest also in educational and religious 
matters. 

Weed, Abram, was born in the town of Galen December 2, 1830. His father, 
Henry, was a native of Norwich, Conn. The family were of French extraction. Abram 
received his education in the common schools, after which he taught several winters and 
worked on the farm in the summer. At the age of twenty-seven he married Emily, 
daughter of Peter Shear, of Junius, and they have three children : Wallace N., Harry 
M., and Mrs. Dora E. Baker. In 1862 he inherited and purchased the homestead of 
100 acres, which has been in the family seventy years. In 18S4 he bought the Thomas 
Lape property of ninety-five acres, raising fruit, hay, grain and stock. Our subject is 
one of the leading farmers in his town, was elected assessor three terms and road com- 
missioner three terms. 

Hinman, J. W., was born in the town of Phelps, Ontario county, October 23, 1844. 
His father, Willis Hinman, is a native of Hartford, Conn., born in 1806, and came to 
Ontario county in 1840. Here he followed his trade of carpenter and builder for some 
years and then became a farmer, and is still an active business man. J. W. Hinman 
was educated in the Newark High School and Academy and afterward in the Eastman 
Business College, graduating from the latter in 1865. He came to Clyde in 1867 and 
entered the employ of Briggs & Palmer, bankers, as book-keeper. He was afterward 
promoted to assistant cashier, and at the organization of the Briggs National Bank in 
1880, was appointed cashier, which position he now holds. At the age of thirty Mr. 
Hinman married Miss Ida E. Field, daughter of Ambrose Field, of Clyde, and they are 
the parents of three sons, Willis A., Arthur F., and Harold C. Mr. Hinman is interested 
in the advancement of his town, and is recognized as a man of sterling integrity and 
moral worth. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 137 

The subject of the following sketch, Cyrus E. Fitch, was born in the town of Butler, 
Wayne county, N. Y. December 4, 1844, on the farm where his grandfather, Ebenezer 
Fitch, first, settled on his arrival from Saratoga, N. Y. His ancestors were of German 
descent, and are traced directly back to that hardy colony of pioneers who came over 
from the Fatherland in the "Half Moon" with Hendrick Hudson and settled along the 
banks of that beautiful river which bears his name. His grandfather, Ebenezer Fitch, 
emigrated from Saratoga county with his wife at an early day and settled in the town 
of Butler, where he was elected to the office of justice of the peace for eight consecu- 
tive years and took an active part in arranging the boundaries and shaping the destinies 
of what is now one of the most prosperous townships in the county of Wayne. His 
ancestors on his mother's side were also of German descent and first settled in Jefferson 
county, this State. In the year 1852 he, with his father, moved on the farm where he 
has since resided. He was graduated from Wolcott Academy in 1860, taught school 
until the autumn of 1862, when he enlisted in Company A, 9th N. Y. Heavy Artillery, 
and served until the close of the war. He was in the battles of Cold Harbor, Mono- 
cacy, Winchester, Cedar Creek, Fisher's Hill and Petersburg. After his discharge from 
the army he was married in the year of 1865 to Elenor J. Pearsoll, a lady of the most 
estimable character, whose people lived in Wolcott, N. Y. Their union proved a most 
happy one and has been blessed with an interesting family of children, three sons and 
one daughter, who have been given the best educational advantages that the State af- 
forded, the latter, Miss Minnie, being an accomplished musician and a graduate from 
the Normal College at Albany, N. Y. Mr, Fitch has been a prominent member of the 
First M. E. Church of Wolcott, N. Y., since 1865 and for a long time a member of the 
official board of that church. He was superintendent of the Sabbath school for two 
years, and since retiring from that position he has conducted the largest Bible Class 
ever known in the church at any time. Mr. Fitch has always taken an active interest 
in educational work, having served as a member of the board of education of Leaven- 
worth Institute for thirteen years, from which position he resigned in the spring of 
1894, upon being elected to the office of supervisor of his town. He is a Republican in 
politics, his majority as supervisor being 196, the largest majority ever given to any 
candidate for supervisor in the town of Butler. He has made an excellent record as 
supervisor and is a clean, honest and conscientious official. For the past twelve years 
Mr. Fitch has given a great deal of attention to the preparation and handling of evapor- 
ated fruit ; and his large system of evaporators are among the best and most extensive 
in the county of Wayne. He is a thorough and successful business man, a kind and 
indulgent husband and parent, and an enterprising and public spirited citizen. 

Hendrick, Austin, who was born in the town of Wolcott in November, 1852, a son 
of Levi and Catherine (Tones) Hendrick. Levi was born in Wolcott in 1824, and they 
had four children besides our subject : Mary N., wife of I. Van Arsdale of Owasco ; Will- 
iam, of Auburn ; Frank, of Rose ; Catharine, wife of I. Silliman, of Fairhaven, Cayuga 
county. John Hendrick was the grandfather's name. Subject began life by working 
for farmers and finally purchased the farm of ninety acres, where he now lives. For 
some years he gave his attention chiefly to horses and sheep. In 1876 he married 
Elizabeth, daughter of Daniel C. and Caroline (Leroy) Keeslar. She was born in Huron, 
and they had these children, Charlie and Leroy. Mr. Hendrick and wife are members 
of the Wolcott Grange P. of A., No. 348, and in politics subject is a Republican. Mrs. 
Hendrick's father, Daniel C. Keeslar and his two brothers, were members of the famous 
9th N. Y. Heavy Artillery. Daniel first enlisted and served three years, and partici- 
pated in nearly all of the battles of this county. He re- enlisted and was killed in the 
battle before Petersburg. His brother, Simeon, died from a wound received in the 
same battle ; and Alfred died in the hospital from typhoid fever. In honor of these 
three brave men the Col. Dutton G. A. R. Post No. 55, at Wolcott was named the 
Keeslar Post. Their father, Adam Keeslar, presented this post with an appropriate flag, 
and died in 1889. 



138 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Dickinson, George A., was born in Lysander, N. Y., October 12, 1852, a son of 
Joshua O, who was a native of Greene county. He settled in Huron in 1857 and lived 
here until his death. In politics he was a Republican, and served nine years as assessor. 
His wife was Elmira Powell, and their children were: Steverson S., Powell C, Rachel, 
wife of John Brink of Michigan ; Mary, wife of Reuben Brink of Michigan ; Kezia, 
wife of Alfred Waldron of Huron ; Susan, wife of Charles Stone of Baldwinsville ; 
Geooge A., Adelbert and Edna. Powell was killed in the Rebellion, at the battle of 
Port Hudson. Steverson also served in the war. At the age of twenty-two our sub- 
ject began life for himself by purchasing the farm of seventy-one acres in 1886 where 
he now resides. He married Luna L., daughter of David and Maria Vought, of Huron. 
In politics he is a Repnblican. His grandfather was Samuel Powell a native and shoe 
merchant of Lysander, who came to Huron in 1857 and spent the remainder of his life 
with his daughter, Mrs. Dickinson. Joshua Dickinson was a Mason, a member of the 
Huron Grange Lodge, and was a delegate to many of the county and State con- 
ventions. 

Green, Hugh, was born at Geneva in 1822, came to Galen in 1825, lived with his 
parents until nineteen years of age, when he spent three years in the lumber region 
of Michigan. He then returned to Seneca Falls, where for nine years he managed a 
saw-mill for Smith Bros. In 1854 he purchased a farm in Huron, and has devoted his 
energies to that pursuit until his retirement to a pleasant home in the village of Wol- 
cott. In 1851 he married Caroline L., daughter of B. S. Carter of Seneca Falls, and 
they have three children: Emma, born in 1852, wife of N. C. Vought of Wolcott; 
George, born in 1854, and Frank, born in 1861. Mr. Green still owns 147 acres of land 
in Huron, in two farms nearly adjacent, and operated by his sons George and Frank. 

Haley, Edward, was born in Walworth in July, 1856, the oldest son of Thomas and 
Mary Haley, natives of Ireland, who came to America about 1855 and settled on a farm 
in Walworth, where he now resides. His mother died in 1869. Edward was reared 
on the farm, educated in the common schools and has always been a farmer. He is 
extensively engaged in evaporating apples and fruit in the west. In 1875 he purchased 
the farm of seventy- one acres, where he now resides, following general farming. He 
is a prominent figure in local politics and is now serving his tenth year as assessor. He 
is a Granger, and also a member of the Walworth Lodge, F. & A. M. 

Peterson, C. 0., was born at Auburn, N. Y., July 29, 1854. At fifteen years of age 
he was by an accident deprived of his right arm, in spite of which serious handicap he 
acquired an academic education, and was for several years a sucjessful teacher. In 
the meantime he studied law with Hon J. B. Decker and in 1882 was admitted to the 
bar, beginning practice at once at Red Creek, where he is highly esteemed as a gentle- 
man and scholar. When but twenty-one years of age he was Justice of the Peace, 
and has been associate justice of the Court of Sessions with Judge Collins. In 1886 
he married and has two sons, Ray Ames, born November 3 1888, and Carleton 0., born 
July 12, 1894. 

Smith, John H., was born July 20, 1831, and is a son of Walter H. Smith, who was 
for forty years a merchant at Port Byron. John H. graduated from Clinton College in 
1858 and practiced bookkeeping until the opening of the war in 1861, when he enlisted 
in Company B, Seventy-fifth N. Y. S. Volunteers, where he held the rank of sergeant. 
His army experience was mainly with the Army of the Gulf under Butler. Among the 
battles in which he participated were Pensacola, Bayou La Fourche and the siege of 
Port Hudson. At Cedar Creek he received severe injuries, confining him to the hos- 
pital nearly a year. Since the war he has at various times engaged in gold mining and 
mercantile business, in the west and as a traveling salesman. In 1874 he married 
Emma M., daughter of George Vau Scoten, of Montrose, Pa. 

Bullock Ira, was born at Wolcott village in 1865, and is the son of Stephen E. and 
Martha Bullock, who came from Pennsylvania in 1859. Stephen Bullock served four 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 139 

years in the civil war, with honor and distinction. Ira was educated at Leavenworth 
Institute, Wolcott, and served as deputy postmaster in Wolcott for four years, during 
his father's incumbency under Garfield. In 1893 he purchased a farm near Red Creek. 
April 27, 1892, he married Ethel, daughter of Theodore Oakley of Wolcott, and they 
have one son, Stephen, born December 30, 1892. 

Perkins, Herbert, wholesale and retail dealer in meats, fish and fruits, at Red Coeek, 
was born at Hannibal, December 3, 1851. After the completion of his education at 
Falley Seminary, he was for eight years engaged in farming, and in 1879 came to Red 
Creek and established a livery business, which he still conducts, adding the market and 
grocery in 1889. In 1870 he married Alida Hompe of Hannibal, and they have two 
children, Nellie and Edward. Mr. Perkins is at present town clerk having been 
elected in 1891. 

Graves, H. A., one of the leading merchants of Wolcott. was born at Tully, Onon- 
daga county, November 10, 1836. He is the eldest son of George S. Graves, who was 
a woolen manufacturer at Tully and came to Wayne county in 1842, engaging in mer- 
cantile business at South Butler, where he was also postmaster. He now lives in re- 
tirement at Ottawa, 111. Henry A. Graves acquired an academic education at Onon- 
daga Valley, and his first business venture was Ottawa, 111. In 1859 he succeeded his 
father in the general store business at South Butler, and five years later came to Wol- 
cott. Besides a large trade in dry goods, boots and shoes, groceries, etc., at No. 16 
East Main street, he makes a specialty of evaporating fruits, in which product Wayne 
county is unexcelled. In 1859 he married Sarah E., daughter of Charles J. Viele of 
Wolcott, and his only son Charles S., who was born in 1869 and married Nellie Col- 
burn, and is now engaged in the business with him at Wolcott. 

James Vandenberg was born in Coxsackie, N. Y., July 31, 1827, and died in Clyde 
May 14, 1894. He attended the academy in his native place and studied law, and 
after admission to the bar removed to Cleveland, N. Y., where he soon became prom- 
inent. In 1855 he located in Clyde and was in active and successful practice nearly 
forty years. In the fall of 1865 he was elected to the Legislature by the Republicans, 
and served a second term by re-election. In 1876 he formed a partnership with Charles 
T. Saxton, which continued to his death. In 1879 he was elected district attorney of 
Wayne county by a very large majority, and filled the office to the entire satisfaction 
of his fellow citizens. He was a prominent member of the Bar Association and a Mason 
of high standing. Mr. Vandenberg married in 1849 Rebecca Landgraff, of Cleveland. 
Five children were born to them. 

Pulver, R. T., born in Saratoga county in 1829, is the youngest and only survivor of 
eight children of John and Nellie Pulver, who were residents of Columbia and Saratoga 
counties respectively. Mr. Pulver died in 1848, and his wife in 1846. The family is 
of Dutch descent. Risley Taylor, our subject, began life as a farm hand and has always 
followed farming. He was twelve years in Iowa, then came to Ontario and bought the 
farm he now occupies on the Lake road. He carries on general farming and fruit grow- 
ing, and is also interested in breeding horses. Mr. Pulver has been three times mar- 
ried, first to Elizabeth Sabin of Ontario, by whom he had one daughter and one son, 
John S., a farmer in Columbia county, and Mary, who died aged nineteen. Mrs. Pulver 
died and he married, second, a sister, Laura Sabin, who died, and he married, third, 
Mary E. Rutherford of Marion, Wayne county. His son, John S., married Mary Card, 
and they have one daughter, Theresa Florence. 

Rogers, William G., (deceased) was born in Lyons July 6, 1841. His father, Bait- 
lett, was one of the prominent men of his town. William G. was educated in the 
Lyons Union School, to which he added through life by reading and close observation. 
At the age of sixteen he entered active business life in Michigan in the lumber busi- 



140 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY 

ness ; also was engaged in the mercantile business at Sodus with Erastus Rogers. His 
health beginn:ng to fail at that period, he in connection with his father, purchased the 
Lyman farm property of 200 acres. At the age of twenty-nine he married Sarah B., 
daughter of Benjamin J. Bradley of Lyons, and they are the parents of four children : 
Louise B., George W., Wilmina and Mary Eleanor. Our subject took an active inter- 
est in politics, was president of the village, and was connected with both school and 
church. He died at the age of forty-three, leaving a wife and children to carry out his 
many interests to completion. 

Towlerton, Charles H., was born in Butler November 4, 1865. His father, James 
Towlerton, came to Wayne county in 1846, from Leeds, England, and settled in the 
town of Butler. Charles H. was educated in the common schools, graduated from 
Leavenworth Institute in 1886 and from the University of the City of New York 
Medical College in 1889. He was then appointed one of the medical staff of Bellevue 
Hospital for the term of two years; at the expiration of his hospital service he received 
the appointment of surgeon on the Netherland American Steamship Line. Resigning 
that position in 1892 he located in Lyons and established a general practice. At the 
age of twenty-six he married Nellie E., daughter of Fletcher S. Johnson of Wolcott. 
Our subject is one of the best read members of his profession, a member of the Wayne 
county Medical Society, also an active member of the Society of the Alumni of Bellevue 
Hospital, New York, 

Howk, John O, was born in Washington county, N. Y., March 7, 1836, a son of 
Horace and Fanny (Crouch) Howk of Washington county. The father of Horace was 
Andrew Howk, whose parents came from Holland and settled in Washington county 
in an early day, the name having been originally Van Huyck. The mother of our subject 
died in Fort Ann in 1838 and his father married second, Henrietta Spencer, daughter of 
Captain Phineas Spencer, of Revolutinary fame, and they hac 1 three sons. He was a 
Republican in politics. John O, our subject, came to Wayne county at the age of nine 
years and was reared by his uncle and aunt Loron and Electa Whitney of this county, 
received his education in district school and Webster Academy. He followed farming 
for thirty years upon the farm of 70 acres left him by his uncle in the west part of the 
town of Ontario and which he still owns. And in 1888 came to the village of Ontario 
and engaged in the coal and lumber trade where he still resides. He is a member of 
the Presbyterian Church, has been an elder and superintendent of the Sunday school 
twenty-six years in succession and served one year as president of the Wayne County 
Sunday School Association. He is a Republican and has served as supervisor two 
years. He is a member of the Royal Templars of Temperance and of the South Shore 
Grange No. 552, of which he has been a master for seven years. In 1858 Mr. Howk 
married Catherine, daughter of Dr. L. Whitcomb of Macedon Center, N. Y., who 
practiced medicine in Wayne county about forty years and who was a member of the 
Legislature in 1853. His wife was Deborah (Wells) Whitcomb, of Washington county, 
N. Y. Mr. and Mrs. Howk have five sons, of whom Loron W. was educated in 
Webster Academy and Rochester University, graduating in 1888 and from the medical 
department of the University of Michigan in 1891, and who is now a practicing phy- 
sician in Rochester, N. Y. He married Ella Hildreth, of California. Edson J. was 
educated in Webster Academy and the Genesee Normal School. His wife is Nina 
Gardner and they have one son, Luther J. Judson W. resides at home, having been 
educated in the Genesee Normal School. Oscar L. is also being educated at the latter 
school. Horace J. resides at home and is attending the village school. They have 
also adopted a brother's child, H. May who is now eight years of age, 

Fisher, Jacob, was born in the Grand Duchy of Baden, October 29, 1831, first settled 
in Rochester, in 1872 came to Lyons and rented the Lyons Pottery plant for five years, 
and in 1878 purchased the business and real estate of the Harrington estate. The Lyons 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 141 

Pottery is a well-known manufactory throughout the United States, the merchandise 
having a well deserved reputation for excellence and durability. The plant was first 
established in 1825 by N. Clark & Co., and was rebuilt in 1889 by Mr. Fisher who has 
continued to add to the plant since he bought the property in 1878, having a building 
of two stories and basement of 175x50 feet including two kilns of 10,000 gallons capa- 
city each, and having an average yearly output of 050,000 gallons of all kinds of stone- 
ware. At the age of twenty-six he married Theresa Burger, and they have seven chil- 
dren, four of whom are now living: Edmund, William Frederick, Amelia and Louisa. 
Our subject is one of the most active business men in his town, identified in advancing 
its best interests, and is recognized as a man of sterling integrity and high character. 

Selby, Stephen Fish, was born August 16, 1815, in Western Pennsylvania, a son of 
Jared C., and Ct:arity (Fish) Selby. The first two years of his life were spent at Pult- 
neyville, where his parents resided. The next three or four years was spent at the 
" Corners " and vicinity, then his parents removed to Palmyra. A year later he went 
to live with Dr. Luther Cowan, remaining two years until the latter's death, when for 
the next two years he resided with Capt. Asa Silly. He was four years in the store of 
Luther Tucker in Palmyra, then learned the printer's trade out of school hours, then 
went to Walworth with Luther Tucker in his store there, where he remained four years, 
being then an orphan without means. Mr. Tucker's executors paid him $500 which he 
put to interest, and then entered the office of Drs. Delamater & Loomis, of Palmyra, 
working for his board, tuition and use of books. A year later Dr. Delamater went to 
Fairfield to practice, taking young Selby with him. The latter spent eight months in 
the academy in that place, four months in the medical college (each year for seven 
years), and later went with Dr. Delamater to Little Falls where they remained a year, 
then went to Willou^hby, Ohio, where our subject assisted the doctor in his practice and 
graduated at Willoughby University. Dr. Delamater then went to Cleveland, leaviug 
the practice with our subject, who remained here and in Northern Ohio following his 
profession about seventeen years, including one year in partnership with Dr. Delamater 
in Cleveland. In 1861 he enlisted and was placed in charge of the 3d 0. Y. C. as sur- 
geon, which position he held two years, when partly disabled by fever. He was two 
years in the hospitals of Nashville, Tenn., as surgeon, when he became permanently and 
totally disabled and returned to Ohio. In 1873 he and family sought a quiet home in 
Williamson, where they settled on a farm and have since resided, Dr. Selby receiving a 
small pension. In 1846 he married Sarah Agnes Fisk, of Ashtabula, 0., and they had 
seven children : Mary, Emma, Amos, Jared, Stephen, and Nellie, who died aged two 
and one-half years, and one who died in infancy. Jared Cone Selby, his father, was 
born May 2, 1787, and died February 22, 1826, at New Orleans aged thirty-eight years. 
He was a past master Mason. His father was Jeremiah Selby who came from East 
Haddam, Conn., about 1800 with his wife and seven children, making his way in a 
small boat of his own construction to a point one and one-half miles west of Palmyra 
on Mud Creek, where he located and built a grist mill and about 1805 moved to Pult- 
neyville and built and operated a grist and saw mill till his death. He died September 
15, 1811, aged sixty-six, and his wife Sarah Cone, died July 4, 1822. His father was 
William Selby, M. D., who came from Selby, Yorkshire, England, about 1702. He was 
a direct descendant of the first Selby, who was a Saxon sea captain and was the founder 
of Selby. 

Foskett, James G-., was born in Walworth December 29, 1848, son of Hiram and 
Jane (Laird) Foskett, he a native of Walworth, born on the farm now owned by out- 
subject May 8, 1815, and she of New Jersey, born April 9, 1810. She had been 
previously married to Asaph G-. Foskett, a brother of Hiram Foskett, and had one child. 
Asaph C Foskett was killed by a threshing machine on the homestead. The paternal 
grandfather was David Foskett, born in Massachusetts, who came to Walworth in 1811 
and settled on the farm owned by subject. He owned about 300 acres, was assessor 



142 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

for sixteen years, justice of the peace eight years, and died September 15, 1849, aged 
seventy-one years. His wife was Naamah Robinson, a native of Vermont. The father 
of subject owned 150 acres of land now owned by subject. He died July 28, 1892, 
and his wife October 15, 1888. Our subject was reared on the farm he owns and edu- 
cated at Macedon Academy and Lima Seminary, owns 150 acres and now lives retired. 
He has built a new barn and made other improvements. He married, February 15, 
1883, Charlotte M. Johnson, a native of Macedon, and daughter of Herman and Bell 
(Packard) Johnson. He was station agent at Macpdon and died in 1873. 

Gould, William E., was born in Ontario May 2, 1837, son of Israel and Sally A. (Amy) 
Gould, he a native of Canada, born in 1803, and she of Saratoga county, born in 1811. 
The father of Israel was Daniel Gould, a native of New York, who came to Walworth 
in 1804, where he spent the remainder of his life. His wife was Carlinthy Woodcock 
a native of Lake George, by whom he had thirteen children. He was in the war of 
1812. Subject's father was a man well informed, especially in mathematics. He settled 
on a farm in Ontario now owned by subject, where he died. He was one of the largest 
farmers in that town, owning about 300 acres. He died October 11, 1868, and his wife 
May 5, 1844, aged thirty-three years. Subject was educated in Walworth Academy. 
He owns 140 acres where he resides and sixty-three acres in Ontario, follows general 
farming, and raised hops in Ontario fourteen years. He was a dealer in produce and 
coal at Union Hill nine years. He was assessor seven years, is a member of Wayne 
Lodge No. 41G, F. & A. M. He sent a substitute to the late war. He married, in 1862, 
Malinda J. Brown, a native of Perrington, Monroe county, by whom he has three chil- 
dren, the youngest a son, George W., who died at the age of twenty-one, Nora J., at 
home, who graduated from the Brockport Normal School and was six years principal of 
Adams School of Duluth, Minn.; Mary A., wife of Arthur L. Hatch, a merchant of 
Lincoln in partnership with Mr. Kennedy and our subject. The firm is known as Ken- 
nedy, Hatch & Co. She is a graduate of Brockport Normal School and has one 
daughter, Marjorie G., born December 24, 1892. 

Galloway, James, was born April 27, 1765, in Orange county and moved to Newton, 
Chemung county, where he lived two years on the farm of John Jenkins, the surve} r or. 
From Newton (now Elmira) he came to Palmyra April 27, 1790, locating on lot 37, now 
owned and occupied by his son James. He bought the land of Jenkin & Swift for one 
shilling eight pence per acre, and after clearing and planting two acres he returned to 
his former home for his family. They lived three months in their covered wagon, then 
built a log house, which was replaced in 1802 by a frame structure. His wife died in 
1799, leaving five children John, Mary Ann, Hannah, Archer, and Polly; and he mar- 
ried in 1819 Nancy, daughter of James Fosket. He had three children by his second 
wife, James, Jerome B., Julia Ann. His widow, Nancy Galloway, died December 28, 
1878, aged eighty- nine. His own death occurred July 21, 1840. To correct an error 
in another work it may be stated that James Galloway purchased a soldier's right at 
the close af the Revolution, of 640 acres in Onondaga county. This occurred before 
he moved from Orange county and has no connection with the purchase of lot 37. 
John, the son of James by his first wife, bought fifty acres of land near Palmyra. He 
married Miss Betsey Cornwell. Their children were Duane, Thomas, George and Al- 
mon. He took a contract to dig eighty rods of the Erie Canal. Thomas drove the oxen. 
His brother, Duane, held the scraper. Thomas was born in Palmyra, July 28, 1809, 
on the farm he now occupies. His mother died when he was nine years old. In 
1823 he moved to Michigan with his father. In 1828 he returned to Palmyra. At the 
age of twenty-one he came into possession of thirty-two acres of land, from his grand- 
father (his birthplace). In 1836 he built a frame house and married Miss Ruby Giff- 
ord, by whom he had six children, Milfred, Harriet and Carlton, Emma, Willis and 
Helen. His wife died July 1892. The homestead consists of 160 acres. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 143 

Freer, John, was born in Palmyra August 11, 1846, son of Isaac and Sarah (Beam) 
Freer, natives of New York, he was born in 1805 and she in 1818. They came to So- 
dus and after a short time went to Wisconsin and finally came to Williamson, and in 
1858 settled on a farm in Walworth where Mr. Freer died in 1871 and his wife died in 
Williamson in 1892. Subject was reared on a farm, and educated in the common 
schools and Walworth Academy. He has always been a farmer, except four years 
proprietor of Walworth hotel. He owns forty-two acres of land and makes a specialty 
of raising fruit, having six acres of berries. He married twice, first, Agatha M. Briggs, 
by whom he had three children : George, deceased ; Wellington and Frank. Mrs. 
Freer died in 1880, and in 1884 he married second Ella Beckwith a native of Sodus, born 
January 30, 1861, daughter of William and Sarah (Nye) Beckwith, he a native of Ar- 
cadia, born in 1835 and she of Sodus, born in 1839. They now reside in Williamson. 

Mason, Charles, was born in Williamson, N. Y., November 13, 1824. He is the 
eighth of ten children of John and Eleanor Williamson Mason, both natives of New 
Jersey, who came to Williamson in 1811. Mr. Mason was drowned November 13, 1831, 
and his wife died July 10 1859. At seven years of age our subject started in life for 
himself. He has been a cooper and farmer and owns 118 acres of land, following farm- 
ing and growing small fruits. Mr. Mason has been highway commissioner for six years. 
March 10, 1847, he married Iantha Gibbs, of Williamson, born December 18, 1829, a 
daughter of Amasa Gibbs, who settled the farm where our subject now resides, and who 
was also in the war of 1812. Mr. Mason and wife have two daughters and one son: 
Harriet, at home ; Jennie (wife of W. H. Shafer), who has one son, Durfee, else- 
where mentioned in this work. The father of our subject was a carpenter and mill- 
wright, and also a cabinet maker. He built the Penfield mills, and the first M. E, 
Church at Pultneyville. He also built the mill at Marion, owned by Mr. Cogswell. 

Gilbert, Charles D., a native of Walworth, was born November 8, 1850, son of Daniel 
and Betsey (Thomas) Gilbert, he a native Fabius, Onondaga county, born September 
1, 1804, and she of Brookfield, Madison county, born December 12, 1806. The paternal 
grandfather of subject was Apollus Gilbert, who died in Fabius in 1808. His wife was 
Joanna Dunbar. Daniel Gilbert was an expert horse shoer and worked for the stage 
line a number of years. In 1838 he came to West Walworth, bought a lot and built a 
house and worked at his trade, and in 1852 purchased the farm where the family reside. 
He died December 18, 1874. He married in Manlius in 1826 Betsey, daughter of 
Asahel Thomas, born June 24, 1772, in Connecticut. His wife was Rebecca Pitkin, 
born in Connecticut September 29, 1772. The children of Daniel and wife were 
Benager Gilbert of Fairport ; George W., of Meckling, S. D. ; Frank L., of Walworth; 
Charles D., our subject ; Aldisa, who died in 1887, wife of Loren Sweet, by whom she 
had one child, Fred G. ; and Eliza, who died March 31, 1894. She was the wife of 
Jacamiah Furman, of Fairport, by whom she had three children : Clara, deceased, 
Lewis G., and Gilbert J. Subject was postmaster of West Walworth from April 16, 
1887, to November, 1888, and resigned. 

Hogan, A. N, is a son of Ashley Hogan, who came to this locality in 1826, clearing 
with his own axe a farm of 100 acres, about one and one-half miles east of the farm 
now occupied by his son, three miles north of Savannah. He was a man of some note 
in his town, serving as supervisor of the poor, highway commissioner, etc. His first 
wife, Rhoda Horton, bore him eight children, of whom the subject of our sketch is the 
sole survivor. His second wife was Fannie Scott, of Butler, who died three years later 
leaving no children. Mr. Hogan married third, Mary Carter, by whom he had three 
children, two now living. A. N. Hogan married September 10, 1836, Polly Ketchum, 
of this town, and they had five children: Phena, Anna E., Etta, Rhoda and William 
Nelson. The latter now conducts the farm, his father being engaged as a veterinary 
surgeon. He has also for fourteen years been overseer of the poor, also trustee of 
school and gospel lot. 



144 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Van Dyke, Mrs. Ralph, nee Polly Risley, is the widow of Ralph Van Dyke, who died 
here June 25, 1876. Ralph Van Dyke was a worthy pensioner of the war of the Re- 
bellion. He enlisted in 1863 in Company K, 50th N. Y. S. Engineers, and served as 
corporal until the close of hostilities. Polly Van Dyke is the mother of seven children : 
Ellen, Cornelia, Irene, George, Isadore, William and Juliet. George is an engineer and 
boatman, unmarried, residing with his mother. 

Wooster, Hiram 0., better known as ''Dock,' was born in the town of Ontario July 
14, 1833. He is the fourth of seven children of Frederick N. and Emeline Wooster. 
He has always been a farmer running a threshing machine f >r twenty-five falls. He 
resided in Ontario until 1860 when he moved into the town of Walworth and in 1869 
he purchased what is known as the Deacon Bancroft farm. This he exchanged for a 
house and lot at Macedon Centre where he lived one year, after which he returned to 
West Walworth and purchased a farm of 100 acres, known as the Joseph Gould farm, 
on which he has since lived. He married in 1858 Martha Gould, daughter of Israel 
Gould, of the town of Ontario, by whom he has one son, Fred M., who married Ella J. 
Snow, daughter of the Rev. S. W. Snow, of Saratoga county, by whom he has two 
children, Carl and Ruth. Fred lives at Union Hill, where he deals in coal, lumber, and 
produce. 

Yeomans, Albert, was born in Walworth January 20, 1848, a son of Eliab and 
Phoebe (Walters) Yeomans, of Cairo, Greene county, the former born November 27, 
1812, and the latter April 20, 1818. The grandparents were Gilbert and Sally Yeo- 
mans. Eliab owned a farm of 210 acres, which was left to the family, and sixty-two 
acres of which is now owned by our subject. Eliab died in 1873, and his wife survives. 
Of their children, one son and four daughters are now living: Sarah, wife of W. 
Mandeville, wholesale boot and shoe dealer, of Rochester; Lucy, wife of C. F. Sweezey, 
of Marion ; Ella, wife Alderman M. B. Adams, of Rochester ; and Clara, who resides 
on the homestead. Our subject was reared on the farm, educated at Walworth Acad- 
emy and Business Institute, of Rochester, and in 1870 married Clara Billings, daughter 
of Benjamin and Susan Billings, of Macedon. They have two daughters, Florence and 
Edith. Mr. Yeomans makes a specialty of fruit growing and is a dealer inland fertiliz- 
ers. He is a charter member of Walworth Grange, of which his wife is a member also. 

Swadling, Stephen, was born in Sussex county, England, October 11, 1828, a son of 
Stephen and Martha Swadling, the former having died there in 1831. His widow mar- 
ried John Hook, by whom she had six children. Mr. Hook died in 1877, and his wife 
in 1884, aged eighty years. Our subject came to America at twenty one years of age. 
He owned a farm in Walworth which he sold, and came to Ontario in 1866, purchasing 
a farm of fifty acres, following general farming and also evaporation of apples, the out- 
put being about 4,000 yearly. Mr. Swadling married, August 20, 1854, Mary C, 
daughter of Elijah and Mary Sova natives of Canada, who came to Ontario, where Mr. 
Sova died in 1890 His widow resides with her daughter. Mr. Swadling and wife 
have had eight children : George, who married Lucenia Warren, by whom he has four 
children, Ada, Maud, Earl, and Ettie ; Charles married Mary Lutze and has two chil- 
dren, Grace and Stephen 0.; Etta is the wife of Ira Boughton, by whom she had two 
children, Eva and May. Mrs. Boughton died in 1881; Thomas, who married Clara 
Lincoln, and has one child, Dora ; Lida, wife of Richard Lincoln, and has three chil- 
dren, Stephen, Clinton, and Harrison ; William married Ella Parker, by whom he has 
one child, Stephen ; Emma, wife of Joseph McCrea, by whom he has two children, 
Jennie and Glenn ; and Jay, who married Lula Deright. 

Downing, Fred B., was born in Walworth April 4, 1874, son of Elias W. Downing, of 
Long Island, born December 24, 1824. The father of Elias was Silas Downing a native 
of Long Island, who came to Walworth and settled on the farm where our subject now 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 145 

resides, where he died in 1848. His wife, Henrietta, died in 1878. The father of sub- 
ject was a farmer and owned at his death fifty-five acres, the family now having ninety- 
six acres and follow general farming and fruit raising. Mr. Downing died December 

2, 1887, and his wife resides on the farm. Subject was reared on a farm and educated 
in the common schools, and has the management of the homestead. Caroline 
Downing is a daughter of David and Almedia (Thompson) Powell, he a native of 
Dutchess county, born in 1808, and she a native of Penfield, born in 1815. Mr. Powell 
came to Walworth in 1831 and settled on the farm now owned by his son, Edwin 
Powell, where he died in 1877 and his wife in 1889. Blias W. Downing married 
Caroline Powell December 5, 1855. She was born in Walworth June 11, 1837, and 
they had six children: George H., who married Kate H. Buzzell, and resides in Michi- 
gan; Alice, at home ; Benjamin W., who died in 1867 ; Francis, who died in 1864 ; Fred 
B., who married Delia B. Reed and resides at home ; and Etta May, who resides at 
home. 

Reed, R. T., was born in Macedon October 14, 1832, son of Nathan S. and Mary A. 
(Tedman) Reed, natives of Macedon, where the mother died in 1835, when subject was 
an infant. His father then married Mary A. Rice, by whom he had seven children. 
The paternal grandfather of subject was Paul Reed, a native of Massachusetts, born in 
1773. His wife was Lois Stone, born in 1775, and they came to Macedon in 1795, 
where he died in 1852, and his wife died Walworth in 1856. Subject's father was born 
in 1803, has lived retired forty years. He lived where our subject does for three years 
and then lived in West Walworth for some time, but for twenty-five years has lived 
in Fairport where he resides, aged ninety-one. Our subject was educated in Macedon 
Academy. He has always been a farmer, and he and father owned 200 acres and sub- 
ject of sketch owns seventy-one acres and follows general farming. He is a member 
of Walworth Lodge No. 254. F. and A. M. He married in 1853 Mary A. Hoag, a 
native of Duanesburg, Schoharie county, by whom he has nine children, Charles W., 
who married Mary Bartels, and resides in Iowa; Emma J., wife of E. A. Furman ; 
Eva, wife of Seymour Aldrich, of West Walworth ; Florence A., wife of W. A. Ford, 
of Macedon ; John F., who married Verna Furman and resides at home ; Lewis, who 
married Maggie Frush and lives in Fairport; Albert S., at home; Delia B., wife of 
Fred Downing, and Carrie E., wife of Willis Main of West Walworth. 

Stuck, Henry, born in Galen April 22, 1821, when twenty-one years of age, pur- 
chased a farm in Savannah ; in 1863 he sold the place and and purchased the one where 
he now resides. He is a substantial and much respected citizen, a Prohibitionist in 
politics and has served as assessor of the town many years. Emeline, his wife, daugh- 
ter of John Cay wood, born at Galen September 16, 1823; her present home has been 
her home since childhood. Both are members of the Methodist Protestant Church., 
They were married in Savannah February 22, 1844. Their children are George A., 
born January 31, 1845, resides in Selma Ala., at business, manufacturer of aluminum 
alloy products at Rome, Ga., married Lizzie Foster of Selma, Ala.; Wallace, born June 

3, 1852, died October 30, 1860 ; Gustavus, born September 2, 1854, a carpenter by 
trade, now residing on the home farm ; his wife is Maggie, daughter of John Davis, of 
Savannah; Willie M., born October 11, 1858, a carpenter by trade, lives at Mt. Clem- 
ens, Mich.; a son died in infancy April 26, 1861 ; Dora L., born February 7, 1863, also 
died in infancy, November 10, 1863, and Everett, born June 1, 1865, a skilled mechanic 
is with the National Cash Register Co. at Dayton, Ohio, his wife is Flora A., daughter 
of Avery W. Lamb, of Rome, N. Y. 

Hicks, George, Macedon,was born in Dover, England, county of Kent, December 25, 
1842. He came to this county in 1871, on the day that peace was proclaimed between 
the French and Prussians. He worked at his trade in Wayne county, Ontario, first, 
then moved to SoduSj where he worked for some time. He next moved to Manchester, 



146 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

and from there to Rochester and various other towns, finally settling in Wayne county 
where he bought a place at Ontario Center and remained ten years, then moved to this 
town, where he has since resided, working at his trade and at farming. He has been 
twice married, and has one child. He is a Republican, a Granger, and has held the 
office of school trustee. 

Reeves, J. Dupha, was born in the town of Arcadia, on the farm where his mother 
now resides, January 7, 1844. He was educated in the common schools and Eastman's 
Commercial College at Poughkeepsie. He is a farmer and merchant miller by occupa- 
tion. In he spring of 1881 he was elected supervisor of the town, re-elected in 1882, 
again in 1889, serving up to the present time. October 8, 1867, he married Alice R. 
Welcher of his native town, and they have eleven children : R. Newell, Ida A., Glen B., 
Delia M., Mary A., Martha A., J. Herve, Alice A., Paul D., Park M., and Ruth M. 
Glen B. married Florence Smith of this town. Mr. Reeves' father, James H.,was born 
in Palmyra. He was educated in the schools of his day, was a miller and farmer. He 
married Cordelia A. Adams of the town of Williamson, and they had eight children : 
Simeon, Peter, Mary, Martha J., Dupha, Raymond J., Dupha, who died in infancy and 
George, who died in 1880. Mr. Reeves' grandfather, Paul Reeves, was born on Long- 
Island in 1780. He married Sarah Ware of Delaware county, and located in Bast 
Palmyra before 1800. At this time Garnargwa Creek, generally known as Mud, was a 
navigable stream. His grandfather received a grant from the Legislature to erect a 
dam on that stream, which was completed by him and Mr. Reeves' father in 1802, at 
the place known as Mud Mills in early times, but more recently Excelsior Mills. His 
grandfather sold out the mills at Mud Creek in 1814, went to Williamson and erected 
another mill. The ancestry of this family is English and Welch. 

Wigglesworth, A. G., furniture and undertaking, was born at Palmyra April 1, 1841, 
and has always resided here. Matthew W., the father, a native of Yorkshire, England, 
came to America and located at Palmyra in 1836 with his wife, Elizabeth (Hudson) 
Wigglesworth, and a family of four sons and six daughters. Mr. Wigglesworth was 
educated at the Palmyra Classical Union School, followed farming until 1873, then 
located in Palmyra in the coal and produce trade till 1891, when he sold and embarked 
in the furniture and undertaking business. He was assessor three years, and overseer 
five years. In 1862 he married Emma L, daughter of Noah Palmer, one of the pio- 
neers of the county, and they have one son, Orla A., and one daughter, Alta. 

Thompson, Harry P., was born in Ontario, January 19, 1857, the third of eight chil- 
dren of Edward and Mary (Paine) Thompson, natives of England. They came to 
America in 1856 with a family of two children, and settled on a farm in Ontario. In 
1872 he went to the town of Williamson and bought a farm, where he spent the re- 
mainder of his days, dying in March, 1869. Mrs. Thompson still resides on the home- 
stead, at the age of sixty-five years. The rest of the family still survive, except one 
daughter, Annie, who died at the age of twenty-six years. Subject was reared on a 
farm and has always followed farming. February 19, 1874, he married Mrs. Clara L. 
(Bishop) Marsh, widow of Manley Marsh, and daughter of J. M. Bishop of Ontario. 
Mrs. Marsh had one son, Fay Marsh, who is still at home. He was born February 24, 
1872, Mr. and Mrs. Thompson have had one son, Floyd O, born August 25, 1875. In 
1889 he purchased the farm he now owns in Ontario, where he is engaged in general 
farming and fruit growing. He has thirteen acres of apples, eleven acres of raspber- 
ries, three acres of strawberries, is putting out eight acres of peaches, and has one and 
one-fourth acres of grapes. In politics he is a Republican, and the family are Baptists 
in religion. 

Tiffany, Reuben was born in Middlesex, Ontario county, December 3, 1814, a son of 
Garden and Rebecca (Slaton) Tiffany, both of Pennsylvania. The grandfather was 
John Tiffany of Massachusetts, who was descended from Squire Humphrey Tiffany, 



FAMILY SKETCHES. [4."i 

of England. Garden Tiffany came to this county when young and took up 400 acres, 
part of which is still owned by the family. He died March 31, 1856. Reuben T. was 
educated in the common schools, and engaged in teaching for several years and was 
also superintendent in Macedon. He was a public-spirited, generous man, and is re- 
membered by a large circle of friends. He died on the old homestead in 1893. His 
first wife was Mary A. Everett of Macedon ; and his second was Mary A. Peacock, 
widow of Samuel Peacock. Their children were as follows : Milton J., who died aged 
seventeen years, March 23, 1868; and Alice, wife of Charles R. Dryer, M.D., of Victor, 
who now has a chair in the Terre Haute Normal School. He has been lecturer on 
chemistry in the Fort Wayne Grammar School, and is city chemist. Mrs. Dryer was 
educated in Macedon, and was a student of Lima College, under the instruction of 
Miss Willard. She was a delegate to the World's Fair from Indiana Literary Club. 
Mr. Peacock died in California in 1854, and her marriage with Mr. Tiffany occurred 
in 1871. They have adopted George P. Bancroft as their son, he being a nephew of 
Mr. Tiffany. 

Smouton, C. H, was born in Palmyra January 13, 1840. He is the oldest of a 
family of three children of John and Louisa (Walton) Smouton, natives of England, 
came to Palmyra in 1836, and to Williamson in 1846 and settled on the farm subject 
now owns, where he died August 3, 1879, and his wife in 1846. Our subject was 
reared on a farm, owns sixty-five acres of land, and follows general farming. He is a 
Democrat in politics. He married, in 1867, Artimitia Nye, a nati e of Sodus, a daugh- 
ter of Lewis and Pattie Nye, of Sodus, coming there in an early day. Mr. Smouton 
and wife have had two children : Fred B., who married Nora A. Denney, daughter of 
Loren Denney, of Williamson, and had one child, Ruth B.; and Martha L., wife of 
Thomas Burden, of Ontario. 

Plumb, Charles G., M. D., was born December 17, 1854, at Sterling, Cayuga county, 
and is the son of S. Hiram, born February 19, 1819, and Nancy (Pease) Plumb, born 
July 16, 1822. S. Hiram Plumb received an academic education at Elbridge, N.Y., sup- 
plemented by a medical course at the University of New York, and after graduating 
from the latter institution with the degree of M . D. began practice at Red Creek. In 
February, 1862, he received the appointment of assistant surgeon 24th N.Y. Volunteers, 
later promoted to 82d N.Y.S. Volunteers as surgeon, and in 1864 made chief of oper- 
ating staff, second division, second corps, with rank of colonel. At the close of the war 
he resumed his practice at Red Creek, where he died August 12, 1880. Charles G. 
Plumb is one of a family of ten children, of whom one brother, Alfred W., is now 
principal of Union School No. 6, Savannah. Charles acquired his earlier education at 
Red Creek Academy, then taught three years in common schools, two years in Lyons 
Union School, and "early in 1881 graduated from the medical department of the Uni- 
versity of Buffalo, with the degree of M.D., and began practice at Owasco. May 11, 
1881, he married Jessie, daughter of Dr. Rice, of, Hannibal, and they had three 
children: George R., born May 12, 1882, who died in infancy; Robert H., born 
August 12, 1885; and a daughter born in February, 1891, who died in extreme infancy. 
As the result of an injury while away from home, confining Mrs. Plumb to her room 
for a year, Dr. Plumb abandoned his practice and cared for her. They then moved to 
Red Creek, and Mr. Plumb was for two years principal of the public school at that 
place. In 1887 he became principal of Savannah Union School. During his principal- 
ship an academic course was organized, and the resident attendance at the school in- 
creased thirty-eight per cent, in two years. The increased attendance necessitated a 
large force of teachers, and led to the "incorporation of the academic department by the 
Board of Regents, and finally to the erection of a large and beautiful school building. 
Mr. Plumb it president of the District Association of Y. P. S. C. E. of Eastern Wayne. 
In March Mr. Plumb resigned the principalship of Savannah school to take a course in 
the Post Graduate Medical College of New York, and has since resumed the practice of 
medicine at Red Creek, N.Y. 



148 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Pratt, Jonathan S., born in Williamson, Wayne county, January 21, 1838, is the son 
of Jonathan and Clarissa (Jennings) Pratt, both of New England stock, and pioneers of 
Williamson. Mr. Pratt came to Williamson with his parents when it was a 
a wilderness, and settled on a farm. His parents died soon after, leaving him 
at the age of eighteen with the farm of 300 acres to pay for. This he did 
and bought about 400 acres more, which he left to the family. He was a lumberman 
and stock dealer and was successful. In politics he was a Whig, and they were mem- 
bers of the M. E. church. He died in 1850, and his wife in 1886. Subject was reared 
on the farm and worked with his father until 1861, when he enlisted in the 8th N. Y. 
Cavalry, was taken prisoner at Harper's Ferry and held about three months. He mar- 
ried Harriet S. Richmond, by whom he has two sons and two daughters: Clara M., 
Frank J., Charles H., and Mabel Gr. After the war he engaged in farming on a portion 
of the old Pratt homestead, .which he sold a few years later, and bought the place 
known as the Thomas farm, where he now lives. His farm comprises fifty acres, 
mostly devoted to fruit. In politics he is a Republican, and he and family are Baptists. 

Evans, David H., was born in Tyre, Seneca county, December 7, 1837. His father, 
John G. Evans, emigrated from I ngland in 1802, when nine years of age. He was a 
member of the M. E. Church for fifty years, postmaster for twenty-five years and justice 
of the peace for four years. He died July 15, 1877, aged eighty-four years. David H. 
Evans was educated at Fort Plain Seminary, beginning his public career as a justice 
of the peace when twenty-six years of age, and four years later was made supervisor, 
serving seven years. February 24, 1845, he married Catherine Wurts of Savannah, by 
whom he had five children : Clara B., Mary W., Edwin Gr., Bertha B. and Maud, who 
died in 1884 at six years of age. Catherine Evans died in 1885, and he married second, 
in 1893, Catherine L. Ransom of Montezuma. Mr. Evans represented Seneca county in 
the assembly in 1879 and 1880, where he served as chairman of committee on in- 
ternal affairs. He was the first Republican elected in Seneca county for thirty years, 
He was elected to the Senate in 1882 from the 26th district, comprising the counties of 
Seneca, Cayuga, Tompkins and Tioga by a plurality of 4,270. Since 1880 he has been 
extensively engaged in farming and dealing in real estate; in 1894 holding 1,200 acres 
adjacent to his homestead. 

Carncross, Andrew, was born in Savannah in 1834, and has spent his entire life 
here. His parents was Jacob and Catherine (Cline) Carncross, who came originally 
from the East, and from Onondaga county in 1822. Jacob was born May 1, 1809, and 
died in 1884, and the latter, born August 22, 1803, and died in 1886. Andrew is situ- 
ated on a farm about two miles northeast of Savannah, and adjacent to his brother 
William. He is unmarried and a man of some eccentricities of character, but much 
respected by those who know him. He is a sturdy Republican in politics. 

Milne, Alexander P., is a native of Scotland, was born at Turriff. Aberdeenshire, in 
1854. He was educated at the Turriff High School and Fordyce Academy in Banff- 
shire, served one year in the law office of John Christie, Solicitor Banff, and also served 
an apprenticeship of five years in the Commercial Bank of Scotland at Turriff and was 
sent from there to Canada as an employee of the Bank of British North America where 
he was located at London, Hamilton, and Toronto branches. After a residence of six 
years in the Dominion he migrated to the United States where he swore fealty to Uncle 
Sam and acquired citizenship. He has since held various positions of trust and respon- 
sibility. For the past six years he has been cashier and head bookkeeper for the Wayne 
Building, Loan, and Accumulating Fund Association and for three years treasurer of the 
village of Palmyra, he also holds an appointment as notary public and is prominently 
identified with various local organizations of a social and fraternal character. In the 
spring of 1894 Mr. Milne received the nomination for town clerk and was elected by a 
large majority. He married in 1877, Hattie, daughter of Alexander Rannie, of Pal- 
myra, and has two children, a son and a daughter. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 149 

Van Wickle, Simon, was born in Lyons, Wayne county, September 2, 1817, and died 
at his home in Savannah March 8, 1894, of exhaustion following an attack of la 
grippe. His father was Evart Van Wickle and his mother Catharine (Dorchester) Van 
Wickle. They were natives of the State of New Jersey. In 1845 Mr. Van Wickle 
married Maria Lloyd, daughter of Peter and Sarah (Erickson) Lloyd. Five children 
were born to them : Sarah C, now Mrs. E. J. Carris; Charles D., Simon H., Amelia 
A., and Mary E.. now Mrs. W. H. Sweeting. In 1869_Charles died of inflammation of 
the brain, and in 1877 Simon died of inflammation of the spinal cord. The loss of these 
promising sons saddened the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Van Wickle for many years. In 
1891 Mrs. Van Wickle died suddenly of apoplexy. Her death coming so unexpectedly 
was a blow of almost crushing force to the surviving members of the family. Mr. Van 
Wickle's chosen occupation was that of farming, in which he was very successful. In 
closing this brief biography of Simon Van Wickle, it may truthfully be said that he 
was a conscientious, upright, honorable man, and died respected and esteemed by all 
who knew him. 

Johnson, Russell, was born in De Kalb, St. Lawrence county, October 27, 1828. He 
is the second child of a family of four children of Russell and Phebe (Eddy) Johnson, 
natives of Coleraine, Franklin county, Mass., and early settlers (1827) of De Kalb, St. 
Lawrence connty, N. Y., where his mother died when our subject was ten years of age. 
The father then married Abigail Van Duzzer, by whom he had four children. He 
finally came to Ontario where he died in 1876. Russell was educated in the Gouver- 
neur Academy and at Burlington, Iowa. Taught school, then went west to Illinois 
where he taught school and clerked for several years ; was assistant postmaster at 
Prairie City, Illinois, at the outbreak of the war when he left his position and enlisted 
at Chicago in Company A, 89th HI. Inf., August 27, 1852, serving untd June 10. 1865. 
After six months service he was appointed commissary of his regiment, and held the 
position till the close of the war, and was at Perryville, Stone River, Liberty Gap, 
Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, Mission Ridge, then marched to the relief of Burnside 
besieged at Knoxville, Tenn. On the Atlanta campaign participated in the victories of 
Rocky Face, Resaca, Pickett's Mills, Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek and the flank 
movement at Atlanta, and was at Jonesboro and Lone Joy Station, Spring Hill, Frank- 
lin and Nashville. From the time of leaving Louisville, until the return there the regi- 
ment traveled 2,253 miles on foot and 1,127 by railroad. Out of 1,201 borne on its 
rolls 820 were killed in action, died from wounds or discharged on account of disability 
contracted in the service. At the close of the war Mr. Johnson came to Ontario where 
he has since lived. He engaged in the mercantile business and for some years kept a 
general stock, but now makes a specialty of clothing, boots and shoes. He is a Repub- 
lican and attended the convention, which resulted in the nomination of Abraham Lin- 
coln, the first Republican President, has served as postmaster here ten years, justice of 
the peace twelve years, and superintendent three years. He is a member of the Bap- 
tist Church of Ontario and of the - G. A. R. 

Philip, Thaideus, was born in Herkimer county January 15, 1845, and came with his 
parents, Jeremiah G. and Almeria (Lockwood) Philip, to Palmyra, locating on the farm 
now owned and occupied by him. He was educated in the Palmyra Class A. School, 
and the Hudson River Institute, and served in the late war for ten months, enlisting in 
August, 1864, in the 111th Regiment, Company A, as corporal. In 1869 he married 
Ella A, Burr, a native of Marion, and they have had three children : Jerrie G., born 
May 18, 1871, died aged twenty years; Jennie A., born in 1873; and Besssie L., born 
in 1884. The father of our subject was a native of Columbia county, who died in 
1890, and the mother in 1887. Henry, a brother of Thaddeus, is a resident of Cali- 
fornia. The homestead farm consists of 148 acres. 

Stanford, Harvey E., was born in Oneida county, this State, in October, 1843. He 
is a son of Richard and Sally (Thorne) Stanford, came with his parents to this town in 



150 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

1858, was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools. Early in life he learned 
the trade of a carpenter and has for many years followed the profession of contractor 
and builder, also owns a small farm. He is a Republican in politics, has held several 
minor town offices and is now serving his first term as justice of the peace. Mr. Stan- 
ford enlisted in Co. B, 8th N. Y. Cavalry in September, 1864 and served until the close 
of the war. He married in 1872 Ella A. Andrew, a native of this town, and daughter 
of Alexander and Delia (Willard) Andrew. Mr. Stanford and wife have one daughter, 
Carrie L., wife of Edgar Brundage, a native of this town. 

Nash, C. J., dealer in pianos, organs, carriages, wagons, and sewing machines, also a 
full line of musical instruments, clocks, jewelry, and leading styles of bicycles. Mr. 
Nash was born in Williamson April 24, 1855, and is the oldest child of John and Eliza- 
beth Craggs Nash. Mr. Nash died in 1869, aged forty-four. Our subject was educated 
at Walworth and Sodus Academies, and worked as a clerk at Sodus and at Buffalo for 
about five years, and in 1876 he came to Ontario Centre and engaged in the hardware 
business. He now has a building of two stories 45x60 and a warehouse 46x36 feet. 
He was appointed postmaster at the Center in April, 1881, and held office until 1885, 
and was again appointed in April, 1889, and held office until August 15 1894. He has 
been clerk of the town since 1879, with the exception of from March to August, 1892. 
In March, 1877, he married Sarah L. Fish, of Williamson, a daughter of Harry and 
Fannie Fish, and they have five children: H. Raymond; A. Laverne: Edson J.; C. 
Stewart and Isabelle O, twins. 

Smith, Elias, was born in Niagara county April 1, 1821, the third of twelve children 
of Samuel and Hannah (Brown) Smith, he a native of Maine and she of New Jersey. 
Samuel Smith came to Farmington, Ontario county, when twenty years of age, and 
after he married moved to Niagara county, where he resided until 1827, when he came 
to Ontario and died in 1869, and his wife in 1872. He was in the War of 1812. Sub- 
ject was educated in the common schools, and has always been a farmer. He owns 
sixty-four and one-half acres of land, and follows general farming. Mr. Smith was a 
Whig, but has been a Republican since the organization of the party. He married in 
September, 1846, Polly Thayer, daughter of Aldrich and Hulda (Alcott) Thayer. Mr. 
Smith and wife have had two children : Winfield S., who married Susan, daughter of 
John and Hannah Lane, of Ontario; and Sarah T., wife of Sherman Colby, who has 
three children : Howard E., Dana, and Blanche T. Mr. Smith and wife are members 
of the M. E. church, and he has been teacher in the Bible class. 

Wooster, Oscar A., was born in Ontario, September 14, 1826, the oldest of seven 
children of Frederick H. and Emaline E. Hathaway, the former born October 24, 1803, 
in Schenectady, and the latter June 18, 1806. Mr. Wooster and wife spent their lives 
in Wayne county, where he died in 1891, and his wife in 1884. In 1807 his parents 
came from Connecticut to the town of Ontario, and settled on the Ridge road, fourteen 
miles east of what is now Rochester. Frederick H. was one of nine children, of whom 
only one, Oliver B., is living, in Allegan county, Mich., aged seventy-three. Oscar A. 
was educated in the common and Clyde select schools, has been a blacksmith through 
life, and resides in Ontario. He married Helen J. Hayden, a native of Mendon, Monroe 
county, by whom he has two children : Isabella, wife of Richard Dillingham ; and 
Frances, wife of George Bills, and they have three children : Elsie, Georgia and Jay. 
Mr. Wooster is a Republican, has been constable two years, justice of the peace one 
year, justice in Walworth twelve years, and notary public ten years. He is a member 
of Walworth Lodge, F. &; A. M. Mr. Wooster's father was Isaac Hayden, who spent 
most of his life in Monroe county. He died in Ontario June 26, 1847. His wife was 
Margaret Ogden, who now resides with her daughter at the age of ninety-three. She 
was born in Ontario county, town of Victor, and her parents were Jonathan and 
Catherine (Sines) Ogden, early settlers of Victor. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. I.-.1 

Smith, Frank W,, was born on the farm he owns February 25. 1850, the oldest of four 
children of Sanford and Lodosca (Place) Smith, he a native of Walworth, born in 1816 
on the farm of our subject, and she a native of Hindsburg, Vt., born in 1829. The grand- 
father was Oliver Smith, a Dative of West Stockbridge, Mass., who came on the farm 
our subject owns in 1805, where he died in 1826, aged forty-five. His wife was Thank- 
ful Ford, born in West Stockbridge, Mass., who died in 1858 aged eighty-three. The 
grandfather on the mother's side was Roswell P. Place, born in 1803 (birthplace not 
known). He enlisted in the army in 1846, at Lyons, to take part in the Mexican war. 
Served until nearly the end of the war when was taken sick with fever and died in 
Mexico. His wife was Aurellia Branch, born in 1804 at Monkton, Vt., was the mother 
of seven children, all girls, of which the oldest was the mother of subject. She died in 
Vermont in 1878. Subject was reared on a farm, educated in Palmyra Union Schools, 
a resident of Chicago for several years, and followed the dramatic profession for seven 
years, traveling through Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and Indiana, and portions of 
Canada and Pennsylvania. He returned to his farm life in 1879 where he has since 
resided, except one year selling nursery stock for Elwanger & Barry of Rochester. He 
owns 100 acres, follows general farming and makes a specialty of raising small fruit. 
He was married twice, first to Emma C. Payne, a native of Blissfield, Lenawee county, 
Mich., who died August 20, 1876; and subject married, second, in 1886 Annie E., 
daughter William Barnsdale of Walworth. Our subject has one brother living, Albert 
R., a railroad man of Buffalo. 

Pratt, J. D., was born in Ontario November 21, 1853, the youngest of three children, 
Amelia, Eugene, and Delmer. Amelia was a resident of this town until 1889, when 
she visited Pomona, Cal., and while there married a former New York man, W. D. 
Ellis, and now resides in that State ; Eugene was drowned in the mill pond on the farm 
of his grandfather, Jonathan Pratt, at the age of seven ; J. Delmer was reared on the 
farm, educated in the common school and Collegiate Institute in Marion, afterward 
taking a course at the Rochester Business University. He still owns fifty-three acres 
of the old homestead situated on the town line road between Williamson and Ontario, 
near the lake. He also owns eighty-three acres, known as the Turner farm, situated 
south of Ontario village, where he now follows general farming and grape culture, 
having seven acres of Niagaras. December 18, 1879, he married Florence, eldest 
daughter of John S. and Margaret Britton, her parents being natives of England and 
Ireland respectively, both having come to Wayne county when children. Mr. and Mrs. 
Pratt have two children: Esca A. and Leah M. The parents of J. D. Pratt were Joel 
and Cornelia (Potter) Pratt, the former a native of Williamson, and the latter of Sara- 
toga. Joel was a son of Jonathan and Clarissa (Jennings) Pratt, the former a native 
of Whately, Mass., and the latter of Burlington, N. Y., who came to Wayne county in 
1811 and settled on the lake road near the town line between Williamson and Ontario. 
Joel died January 5, 1884, and his wife in March, 1854. His second wife was Mrs. 
Rhoda Hartwell. In October, 1883, he married Mrs. Blythe. 

Frost, Samuel, was born in Oswego county in 1831. He lived twelve years in Ohio, 
and at the age of fifteen returned to Oswego county, where he remained till 1859, 
since which time he resided in Palmyra. In 1864 he began running an engine on the 
New York Central, and is now one of the oldest men in the service of the road. In 
1857 he married Eveline Starks. who died in 1881, and they had children as follows: 
Dillon O, born in 1859, now engineer on the New York Central ; Frank, born in 1869, 
who died in 1887 at the age of eighteen ; and Edna, born in 1879. 

Wooster, Denison S., was born in Ontario June 29, 1829, the second of seven chil- 
dren of Frederick H. and Emeline Hathaway. Subject was reared on a farm, educated 
in the common school, and learned the blacksmiths' trade, which he followed many 
years, but his principal occupation is farming. In 1851 he came to Walworth, located 
on the farm where he now resides, and has made many improvements. He has been 



152 • LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY 

commissioner of highways three terms, assessor eleven years, and collector and constable 
one year. He was a member of the Sons of Temperance. He sent a substitute to the 
late war. He married, in 1854, Orrinda C, daughter of Israel Gould, and they had 
three children : Irvin D., who died in infancy ; Truman G., who resides in Allegany 
county, and is engaged in the furniture and undertaking business, is also business man- 
ager of the furniture manufacturing company of that place ; and William D., who re- 
sides in the same place, is engaged in the same business with his brother, and is also in- 
terested in the manufacturing business. 

Gould, Theron 0., was born February 17, 1837, the oldest of six children born to 
Amos and Margaret Gould. Amos was born October 22, 1814, and was a son of Daniel 
Gould mentioned elsewhere in this work. Margaret (McCreery) Gould was born in 
Macedon November 16, 1814, and as a matter of history rode on the first canal boat 
that passed through Macedon. Our subject was reared on a farm and educated in the 
common schools and Macedon Academy. He owns a farm at Lincoln in Walworth and 
has a pleasant home. In politics he is independent, having been a Greenbacker he is a 
firm believer in doing away with National Banks and Congress to issue the currency 
and regulate its value. On February 17, 1861, he married Mary Maguire who was born 
September 26, 1840. She was the daughter of Francis and Catharine Maguire and 
came from England with a brother when but thirteen years of age. Mr. and Mrs. 
Gould have had two children : Charlie, who was born July 30, 1866, who was educated 
in the common schools and Walworth Academy and resides at home, and Frank, born 
December 4, 1871. He married Nellie Bailey of Lowell, Michigan, and has two chil- 
dren, Mary and Viola. He is a dealer in green and evaporated fruit in Mulliken, 
Michigan. 

Moore F. W., was born in Red Hook, Dutchess county, July 25, 1817, son of Philip 
H., and Elizabeth Fellows, he a native of Red Hook and she of Rhinebeck, Dutchess 
county. They came to Walworth in 1837, and settled on the farm now owned by our 
subject, where Mr. Moore died in June, 1862, and his wife in June, 1849. The grand- 
father was Philip Moore, whose father was a native of Germany, and an early settler 
of Dutchess county, where he died. Subject's father was drafted in the War of 1812. 
Subject has always been a farmer, owns a portion of the original farm his father set- 
tled, at present owns ninety-three acres, follows general farming, and is one of the 
largest stock dealers in Walworth. He has for over twenty years been engaged in 
selling agricultural implements, and at present represents the McCormick Company. 
He has been commissioner of highways, overseer of poor, and supervisor. He married 
in 1851 Hannah Smalley a native of Honeoye Falls, Monroe county, and daughter of 
Jonas and Eleanor Smalley, who were natives of New Jersey, settled in Geneva and 
finally in Monroe county, where they died. Mr. Moore and wife had three children: 
J. Ella, Fred C, and Genoa, who died aged five. 

Clemans, Putney, was born in Walworth, November 2, 1835, the youngest of thir- 
teen children of Asaph and Orpha (Ives) Clemans, natives of Massachusetts. He went 
to Cazenovia at an early day and in 1812 came to Walworth and settled on the farm 
now owned by our subject, where he died January 22, 1862 and his wife January 6, 
1880. He was in the War of 1812. He was a practicing physician many years in 
connection with farming. He and his wife were members of the M. E. Church. The 
grandfather of our subject was Moses Clemans, who lived and died in Massachusetts. 
Our subject was reared on the farm he owns and educated in West Walworth Acad- 
emy. He has always been a farmer and owns sixty-eight acres, also followed thresh- 
ing for some time. He married April 26, 1857, Emily Knights, who died in May, 1858. 

Gibbs, Newton 0., born in Williamson September 25, 1845, is the oldest of five sons 
of Amasa and Mary Gibbs, he a native of Williamson and she of the same town. The 
grandfather of subject was Amasa Gibbs, one of the first settlers of Williamson, who 



FAMILY SKETCHES. L53 

kept hotel many years. The father of Mrs. Gibbs was Jackson Mason, one of the early- 
settlers. The father of subject was a farmer, and died in 1857 and his wife in 1866. 
Our subject was educated in the common schools, has followed coopering and farming, 
and owns ninety-five acres of land. He married in 1871 Mary (Thomas) Stevens, 
widow of James Stevens, born in Wayne county, by whom he had one child, Jessie, 
wife of Frank Ooncher, of Marion, N. Y. 

Mclntyre, Calvin, jr., was born at the homstead of his father, in the town of Elbridge, 
Onondaga county, N. Y., August 16, 1836. His father was a native of Essex county, 
and removed with his parents to the town of Elbridge in the year of 1816. The family 
were of English, Welsh and Scotch extraction, tracing their descent back to Clan 
Mclntyre, of Gleno, Scotland, who occupied Gleno upwards of one thousand years. 
They settled at an early date in Vermont and afterwards located near Mt. Mclntyre, 
Essex county, N. Y. "His great-grandmother, Jemima Brockett, was a direct descend- 
ant of Sir John Brockett, baronet of Brockett's Hall and Manor, County of Herts, 
England; also a descendant of William Tuttle, who came to this country in the Planter 
and settled in New Haven in 1635. His grandfather, Joseph Mclntyre, served in the 
French and Indian war and the American Bevolution, and two of his uncles in the war 
of 1812. Calvin was brought up on his father's farm near Jordan, N. Y., receiving his 
education at the Jordan Academy. In 1854 he entered the employ of Horace P. Mol- 
ton, of Jordan, N. Y., in the mercantile business and remained until 1856, when he en- 
gaged in the agricultural business with his father until the latter's death in 1870. In 
1878 he came to Clyde and established the firm of Warner & Mclntyre, grain dealers 
and maltsters, one of the largest firms in Central New York, and who are now conduct- 
ing a very successful business. He was elected trustee of the village of Clyde in 1882, 
and has frequently been a delegate to various county and State conventions. In 1890 
he was a delegate to the Democratic State Convention, of Saratoga, N. Y., was elected 
one of the vice-presidents of the convention, and supported the nomination of Gov. 
Flower. At the age of twenty-four he married Frances E., daughter of Nathan Shaw, 
esq., of Elbridge, and Laura A. Evans, whose family were direct descendants of one of 
the noble families of England, and of Francis Dudley of Concord, Mass., who was a 
soldier in King Philip's Indian war in 1675. The first of the family to come to this coun- 
try was Thomas Dudley, who settled in Roxbury in 1630 and was colonial governor of 
Massachusetts in 1640. Mr. and Mrs. Mclntyre have one son, Edward M., and two daugh- 
ters, Mrs. Emma L. Wright, and Stella Elizabeth. Mr. Mclntyre takes an active interest 
in all educational affairs, and is a liberal supporter of religious institutions. In religion he 
is a Presbyterian, his family being members of that order, and contributing generously 
to the support of church interests. Hon. Edward M. was born in the town of Elbridge, 
Onondaga county, N. Y., April 16, 1861. He was educated at the Jordan Academy, 
and removed with his parents to Clyde in 1878, entering his father's office as book- 
keeper and general assistant. In 1885 he engaged in the malting business with his 
father and established the firm of Calvin Mclntyre & Son, maltsters and grain dealers, 
at Phelps, N. Y., with a branch located at Seneca Falls, N. Y., in 1887. He is secre- 
tary and treasurer of the Clyde Electric Company, and was one of its incorporators. 
At the age of twenty-one, he was the Democratic candidate for sheriff of Wayne 
county, and was defeated by a small plurality, largely reducing the majority formerly 
given to the Republican candidates. He has been repeatedly a delegate to various 
county and State conventions, and served on the committee of credentials at the 
Democratic State Convention at Saratoga in 1887, He was also one of a committee on 
permanent organization at Buffalo in 1888, and was chairman of the Wayne County 
Democratic Committee in 1889. Edward M. was one of the presidential electors elected 
in 1892, and cast his ballot for Grover Cleveland for president in the Electoral College 
at Albany, N. Y., January 9, 1893. He is one of the leading business men of Wayne 
county, and is a man of fine education and recognized ability, 
t 



154 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY 

Sweeting, Dr. Mortimer Franklin, was born in the town of Marcellus, Onondaga 
county, N. Y., August 30, 1817. When a mere child his parents moved to the present 
town of Camillus, in same county, where ever after his parents lived on same farm and 
died at the extreme oid age of ninety-three and ninety-four. Mason Sweeting, his 
father, was born in Mansfield, Bristol county, Mass., November 24, 1768, and Lydia 
Pratt, his mother, was born in the same town September 5, 1776. They were united 
in marriage April, 1793. His father was the son of Dr. Lewis Sweeting, who was a 
surgeon in the Revolution, and after the war closed, was a representative in the General 
Assembly of Massachusetts from his county. Two Sweeting brothers emigrated from 
England in 1643 to escape Cromwell's persecution, one of these brothers was Dr. Lewis 
Sweeting's father. Dr. M. F. Sweeting, the subject of this sketch, was educated in the 
common schools, and in Cazenovia Seminary, and Clinton Liberal Institute, then located 
at Clinton, N. Y. After leaving school he had a position for a time as assistant engi- 
neer under Hugh Lee, chief engineer on the Syracuse & Auburn R. R., and during the 
summer of 1845 he and Theodore Andrews (brother of Judge Andrews), assisted 
Wheeler Truesdell in laying out some of the streets of the city of Syracuse ; also spent 
one summer as assistant engineer under George Geddes in locating the Skaneateles R. R. 
The stringency of the money matters at this time caused many of the public works to 
suspend labor, leaving engineers out of business ; so he concluded to try another pro- 
fession, and entered his name as) a law student in the office of Spooner & Leroy, at 
Camillus, N. Y. After spending about a year in this office, he entered the office of 
James R. Lawrence in the city of Syracuse ; he remained in this office until he received 
an offer from D. Darwin Hughes, his brother-in-law of Marshall, Mich., to come into 
his office as a partner. Starting for Michigan, on the way, he was taken with a hem- 
orrhage from the lungs ; this misfortune changed the course of his life-work. His 
physician told him he could never stand office business, but out-door business, as riding 
over the country, would be the best work for him, and recommended medicine as his 
best profession. He unhesitatingly entered his name as a student of medicine and in 
the spring of 1850 graduated at the Geneva, N. Y., Medical College, having previously 
spent two courses at the Pittsfield, Mass., Medical College. During his studentage of 
medicine, he was principal of the South Butler Union School, one long term, and of the 
Hannibal Union School three terms. In August, 1850, he settled at Victory, N. Y., to 
practice his profession and remained at this place two years, then came to South Butler, 
and purchased the home and practice of Clarendon Campbell, one of his former precept- 
ors, and has continuously practiced his profession in this same place to the present time. 
In 1862, having investigated the homeopathic system of cure, he took a second gradua- 
tion from the New York Homeopathic College and since that time has practiced that 
system of cure. He was one of the founders of the Wayne County Homeopathic 
Medical Society, and for several years has been its president. He is also a member of 
the State Homeopathic Medical Society, and of the Central New York Homeopathic 
Medical Society. During the Rebellion he rendered efficient service in aiding to secure 
volunteers, and in caring for the families of those gone to the war, and in treating the 
wounded who were sent home, and in securing pensions for widows who had lost their 
husbands, or sons in the war; also be gave his only son, who was old enough to bear 
arms to his country's cause. The boy returned after the close of the war, although he 
had once been shot in his lung, which shot he now carries. This boy is Volney H. 
Sweeting, of Lyons. The doctor has been twice married. His first wife was Sally T. 
Hughes, daughter of Capt. Henry Hughes, of Camillus, N. Y. She gave him one son, 
Volney H. She died of consumption at Camillus, August 28, 1844. His second wife 
is Colan Clapp, daughter of Israel J. Clapp, of Butler, N. Y., whom he married 
November 4, 1849, and who is now living, a blessing to her husband and two 
sons, Dr. W. H. Sweeting, of Savannah, N. Y., and Sherman C. Sweeting, of Wyom- 
ing, N. Y., both of whom are married and settled in business; and two daughters, 
Mary A., and Grace G., neither of whom are married, but the memory of Charlie must 
not be omitted. After he entered the classical course in Cornell University, in 1879 he 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 155 

received the appointment of naval cadet at Annapolis, Md., and in 1883 graduated with 
honor, was made ensign in 1885 and died January 25, 1890 from the effects of a sun- 
stroke received while stationed at Honolulu. Charles Edward Sweeting will long be 
remembered as a boy and a man, of uncommon gifts, by all who knew him. The doc- 
tor prides himself that he gave all his children, both boys and girls a college education, 
excepting Volney H., who took his college course on the battlefields of the Eebellion, 
leaving school to answer his country's call. In religion the doctor is a radical Disciple, 
and in politics an enthusiastic Republican. The only public offices he ever held was 
school commissioner about five years, and assistant revenue assessor about two years. 

Pearsall, G-. A., was born in Williamson, N. Y., August 11, 1854, and is the son of 
J. D. and Hannah Brown Pearsall, he a native of Saratoga, and she a native of Had- 
denfield, N. J. J. D. was the son of George Pearsall, of Saratoga connty, and came to 
"Williamson about 1839, and here died in a few years. J. D. Pearsall was a farmer and 
also a produce dealer from 1876 to 1888. His death occurred February 2, 1890, and 
his wife still resides on the old homestead. Our subject was educated in Sodus and 
Marion academies, and taught for four years, and in 1880 engaged in the produce busi- 
ness. In 1880 he married Martha, daughter of Samuel Yaughn of Dickson, Pa., and 
they have two children, Howard and Samuel. 

Holling, Andrew, was born in Williamson August 11, 1813, a son of William and 
Sarah (Clark) Holling. He came to America in 1800, first settling in Geneva, but soon 
came to Williamson and settled. Of the family all are now deceased but one son and 
two daughters. The mother of Andrew died, 1823 (May 2), and his father married, 
second, Mrs. Stearns, wdo died in 1873. William Holling died in 1866, aged eighty- 
eight years. Andrew Holling commenced his business career as a sailor and followed 
that occupation twenty years, and is known as Captain Holling, He then engaged in 
the lumber and planing business at Pultneyville. Has also been engaged in farming 
and fruit growing. About 1882 he retired from active business, and his death occurred 
September 13, 1894. In 1840 he married Rachel B., daughter of Samuel and Ruth 
(Selby) Troop, natives of Connecticut. He came with his parents to Port Gibson, 
thence to Pultneyville, he being the first settler there. The parents of Samuel were 
Benjamin and Rachael (Brown) Throop. Samuel Throop kept the first hotel at Pult- 
neyville. He went sailing as captain and was drowned in Sodus Bay. Mr. and Mrs. 
Holling have had these children : Armine, Franklin, Lilly and Julia are deceased ; Ruth 
Ann was the wife of E. Lawrence of Sodus, after whose death she married Samuel 
Owen of Rochester, also deceased ; Sarah Jane is the wife of George D. Phelps of 
Chicago. James Holling is captain of a barge. Mary F. Holling lives in the old home 
with the mother. They attend and support the M. E. church. 

Heit, Philip, was born in the town of Galen January 7, 1839. His father, Michael, 
was a native of Alsace, Germany, and served under Napoleon Bonaparte three years. 
He emigrated to the United States in 1825 and was among the first colony in Lyons. 
He died in 1875, aged eighty years. Philip was educated in the common schools, to 
which he has added through life by reading and close observation. At the age of 
twenty-nine he married Charlotte, daughter of Peter Walheiser, and they have three 
children : William E., Jessie E., and Yada. In 1881 he purchased of his brother, 
George, the John Terry and the Stevenson farm of 275 acres, raising fruit, hay, grain, 
and stock. Our subject is one of the largest farmers in his town, taking an active in- 
terest in educational and religious matters. 

Blaker, Thomas R., of Macedon, was in Brighton, Monroe county, January 28, 1840, 
son of Patrocles Blaker, who was a native of Pennsylvania. The latter came to New 
York State in 1818, the date of his birth being 1800. He settled ^Rochester and worked 
at his trade, masonry, for two years, then bought a place in Henrietta, Monroe county, 
which farm he worked for two years, then sold and moved to Brighton, where he died 



156 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

in 1886, aged eighty-six years. He married Mariah Carter, of New Jersey, by whom 
he had ten children, six now living. Thomas R. Blaker has always followed farming. 
He married, in 1863, Eliza J. Hagaman, and they have four children, three now living : 
Charles D., Lizzie, and Mahlon H. A daughter, Lillie, died in infancy. Charles D. is 
married and lives in Minnesota. He is a Baptist minister. Our subject is a member of 
the A. 0. U. W., the Grange, and Mrs. Blaker is a member of the Presbyterian church. 

Furlong, Perry B., was born in the town of Galen, October 2, 1813. His father, 
John, came to Wayne county in the spring of 1812, purchased a farm, and built a log 
house in the woods. He died in 1859, aged seventy-nine years. Perry B. laid the 
foundation of his education in the log school house of his district. In 1836 he married 
Charlotte T.. daughter of Jacob Raymer, who died in the spring of 1875, and in the fall 
of the same year he married Nancy, daughter of Wdliam Collins, and they have one 
son, Austin. Our subject is one of the representative farmers of his town, taking an 
intelligent interest in educational and religious matters. 

Teats, John H, was born in Dutchess county, April 18, 1832, and is the youngest of 
the four children of Henry J. and Eliza M. (Fellows) Teats. Both were descended 
from German parentage, the ancestors coming from Germany in the early days, and 
the old homestead being in the family for 140 years. Henry Teats was one of the 
prominent men of Lafayetteville, Dutchess county, where he died in 1848. Our sub- 
ject was reared to the milling business, but went to New York city when eighteen 
years of age and was employed at the St. Nicholas Hotel for some years and was also 
in business for himself for a number of years. He came to Williamson in 1859 and 
has since resided on the farm of eighty acres which he owns, and carries on fruit farm- 
ing, having thirty five acres of berries, twenty-five of peaches, four of currants, eight 
of plums, and fourteen of apples. Mr. Teats is a Republican and was custom house 
officer for two years ; also inspector of elections and town collector. He is a member 
of the John D. Willard Lodge, No. 250, F. & A. M., and a member of the A. 0. U. W. 
and the Williamson Grange. In 1860 he married Bertha B., daughter of Hamilton and 
Rebecca (Brown) Cooper of Williamson, her family being relatives of Peter Cooper and 
of James Fenimore Cooper and descended from Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper. They 
have four children : Fred H., who married Mary Berry of Chicago and resides in Roch- 
ester ; Sylvester, who married Flora Clock and resides in Ontario and has two children ; 
J. Percival at home; and Raymond at home. Mr. Teats enlisted in Co. E, 111th N. Y. 
Volunteer Infantry, and served three years, and was in the battles of Gettysburg, Cold 
Harbor, Wilderness, and Petersburg. 

Plate er, Solomon, was born in Columbia county, N. Y., March 31, 1831. His father, 
John Platner, came to Clyde in 1832 and located on a farm near Clyde in 1850, where 
he died m 1863. His wife, Elizabeth, died December 4, 1882, leaving eight children 
living of a family of twelve. At fourteen years of age Solomon began life with a clerk- 
ship in a grocery at Clyde, then was for several years in post office and general store, 
and in 1847 began business under his own name in Clyde. In 185- he married Maria 
L., daughter of Millard Olmstead of Savannah, who became the mother of five children, 
three survive her: Nathaniel O., Francis E. and Alice M. Nathaniel is now in Ne- 
braska a dealer in grain and produce. Frances E. is the wife of William H. Proudfit of 
Denver, Col., who is a real estate dealer and commission merchant, and Alice M., the 
wife of R. D. Curtis of Marion, Wayne county, who is editor and proprietor of the 
Marion Enterprise. Maria L. Platner died in 1872; she was widely known for her 
Christian character and benevolence. Mr. Platner married second, in 1874, Margaret 
Elizabeth, daughter of the late James Proudfit of Seneca Falls, N. Y., who some years 
ago was one of its most enterprising citizens ; their home is in the southwestern portion 
of Savannah on a farm of 130 acres ; is a Democrat in politics. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 157 

Everhart, W. H., born in Galen, October 27, 1840. His fathec, Samuel Everhart, a 
well known and highly respected resident of Galen, is now ninety-two years of age, 
and his paternal ancestors were all celebrated for their longevity. W. H. Everhart, 
who made farming his principal business, first followed that occupation in Walworth, 
having only recently become a citizen of Butler. December 25, 1867, he married Eliz- 
abeth, daughter of Hugh Ross, late of Galen. The r daughter, Alma J., born February 
3, 1873, married in 1894, William T. Pethic, an expert machinist and electrician of On- 
tario ; and their son, Hugh R. Everhart, born September 1, 1876. follows farming. 

Pallister, Harley C, was born on the Pallister homestead in Williamson October 9, 
1856. He is a son of William Pallister, who came from England to America in 1827 
and settled on the farm now owned by our subject, where he lived and died. His wife 
was Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph Church, of Williamson, and they had two sons and 
one daughter, all deceased but our subject. Mr. Pallister was an active anti-slavery 
advocate, and was for a while road commissioner of Williamson. He died in 1879, and 
his wife in 1892. Harley C. was educated in Sodus Academy. He commenced busi- 
ness on the homestead farm, and has always resided there. He married in January, 
1892, Julia, daughter of William and Emma Pugsley, of Williamson. Mr. Pallister has 
a farm of sixty acres and is engaged in general farming and fruit growing, also evaporat- 
ing fruit. He sells harvesting machinery, farming implements, fertilizers and evaporat- 
ing and dairy fixtures. They attend and support the M. E. Church. 

Fuller, Roswell D., was born in Walworth July 19, 1849, son of Wells B. and Lu- 
cinda (Foskett) Fuller, he a native of Grand Isle, Vt., born April 15, 1815, and she of 
Walworth, born October 12, 1818. The paternal grandfather of subject came to Penn- 
ington when a young man, and in 1842 came to Walworth and purchased a farm of 
seventy- eight acres, a part of which is owned by our subject, where he died. He was 
educated in Lima Seminary and followed teaching several years, He was a butcher 
and stock dealer for a number of years, and was also justice of the peace. He died 
April 3, 1894, and his wife March 3, 1885. Subject was reared on a farm and educated 
in Walworth and Macedon Academies. He engaged in farming, owns .103 acres, and 
makes a specialty of raising potatoes. He is now serving as assessor of the town. 
November 29, 1881, he married Elizabeth C. Frey, a native of Penfield and daughter of 
Michael and Caroline (Westerman) Frey, he a native of Oneida county, born August 
25, 1834, and she born in 1838. Mrs. Frey died April 20, 1875. 

Allen, Wells A., was born in Fulton, N. Y., April 26, 1844. He married January 16, 
1859, F. Minerva, daughter of Elias Cady, of Granby, Oswego county. Mr. Allen 
operates a farm of 200 acres in Savannah, and has for sixteen years dealt largely in leaf 
tobacco for New York houses. They have but one child living, Bert J., born July 5, 
1862, two other sons, Frank and Oscar, being deceased. Bert J. married November 14, 

1884, Flora, daughter of Alex Hosier, of Baldwinsviile. Allen and son have recently 
purchased of E. B. Male, the Casey house in Railroad street, Savannah, and opened it 
to the public in April, 1894, as a restaurant and billiard parlor. 

Bates, C. A., was born at Jordan, June 27, 1849, a son of Daniel 0. Bates, who died in 

1885. The latter married Lydia M., daughter of Samuel Tucker of New Jersey, who 
died two years after her husband, leaving fourteen children, ten now living. One of 
the daughters is the wife of John B. Laird, of Savannah. C. A. Bates learned the ma- 
chinist's trade at Clyde, but farming being more to his taste, he bought, in 1880, a farm 
of seventy-five acres, two miles north of the village. May 15, 1873, he married Ellen, 
daughter of Charles A. Reed, of Bridgeport, Conn., and they have four children Charles 
F., born May 4, 1877; Minnie L., born September 13, 1879; Cynthia E., born August 
23, 1881 ; Russell, who died in infancy, in 1882 ; and Howard, born July 27, 1886. Mr. 
Bates is a prominent Prohibitionist, and has served as school trustee for a long time. 
He and his wife are members of the M. E. Church. 



158 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Cotton, Jerome, is a son of David Cotton, who settled at Eastern Savannah in a very 
early day, and reclaimed fifty acres of the wilderness. His wife was Susan Burch, and 
of their eleven children, five are now living: Abbie, wife of Thomas Wenform, of 
Butler; Sarah, wife of Henry Walker, of Savannah; Jerome; Mary, wife of L. D. 
Reamer, of Savannah ; and Lucy, wife of Willoughby Prettie, of Conquest, Cayuga 
county. Jerome was born in 1836, and passed his early life in and near Savannah. 
At the age of twenty he bought fifty acres of land and now owns 175 acres about the 
old homestead, three miles northeast of the village. November 13, 1862, he married 
Julia Dean of Savannah, and their children are: Etta, born in 1863 ; Burdette, born in 
1865 ; William E., born in 1S67 ; David Or., born in 1870 ; Lucy O, born in 1872 ; 
Merton, born in 1876; Mertie, born in 1877; and Blanche, born in 1879. Etta is the 
wife of Henry Devoe, of Montezuma ; Burdette married Clara Decker of Butler and 
lives at Dewitt, N. Y.; and Lucy is the wife of John Hillebrand, of Savannah. 

Cotten, D. J., of Savannah, was born here July 16, 1858, the son of Ephraim and 
Sally (Jane) Harrington Cotten, whose parents were pioneers of this county. Delos J. 
received his education at Adrian College, Mich., graduating as B. S. in 1888. During 
the year succeeding his graduation he filled the position of financial secretary for his 
alma mater. In 1884 he returned to Savannah, the home of his boyhood. December 
24, 1884, he married Anna E. Dunham, who was born in 1857, and who is the mother 
of two children: Eva, born September 30, 1888, and a son, born August 24, 1893. Mr. 
Cotten's parents died when he was twelve years of age. He is a prime mover in the 
Prohibition movement in Savannah, serving in 1893 as chairman of the Prohibition 
Committee. He has been excise commissioner three years, and is a leader in Sunday 
school work in the M. E. Church. In April, 1884, in partnership with C. W. Water- 
man, he opened a dry goods store in this village, but the fire of 1885 terminated that 
partnership, after which he conducted the business alone until March 1, 1891, when he 
associated with him Bertram Clark, which firm still continues. To the energy and 
public spirit of Mr. Cotten Savannah is largely indebted for the fine Union School 
building erected in 1892. 

Coleman, C. A., junior member of the firm of Bullock & Coleman, merchant millers 
at South Butler, was born at Victory, Cayuga county, July 9, 1870. He is the son 
of S. A. and Marian (Crossman) Coleman, and one of a family of six children, none 
of whom are residents of Wayne county except himself. He was educated at Red 
Creek and at Cook Academy. Havana, N. Y., where he pursued a special course in sci- 
ence, adapting him well for the mechanical exigencies of the milling business, in which 
he is now engaged. He married February 22, 1892, Myrta A., daughter of E. H., and 
Clara Horton of Wolcott. 

Calkins, William M., was born in Butler in 1829. His parents, John, and Phoebe C. 
Calkins, were pioneers of their locality. They reared a family of eight chiidren, of 
whom but two beside our subject are now living: Martin now at West Butler, and Em- 
eline at South Butler. William long before the attainment of his majority had grap- 
pled with the stern realities of life, and until about 1863 was engaged in boating, since 
which time farming has claimed his whole attention. He married March 26, 1853, 
Hannah, daughter of Delos and Hannah Sampson of Salem, Mass., neither of whom 
is now living. Mr. Sampson died March 4, 1870, and his wife April 25, 1891. Will- 
iam and Hannah Calkins have seven children : Martin, born May 21, 1856 ; Mary J., 
born October 15, 1858, died June 4, 1863 ; Rhoda E., born February 9, 1861 ; H. 
Eugene, born October 28, 1863 ; William E., born March 12, 1866; Addison, born Oc- 
tober 1, 1869; J. Ensign, born August 1, 1871; C. Albert born November 5, 1874. 
This family have in their possession an ancient trunk dating from about 1790, studded 
with brass nails, forming the initials " E. P. " for Ebenezer Pierce, the grandfather of 
Mrs. Calkins, then a resident of Salem, Mass. Mrs. Calkins's father served in the War 
of 1812. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 159 

Campbell, Rev. Grove E., was born August 13, 1862, a son of Henry and Samantha 
(Walker) Campbell, residents of Yates county, where Grove was born. The latter was 
educated at Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, from which he graduated at the age of 
twenty-four. October 13, 1888, he was admitted upon probation to the Central New 
York M. E. Conference, entering into full connection October 11, 1890, receiving ordin- 
ation at the hands of Bishop Ninde. His first pastorate was at Sodus Point, where he 
remained four years. October 27, 1885, he married Ida L., daughter of Peter and Jane 
Pulver, of Yates county. Her father was born in Otsego in 1818, and died September 
14, 1875. Mrs. Pulver was born in Scotland in 1820, and is still living in the old home 
in Italy, N. Y. Mrs. Campbell is a graduate of Genesee Wesleyan Musical Institute, 
and is recognized as a musician (both vocal and instrumental) of rare ability. They 
have one daughter, Ruth, born September 13, 1893. Mr, Campbell assumed the pastor- 
ate of the M. E. Church at Savannah in 1893, and evinces rare and magnetic qualities 
in his chosen calling, having already augmented his church membership by fifty souls. 

Clark, Byron G., of Savannah, was born October 19, 1835, at Whitehall, N. Y., a son 
of Garrett Clark, who came to Rose in 1836, where he was for many years a successful 
teacher and also town superintendent of schools. His wife was Electa, daughter of 
Benjamin Seely, of Rose. He died at West Butler in 1844. Byron was the only son, 
but had four sisters, of whom two are now living, in Iowa. His school days were 
passed at Watkins, where he later learned the iron molder's trade and he was clerk in a 
general store at Wolcott, three years. In 1856 he came to Savannah, and married, 
January 1, 1858, Tryphena Hogan, of Savannah. Mr. Clark is a Republican, and has 
served as commissioner of loans six years. He is now traveling for E. W. Gillett, of 
Chicago. His children are : Mary Belle, born January 14, 1860, died July 14, of the 
same year ; Melburn, born September 26, 1862, who spent several years as a traveling 
salesman in New England, and is now a resident of this town ; and Bertram G., born 
July 1, 1868. At the age of fifteen the latter entered the employ of A. J. Conroe and 
was six years in the store of Smith Brothers, and one year with D. J. Cotton. In 1891 
he entered into a partnership with the latter, the firm being Cotton & Clark, and is 
recognized as a man of ability and integrity. He is a Republican, and has served as 
collector two years. He is a Mason, and a member of the K. S. F. & I. February 15, 
1893, Bertram married Minnie, daughter of L. D. Reamer, of Savannah. For the past 
six years Mrs. Clark has been organist of the M. E. Church, of which society both are 
members. 

Dunham, Jerry, is a man of sterling worth and integrity, occupying a handsome resi- 
dence nearly adjacent to that of his brother Henry, and which has been his home for 
thirty years. His wife is Pamelia, daughter of Jonathan Miles, of Bennington, Yates 
county, who died July 21, 1850, and his wife Amelia March 10, 1837. Her marriage to 
Jerry Dunham took place May 5, 1856, and their children were : Anna E., now the 
wife of Delos Cotten, of Savannah ; John H., born July 17, 1870, and died when eight 
years of age ; and Addie E., born February 26, 1875. She was educated at Adrian College, 
Michigan, taking special course in music and languages. She was a member of the 
Presbyterian church. Our subject who was born here, October 21, 1833, and who has 
lived a consistent Christian life since twelve years of age, is a member of the Methodist 
church, as is also his wife, who was born March 17, 1835, at Bennington, Yates county, 
and who was prior to her marriage a successful teacher. 

Ferris, O'Connell, was born in Savannah August 21, 1844. His parents, Joseph and 
Lucretia Ferris, were among the earliest settlers in northern Savannah, and were peo- 
ple of considerable prominence and highly esteemed, Joseph being for twelve years a 
justice of the peace. Lucretia died in 1874 and Joseph in 1885, leaving five children : 
Julia, now the wife of Vaughn Sweet, of Cayuga ; Sarah, wife of Aaron Hall, of 
Savannah: Dolly, wife of John Davis, of Savannah; O'Connell, our subject, and Nel- 
son, who married Ida Simmons, of Cayuga. O'Connell acquired a good common 



160 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

school education, and at twenty-one years of age began operating a farm of 130 acres 
in Savannah, giving his whole attention to that business, of which he has made an en- 
tire success, pointing with pardonable pride to handsome and commodious barns erected 
in 1891. His wife is Lucy, daughter of Frederick Patrick of Marcellus, Mich. They 
were married December 23, 1871, and have four children living: Lulu, born June 6, 
1874, died October 9, 1883 ; Grace, born July 25, 1877; Eva, born August 3 , 1879; 
Floyd, born December 17, 1884 ; and Flossy, born July 2, 1891. 

Ingersoll, Mrs. John, was born in Savannah in 1848, daughter of John and Maria 
Spore, the former of whom died April 8, 1886, and the latter October 9, 1880. She 
married, March 18, 1869, John, son of George and Polly Ingersoll, of Savannah, and 
had two children: John LeG., born July 18, 1872, who died when one year of age; 
and Hattie E., born October 3, 1873. John Ingersoll was a Republican, who served 
nine years as commissioner of highways. He died April 9, 1893, mourned by a large 
circle of friends. 

Monroe, Mrs. Allida, was born in Savannah March 10, 1851, daughter of Alonzo and 
Charity Dean. She married, June 11, 1873, Willis M. Monroe, who was born in Sa- 
vannah December 12, 1847. He acquired a good education by his own efforts, and for 
some years varied the monotony of farm life by teaching school winters. In Decem- 
ber, 1891, he entered the employ of the N.Y.C. railroad as trainman, running between 
Syracuse and Buffalo. He suffered a slight injury in June, 1892, but resumed his em- 
ployment in September. November 14, 1893, he met a tragic death while in the per- 
formance of his duty at Lyons, N. Y., being found in an unconscious condition beside 
his train with a bullet hole in his temple and never regained censciousness before his 
death, the next evening. It was supposed that he was attacked by tramps and shot 
while resisting their assault, but at this writing the identity of his murderer has not 
been established. The press of his native town speak of him as a kind husband and 
father, and a noble citizen. A loving wife and three children survive him, and have 
the sympathy of the entire community. The children so tragically orphaned are : 
Edna, born October 11, 1878; Leslie V., and Lena V., born December 14, 1835. 

Magraw, George R., was born at Clyde May 6, 1856. His parents were Hezekiah 
and Mary Magraw, the latter of whom died in 1864 and the former lives in New York. 
They had three children: Frank, George, and Ruez. George has been engaged in boat- 
ing since seventeen years of age, now operating two boats transporting grain from 
Buffalo to New York, besides a farm of sixty acres lying three miles south of Savannah. 
He married, March 30, 1880, Emily, daughter of Jacob Helm, of Savannah, and they 
have two daughters: Maud, born January 15, 1883; and Florence, born October 
10, 1885. 

Merriman, H. E., was born at his present home, four miles northeast of Savannah, a 
son of Elisha (died in 1877), and Maria, daughter of Henry Winegar of Savannah, 
whose children were : George, born February 10, 1847 ; and Henry E., born April 22, 
1849. George conducts a banking business in Hartford, Mich. Henry has always fol- 
lowed farming. By his first wife he had these children : Frank, born January 30, 
1876, died December 9, 1893 ; Fred G., born September 4, 1877 ; George Q. and Henry 
Q.. twins born February 7, 1885. George Q., deceased. Mrs. Merriman died March 2, 
1885, aged thirty-two years. Mr. Merriman married second, February 12, 1889, Ella 
Pinckney, of Victor, Oswego county. 

Mesner, John, of Savannah, is the son of Joseph and Fredericka Mesner of Wurtem- 
burg, Germany, where he was born February 27, 1S34. At the age of eighteen he 
emigrated to America, coming directly to Clyde, where he learned the trade of baker, 
at which he worked three years. October 12, 1865, he married Caroline Bergter, of 
Savannah, and settled on his present farm, a mile west of the village. His children are 



FAMILY SKETCHES. KM 

as follows : Lilly, born July 27, I860, wife of W. P. Rector, of this place, by whom he 
has two sons, William P., born September 7, 1878, and Charles F., born February 7, 
1880, both living at home. Mr. and Mrs. Mesner are members of the Lutheran 
Church. 

Merritt, Gordon, was born April 6, 1826, and at the age of ten he came from New 
Jersey with his parents, William and Elizabeth Merritt. They engaged in farming in 
South Butler, where William died in 1884, at the age of eighty-four. William and 
Elizabeth had twelve children, of whom none survive but our subject, and one sister, 
Rachel, widow of J. H. McCoon, late of Butler. Gordon acquired a good education at 
the common schools, and at the age of twenty-one he bought thirty acres of land in 
Savannah, and in 1877 moved to his present location, a farm of 130 acres, three miles 
north of the village. March 22, 1849, he married Nancy, daughter of Reuben Conant, 
of Savannah, by whom he had two children : William, born June 22, 1850 ; and Ernest 
G., born August 24, 1873. William married July 1, 1868, Annie Burgduff, of Butler. 
Ernest graduated in 1892 from Cornell University, with the degree of B. S., and now 
occupies a position in Hoosick Falls High School, as professor of languages. 

Male, Edwin B., was born in County Kent, in 1848. His parents, Samuel and Har- 
riet Male, came to America when Edwin was five years of age. Of a family of fourteen 
children he is the only representative now living in Wayne county. Until 1886 he was 
engaged chiefly in farming in the western portion of the town, and in that year he pur- 
chased the Casey House on Railroad street, Savannah, and has since conducted it as a 
restaurant and billiard parlor. March 1, 1877, he married Julia E. Burch of Lyons, and 
they have six daughters: Harriet E., born March 12, 1878; Keene B., born March 29, 
1879; Grace G., born March 31, 1880; Carrie H., born November 30, 1881; Frances 
J., born January 30, 1883 ; and Ruth E., born January 7, 1892. Mr. Male is a man of 
good business ability, and of great personal popularity among all classes of people. Both 
he and his family are held in high esteem here, are members of the Episcopal church, and 
at the present he has just entered upon his duties as postmaster, succeeding Horace W. 
Smith in that office, his appointment dating from April 1, 1894. 

Newton, H. E., is the son of John and Rachael (Ward) Newton, of Otsego county, 
one of six children, he and one sister being the only survivors. He was born May 29, 
1835, and at the age of four years came to Madison county with his parents. He was 
left an orphan in early youth, his father dying in 1850. He learned the trade of cooper, 
besides which he kept a general store at Bridgeport, Madison county, until 1867, when 
he sold out, and after a year spent in bookkeeping at Manlius Center, he came to Sa- 
vannah in 1870. Immediately subsequent to the fire of 1885, which laid so great a part 
of Savannah in ruins, he built the present hotel bearing his name, and opened it to the 
public in May, 1886. The Newton House is a commodious, modern hotel, and is 
patronized largely by commercial travelers. April 28, 1890, Mr. Newton married Rena, 
daughter of John Thompson, of Savannah. 

Olmstead, H. M., was born on the farm which is now his home, on Crusoe Island, 
October 10, 1848. His father, J. M. Olmstead, was also born in Savannah in 1823, and 
now lives at Seneca Falls, his wife, Angelique, having died in 1850. Herbert is their 
only child, and his present home was also the home of his grandfather, Millard Olmstead, 
a pioneer. Robert married, December 12, 1877, Isadore, daughter of the late Ralph 
Van Dyke. She was born and reared in Savannah. She has two sons : Arthur H„ 
born March 13, 1881, and Edwin R., born January 12, 1884. Mr. Olmstead is much 
esteemed in Savannah. He is a Republican and has served as assessor. He is a charter 
member of the A.O.U.W. Lodge at Savannah. 

Pomeroy, E. P., was born August 17, 1839, at Elbridge the son of Lemuel S. and 
Mary Ann (Elder) Pomeroy. Leonard S. was born at Otisco February 1, 1812, and 



162 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

became a graduate of Hamilton College and of the Auburn Theological Seminary, but 
owing to ill-health was forced to give up the idea of a pastorate. He later, however, 
became principal of Munroe Collegiate Institute, and in 1871 besran an eight-year pas- 
torate of the Presbyterian church at Savannah, where he died February 19, 1879. He 
married, May 23, 1837, Mary Ann Elder, who died July 18, 1852. E. P. Pomeroy was 
educated at Onondaga Academy, and married, January 14, 1866, Jennie E. De Golia, of 
Otisco. After conducting a general store at Pompey Hill for several years he came to 
Savannah in 1879, where he was a teacher in the village school for two years, and then 
adopted his present vocation of traveling salesman. Air. Pomeroy is very unassuming, 
but a gentleman of wide and varied attainments, and highly esteemed by all who know 
him. 

Roberts, Cyrus, of Savannah, was born in Tyre May 4, 1813. His father, Bethial 
Roberts, was a pioneer in that locality, practicing surveying and also teaching school. 
Cyrus studied medicine at Geneva and has practiced to some extent, but has been 
chiefly engaged in farming. In 1838 he married Sally, daughter of John Beach, of 
Tyre, and who died in 1850, leaving three children, one of whom is living in New York 
city. In 1852 he again married, Mary A. Tillow, of Savannah, and they have had one 
child, Willis Roberts, born in 1866. Dr. Roberts sustained a paralytic shock in 1893, 
and is in a feeble condition. 

Stevens, Elford, one of the representative business men of Savannah, was born in 
Jefferson county, November 4, 1851, a sou of Benoni P. and Olive (Jenks) Stevens, 
now of Butler Center, who settled in this county in 1865. Benoni Stevens is now pastor 
of the Adventist Church at South Butler. Elford received his education at Wolcott 
High School, and his first independent business venture was the establishment of an 
evaporator for fruit at Savannah, in 1889, which has become an important industry, and 
he is also a partner in business with Charles Wood. December 4, 1877, Mr. Stevens 
married Carrie, daughter of Horace B. and Lydia (Wilcox) Chapin, of Worthville, Jef- 
ferson county, and their children are: May L., born November 11, 1878; Burk P., 
born November 28, 1881, died September 2, 1884; Grace E., born August 8, 1888, died 
in infancy ; and Ray 0., born August 11, 1890. Mr. and Mrs. Stevens are members of 
the Second Adventist Church of South Butler. Mr. Stevens served as trustee in 1893. 

Severance, Smith, son of J. H, and Emma Severance, was born at Savannah, No- 
vember 3, 1871. His father came from Junius, Seneca county in 1860. His mother is 
a daughter of Smith and Phoebe D. Williams of Savannah. They married December 
16, 1869 and have two children, a daughter, Myrtie, born March 18, 1874. Smith 
Severance is at present a traveling salesman for a proprietary medicine. His genial 
manners and sunny temperament, with excellent business abilities, have made for him 
a wide circle of friends. 

Spoor, Abijah, of Savannah, the son of John and Marian (Beebe) Spoor, of Albany 
county, was born September 3, 1827, and in early manhood he settled on a farm two 
miles north of Savannah (1848), having at the time no capital whatever. He has, however, 
by untiring industry and frugality, added to his original purchase twenty-five acres, 
until his possessions now embrace 150 acres of excellent tillable land. In 1857 he married 
Caroline Van Nortwick, of Butler, and they have five children ; Harriet, wife of John 
H, Bixby ; Adelbert R, William Ellsworth, Frank L. and Emma. 

Swift, Rev. Philip, Savannah, was born July 9, 1830, in Herkimer county. His 
parents, Philip and Fanny (Russ) Swift of Connecticut, reared a family of eleven chil- 
dren, of whom Philip is the only living representative now in Wayne. He was edu- 
cated chiefly at a select school in Little Falls, Herkimer county, receiving in 1862 an 
exhorter's license from the Methodist Protestant Conference, and assuming the duties 
of his first pastorate at North Wolcott, Wayne county, in 1863. He married September 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 163 

10, 1851, Martha, daughter of Peter and Clarissa (Dewey) Rankin, and they had one 
son, Harvey L., who died October 11, 1859. Mr. Swift's last pastoral charge was at 
Conquest, Cayuga county, where in the summer of 1892, he was disabled by a partial 
sunstroke which has, unfortunately, affected his vocal organs so much as to necessitate 
for a time abandonment of public speaking, and this enforced retirement from his 
chosen field of labor is being spent at his pleasant home in Savannah. 

Sedore, Ira B., Savannah, was born here October 5, 1825. His father, Conrad 
Sedore, born in Rensselaer county in 1801, came to Wayne in 1823 and settled on a 
farm near Savannah. He was a man of marked force of character, a life-long and 
steadfast Republican, serving as inspector of schools and commissioner of gospel and 
school funds. He married, in 1824, Harriet Hall, of Massachusetts, and they had seven 
children, of whom, besides Ira, only two are now living. In his early manhood Ira 
conducted the farm in Wolcott, and married, February 11, 1852, Ruth A. Cay wood, of 
Savannah. Mr. Sedore is practically a self-educated man, and had the resolution and 
perseverance to fit himself for the ministry, joining the Onondaga County Methodist 
Protestant Conference in 1857, and becoming a fully ordained exhorter in 1862. At 
the present writing, while occupying no specific field of labor, he still holds the super- 
numerary relation to his church, always in readiness for the call of duty. 

Spoore, John L., Savannah. John and Maria (Beebe) Spoore, of Albany county, 
came into the county of Wayne in 1837/and settled upon a farm near South Butler, 
living the quiet and uneventful' lives inseparable from that pursuit until the death of 
Mrs. Spoore in 1879, and of John the elder in 1884, at the age of eighty-three years. 
Subject of sketch was born October 5, 1823, in Albany county, was chiefly engaged in 
farming, and married January 1, 1852, Mary E. Shotwell. of Port Byron, daughter of 
Joseph and Sarah Shotwell. They had one daughter, G-race L., born in Savannah July 
6, 1856. She married December 29, 1875, George P. Waggoner, of Meridian, Cayuga 
county, and died May 28, 1889, leaving three children, one of whom is adopted by its 
grandparents, a ray of sunshine to their otherwise lonely home. Mr. Spoore is at pres- 
ent overseer of the poor, an office practically forced upon him as he is a life-long Repub- 
lican in politics and possesses a large degree of the esteem of his townsmen. He is a 
dealer to some extent in agricultural implements, making a specialty of plows. In his 
house the writer was shown some objects of great antiquarian interest, among them 
spoons dating back 200 years marked " Marie Le Orange," who was the great-aunt of 
Mr. Spoore, and a massive iron-bound chest, in which, during the Revolution, money 
and plate were stored, and the chest buried in a secluded place, secure from British 
depredation. The theatre of this dramatic episode was at the foot of the Helderbergs 
in Albany county. 

Taylor, the late Henry, was one of the earliest settlers of Savannah, and was born in 
Wheeling, Va., January 8, 1801. His mother, a widow, moved to New York State in 
1803, settling first in Seneca county. At the age of eleven years Henry started out 
for himself, and settled on Crusoe Island, now the town of Savannah, his mother hav- 
ing married previous to this, her second husband. He worked on a farm in the southern 
part of the town for several years, attending school winters and working for his board. 
About 1822 he bought a tract of land where the village now stands, then an almost un- 
broken wilderness. In 1825 he married Ardilla De Mott, and they began housekeeping 
in the little log cabin where the Hamilton block now stands. He also engaged largely 
in hunting and trapping, during the spring and fall months, having made as high as 
$500 as the proceeds of one season, Auburn at that time being the nearest market. He 
was an expert with the canoe, excelling all other trappers, and during his pioneer life 
he had many a thrilling encounter with wild animals of the forests. He died at 
Savannah December 2, 1893, aged ninety-three years, mourned by all classes to whom 
his figure was a familiar one. He built the first frame house in Savannah, having at 



164 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY 

one time been sole owner of one square mile here. No one man in all Savannah could 
with more truth be called a ''landmark" than Mr. Taylor. His wife, Ardilla De 
Mott, died in 1876. Their children were: Frank, Fidelia, Jacob H., Lawton, Charles, 
David, William, George and Jennie, wife of Mr. Phelps, of Savannah. 

Vought N. C, of Savannah, was born at Wolcott in 1835, a son of N. C. and Mary 
(Lent) Vought, originally from Peekskill. The elder Vought settled on a farm in Wol- 
cott, Wayne county in 1825. In 1849 he followed the trail of the Argonauts as far as 
Wisconsin, where he remained till his death in 1850. The subject of our sketch is one 
of a family of twelve children, every one of whom lived to maturity, a fact of more 
than ordinary interest, as indicative of the simple and vigorous lives of our ancestors. 
The mother of this remarkable group died in 1840, when our subject was but five years 
old. About 1853 he became master of a trade, that of carpenter and joiner, and later 
(at one time in partnership with Horace Wadsworth) a builder, and there is no reason 
to doubt that he has built, personally, more houses and barns than any other one man 
in Wayne. In 1860 he married Ancy Dratt, of South Butler, by whom he had these 
children : Dora, born in 1862, and Edward born in 1864, died in 1865. Mr. Vought 
again married in April, 1866, Mahala Palmer, daughter of William Palmer of Butler, a 
most estimable lady. She and Mr. Vought are members of the M. E. Church. 

Vanderpool, George, is the son of Stephen and Juda Vanderpool of Schodack, Rens- 
selaer county, N. Y., where he was born August 24, 1814. George came to Savannah 
in 1852, and since 1862 has occupied his present home on a farm four miles north of 
the village. He has one brother, Stephen, living at Butler. October 27, 1838, he mar- 
ried Hannah Green of Schodack, by whom he had seven children ; Mary A., born July 
29, 1840, now the wife of William Link of Galen ; Gilbert, born September 2, 1843, 
died April 30, 1870; James, born May 16, 1846, now a resident of Savannah; Phoebe 
and Stephen, born March 11, 1849. Stephen lives at Wolcott, and Phoebe in Syra- 
cuse, the wife of Augustus Daniels; and Adaline, born April 1, 1852, died December 
20, 1860. Hannah Vanderpool died January 30, 1879, aged sixty-three years, and Mr. 
Vanderpool married, second, March 4, 1880. Mrs. Eliza A. Smith of Clyde, the mother 
by a former husband of William E. Ellis, the latter now a resident of Clyde. William 
E. Ellis was one of the thirty-six officers and men who went out in the ill-fated Pro- 
teus under Lieutenant Greeley in 1881. His scholarly note-books record in detail the in- 
credible hardships they endured, until driven to insanity and cannibalism. His body 
was recovered from Lady Franklin Bay, where he met so lonely and terrible a death in 
1883, and is interred at Clyde, N. Y. 

Wood, Alonzo D., an influential and prosperous farmer and business man, is the son 
of Seth Wood, who died in 1847, greatly respected. The latter had been for eight 
years justice of the peace, and died an incumbent of that office. His wife was Melinda, 
daughter of John Dunham, by whom he had nine children, seven now living : James, 
Seth, William, Laura, John, Julia, Alonzo, Helen and Gaylord. Alonzo was born May 
18, 1838, was educated at Sodus Academy and Falley Seminary, beginning life for him- 
self on a farm in Conquest, Cayuga county, December 30, 1866. He married Anna M., 
daughter of H. O. Baggerly, of Savannah, by whom he has two sons, Howard C, born 
June 31. 1874 ; and Stanley D., born May 6, 1885. Mr. Wood was for some time en- 
gaged in school teaching prior to his marrirge. He now conducts a large and product- 
ive farm besides dealing in agricultural implements, machinery, etc. He a staunch 
Republican, and has served as overseer of the poor, and justice for four years each. 
In 1884-85 and 1886 he served on the Board of Supervisors. 

Wilsey, Irving, is the only son of Eli Wilsey, who was born in Columbia, Cayuga 
county December 5. 1830. Eli married Harriet, daughter of William H. Snyder, Sep- 
tember 12, 1855, and in 1870 they came to Savannah, and purchased a farm of 100 
acres, lying two miles northwest of the village. Eli's death occurred December 12, 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 165 

1893, and his widow, Harriet, remains upon the homestead farm, which is now operated 
by her son. Irving was born November 3, 1870, and married November 26, 1891, 
Augusta E., daughter of Edwin Tallman, of Savannah, and they have one daughter, 
Lula, born October 20, 1892. 

Williams, Albert, was born in Savannah August 5, 1848. His parents, Smith and 
Phoebe Williams, were among the earliest settlers here. Smith died July 6, 1892, his 
widow surviving him. Albert married November 15, 1876, Gertrude, daughter of 
Thomas and Harriet Gerow, of Phelps, Ontario county, and they have four children: 
Howard S., born August 7, 1877; Carl G., born December 25, 1878; George A., born 
April 26, 1880, and Maud, born May 22, 1882. Mr. Williams operates 100 acres of 
land, making a specialty of the breeding of Holstein cattle for dairy purposes. 

Widrig, Russell, is the son of Michael Widrig, of Herkimer county, who removed to 
Clyde in 1833, and died in 1849. His wife, Martha, reared a family of ten children, all 
but one of whom are still living, the youngest one being past fifty years. Russell has 
one sister in Wayne county, Mary, widow of the late Jedediah Carter, of Savannah. 
Martha, wife of Michael Widrig, died in 1870, aged seventy -five years. Russell's 
grandfather, George Widrig, born in Germany, came to America when ten years old, 
acquiring a collegiate education in New York. He served as a private through the 
Revolution, and a brigadier-general in the war of 1812, his son Michael, acting as aid- 
de-camp to him. Russell, born at Frankfort, Herkimer county, November 25, 1822, 
educated at Clyde High school, supplemented by reading and self-directed research, is 
a man of much ability and force of character. He has served as commissioner of high- 
ways several terms, besides other offices. December 25, 1853, he married Euretta 
Woodward, who became the mother of Russell A., born December 11, 1854, died Feb- 
ruary 22, 1863 ; Richard H., born November 13, 1860, died February 24, 1863, and 
Martha M., born September 6, 1856, now the wife of John Anderson, of Savannah, and 
mother of four children. 

Wiley, C. C, was born August 29, 1850, in a log house upon the site of his present 
home. His parents, C. B. and Nancy Wiley, came here in a canoe and settled amid the 
wilderness. C. B. Wiley for many years engaged beside farming in the production and 
sale of lumber. He died November 12, 1891, and his wife January 1, 1892. C. C. 
Wiley was educated at Falley Seminary and married February 12, 1873, Kate, daugh- 
ter of Charles Long, of Savannah. They are located on a farm of 110 acres, two miles 
south of Savannah. Their children are : May, born December 27, 1874; Grace, born 
April 3, 1876; Charles, born November 25, 1879, and LeRoy, born May 3, 1891. 

Westcott, George H., born at Galen, May 18, 1850, and in 1859 his father, the late 
Heman Westcott, came to the present homestead, three miles northeast of Savannah. 
Heman Westcott was born in Ira, Cayuga county, April 28, 1812, coming to Butler in 
1886, where he married Julia A., daughter of Philip Van Northwick, December 31, 
1826. Julia was born in Columbia county in 1817, and she had eight children, of whom 
but three survive : Harriet, Electa and George, the former married and residing in 
Michigan. Heman Westcott was a successful and prosperous farmer, a kind father and 
loving husband, and when he died March 14, 1894, Savannah mourned the loss of a 
worthy pioneer and a good citizen. George H., the present representative of the house 
of Westcott, was born May 18, 1850, and married December 23, 1871, Sarah L., daugh- 
ter of Sylvester Secor, of Savannah, and is now eligibly situated upon a farm adjacent 
to that owned by his late father. His wife, Sarah L., was born in Savannah Novem- 
ber 20, 1847. She is the mother of six fine children : Lillian B., born November 20, 
1871 ; Cora E., born May 17, 1874; Archibald B., born February 10, 1879; Charles A., 
born July 26, 1882 ; Howard, born August 4, 1885 ; Harrison, born March 4, 1889. 
Mr. Westcott is a man of ability and enterprise, an uncompromising Republican,, and 
beside farming does a large business in breeding fine horses, chiefly Percherons. 



166 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Bilby, Joseph, born in New Jersey February 8, 1820, is the third son of eight 
children of William and Mary (Sharpe) Bilby, natives of New Jersey, who came to 
Marion in 1827 and here Mr. Bilby died in October, 1861, and his wife in 1863. He 
was a blacksmith by trade. Our subject was reared a farmer until seventeen years 
of age, learned the shoemaker's trade, and followed it in Marion most of his life. He 
owns fourteen acres of land in Marion. He has been highway commissioner. He 
married in August, 1853,' Mary M. Morgan, a native of Oswego county, and daughter 
of Isaac and Mary Morgan, natives of England, who settled in Oswego county, but 
died in Pultneyville. 

Bilby, John H., born in New Jersey, November 28, 1817, was the second of six chil- 
dren of William and Mary Bilby. Subject was reared a blacksmith, but in 18f>9 bought 
the farm he owns of seventy-two and one-half acres, and has since followed farming. 
He married, February 8, 1838, Cynthia Luce, a native of Palmyra, and daughter of 
William Luce, of Long Island, who is descended from Israel Luce, of Wales, the latter's 
son having came to America about 1676. William Luce came to Palmyra in 1796, 
where he died in 1891. His wife was Lydia Goldsmith, who died in 1874. The father 
of William was Benjamin Luce, who served through the Revoluionary War. Mr. and 
Mrs. Bilby have had one daughter, Louisa M., wife of Henry C. Allen, and they have 
one son, Elmer J. Allen, who married Carrie Pulver, who has one son, Wayne. 

Boss, John, born in Williamson, N. Y., November 2, 1824, is the third son of Isaac 
and Sarah (Dedie) Boss, natives of Holland and mentioned in biography of Cornelius 
Boss. John Boss was reared on a farm and has always followed farming, except 
one year in the grocery business in Marion. He now owns a portion of the Boss 
homestead, and makes a specialty of fruit growing. He married in 1883 Lena Ver- 
bridge, of Sodus.- She is the daughter of Peter and Lisa Verbridge, natives of Hol- 
land who came to America in 1852 and settled in Pultneyville, where the mother 
died in 1893, and Mr. Yerbndge now resides with Mr. Boss. Mr. and Mrs. Boss, 
are members of the Reformed church, of Marion. 

Bowen, Seth, was born in Tyre, Seneca county, March 15, 1824. His father, 
Silas, was a native of New Jersey and came to Seneca county in 1810. He mar- 
ried Sarah Lumm, who was of English descent. Seth Bowen laid the foundation 
of his education in the l^g school house of his district". At the age of twenty-three 
he married Caroline, daughter of Jediah Jenkins, and they have two children, Mrs. 
Mary Cuyler and Frank Bowen. In 1871 he bought the Asaph Whittlesey property 
of 160 acres, raising fruit, hay, grain and stock. Our subject is one of the leading 
farmers in his town. 

Bishop, Alvin, was born in Albany, N. Y,, January 22, 1863. His father, R°v. E. 
Sherman Bishop, a clergyman of the New York M, E. Conference, alter a service of 
thirty years has retired to his home at Milton, on the Hudson. Alvin Bishop was 
educated in the schools of Fishkill, New York, and Hancock, N. Y., entering Union 
College in 1881, took the classical course and graduated in 1885. In 1887-89 he was 
appointed principal of Monticello Classical Institute ; then during 1889-91 was prin- 
cipal of Woodstock, Vt., High School. In 1891 he came to Clyde as principal of the 
Clyde High School, graduating in 1893 one of the largest classes in the history of the 
school, having an average attendance of 475 to 500. At the age of twenty-two he married 
Mary Louise, daughter of Horace Goodrich, of Schenectady. 

Brockmyre, Chris., was born in Seneca Falls December 25, 1852 educated in the 
Clyde High School, and at the age of twenty-five married Emma, daughter of Loami 
Beadle, by whom he has five children : Christopher, Marvin, Clarence, Clifford and 
Ethel. In 1855 he came to Wayne county with his stepfather, John Seigmund, who 
purchased a farm. He died in 1884, and at the time of his death was one of the largest 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 167 

farmers in the town of Galen, having 290 acres of land and raising large quantities of 
hay, grain and stock. He was sixty-two years of age when he died. Our subject in 
1876 established the grocery on lock fifty-three which he now carries on, carrying a 
large stock of general merchandise, hay and grain, and taking an intelligent interest in 
school and religious institutions. 

Burghduff, W. R., only son of Jesse Burghduff, was born where he now resides No- 
vember 3, 1858. His father, now seventy-eight years of age, was also born here. His 
grandfather, Jacob, born in. the city of Albany, was one of the earliest settlers in this 
locality. William Burghduff's wife is Elizabeth, daughter of Addison Chapman of 
Westbury, and their children are : Claude, born November 30, 1879, and Bula, born 
February 9, 1882. Her father's family are also remarkable for longevity and at one 
time, in 1884, there were represented at the Burghduff home four generations, Jacob, 
Jesse, William and Claude Burghdoff, and Curtis, Addison, Elizabeth and her son 
Claude of the Chapman family. 

Bacon, Rufus J., was born in Skaneateles, Onondaga county, 1818. His parents, Ru- 
fus and Martha Bacon, came to the town of Butler in 1832, when Rufus died August 
18, 1849, at eighty years of age. He was the eldest of eleven children. His mother 
died June 19, 1857. Mrs. Rufus Bacon is a sister of Mrs. John McCourtie, and they 
are the daughters of the late well known Eleazer Smith of Butler. Her four daugh- 
ters are Phebe A., born May 2, 1843, Martha P., born December 9, 1848, Sarah, born 
July 3, 1853, Florence, born April 5, 1857. 

Bacon, Nathan, born in 1822, is the son of Rufus Bacon of Sennett, N, Y., who died 
at the age of seventy years in 1861. Nathan has been a resident of Butler since 1852. 
Both himself and wife are members of the M. E. Church. January 1, 1854. he married 
Lavina, daughter of the late Eleazer Smith of Butler, by whom he had three children : 
Mary E., Frances M., and Sumner S. 

Brewster, A. K, was born at Sterling, 1825. Morgan Brewster, his father, was born 
at Palmyra, Wayne connty, and was well known as a hotel proprietor at Wolcott, and 
at Red Creek. He died in 1889, and his wife, Melinda Lyan, died two years later. 
Our subject, educated at Red Creek Seminary, has been engaged in mercantile and other 
lines af business, at one time operating a stage line between Wolcot and Clyde, in con- 
nection with a livery. In 1876, he purchased a farm near Wolcott. His first wife, 
Evelyn, who died in 1860, left one son, Frank L. The present Mrs. Brewster was 
Cyrilla Lawrence, of Copenhagen, to whom were born three children. George A,, 
Fred H., and Anna Belle, the latter becoming Mrs. E. B. Cossolman. Her death oc- 
curred August 7, 1892, at twenty-three years of age. She left one son, Earl Cossol- 
man. 

Britton, Joseph, born in Williamson, September 21, 1833, and was the second 
child of Richard and Ann Wake Britton, natives of Warthell, Yorkshire, England, he 
born in 1797 and she in 1807, and who were married in 1829. The father of Richard 
was John Britton, who lived and died in England. Richard Britton was a veterinary 
surgeon and farmer, and settled where our subject now resides, and owned at one time 
147 acres of land. He was a Republican, and poormaster for two years. He and his 
wife were members of the M. E. Church. He died in 1886 and she in 1871. Our sub- 
ject was educated in Sodus Academy, and he has spent his life where he now resides 
and owns sixty- five acres of land. He is a Republican and has been assessor ten years. 
He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church. October 27, 1864, he mar- 
ried Elizabeth Clark, of Williamson, born March 5, 1839, and daughter of John and 
Elizabeth Clark. Our subject has one daughter, Carrie M., born 1865, and the wife of 
Elmer V. San tee, a merchant of Watertown, whom she married February 18, 1892. 



168 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Buckles, Abram, was born in Williamson August 2, 1856. He is a son of Jacob and 
Anna (Wamesfelder) Buckles, natives of Holland. They came to America in 1847 and 
settled in Williamson, where they have since resided and followed farming. The 
grandfather, Adrian, died in Holland in 1830, and his wife Maggie (Deflue) Buckles, 
died on the ocean while on the way to America in 1847. Adrian Buckles was a 
wagonmaker by trade. Abram was reared on the farm and worked on the homestead 
till 1887, when he bought the plank road steam saw mill, where he has since been en- 
gaged in the manufacture of lumber. He also has a feed mill and a cider mill. They 
attend and support the M. E. Church. In 1883 he married Lucinda Resue, of William- 
son, and they have one daughter, Maud. The parents of Mrs. Buckles were Josiah and 
Annie Resue. He died in 1871, and his wife resides on the farm. 

Budlong, A. P., Macedon, was born December 22, 1824, son of John Budlong, who 
was born in 1798. The latter was a farmer and business man, and a dealer in cattle. 
He married in 1816 Abigail Langley, and they reared seven children : Jenks, Dewain, 
Nathan, A. P., our subject, Samuel, Charlotte and Abigail. He married second in 1833 
Widow Hill, by whom he had these children, John R., Walter F., and Hettie M. Our 
subject is a farmer. He married first Hannah Arnold, by whom he had two children, 
Nathan and Cora. His second wife was Cornelia Pulver. Mr. Budlong held the office 
of assessor. 

Baker, David O, Macedon, was born on the farm now owned by John E. Baker, 
within a few yards of his farm. April 28, 1846. His occupation has been farming, but 
in early life he taught school six winters. He married in 1873 Margaret J. Longstaff, 
of Macedon, and settled where he now lives, owning about 100 acres, three acres in 
timber. They have two children, David G., jr., and Mary E., both at home attending 
the district school and Macedon Union school. Our subject is excise commissioner, 
also assessor, and is a member of the Royal Templars and the Orange. 

Bentley, Joseph W., Macedon, was born in Queensbury, Warren county February 
17, 1840. Warren Bentley, his father, was born in Warren county August 28, 
1815, son of Richard Bentley, a native of Rhode Island, who came to this State at an 
early day. His occupation was speculating in lumber, etc. He married Dina Vaughn, 
and they had seventeen children, thirteen of whom grew to maturity. At present 
there are six living. He settled in Queensbury, near Lake George. Warren Bentley 
married Calista Jenkins, born in Queensbury, Warren county, January 25, 1819, daugh- 
ter of Murray Jenkins, and they had seven children, all now living. The occupation of 
our subject has been farming except in the year of 1862, when he went to the oil region 
in Pennsylvania. He conducted a lumber yard and general merchandise store for W. 
Ames & Co., in the village of Pioneer near Titusville, which position he held four 
years. He married Axie Vaughn of Erie county, in 1867, at which time he gave up 
his position and went to Michigan, where he lived one year. He then came to Genesee 
county and then to Cleveland, Ohio, where he spent the summer. In 1869 he came to 
the farm he now owns, consisting of seventy- five acres. He has two sons, Fred W. 
Ames and Herbert Lee. Fred W. is a physician and graduated from the New York 
Homoeopathic Medical College May 3, 1894, and went to Buffalo May 15, 1894, to 
assume charge of the Buffalo Homoeopathic Hospital. Herbert Lee graduated May 25, 
1894, from the Buffalo Law school. Subject never aspired to public office. 

Bullis, Abraham, Macedon, was born in Farmington, Ontario county, September 4, 
1854. His father, Dr. Abraham R, was a native of Vermont, born July 8, 1815. He 
was a graduate of Geneva Medical College, and took up his practice in Farmington 
and Macedon. He married Lydia P., daughter of John Lapham, of Macedon, a 
descendant of the old pioneer family of Laphams so widely known in this part of 
Wayne county, who came to this part of the State in 1790. John L. Bullis, brother of 
our subjeet, is captain in the regular army of the United States, also Indian agent in 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 169 

New Mexico. The children of Abraham R. Bullis are : John, Mary, Charles, Abraham 
R., our subject ; Lida and Nettie. Mary, Charles, and Nettie are deceased. Lida is the 
wife of Major Weni, of the regular army. Our subject is a graduate of Cornell University, 
graduating as a civil engineer in 1882, also in mathematics in 1881. He married 
Josephine Breese in 1884, daughter of J. D. Breese, of Macedon, and they have two 
children, Charles and Nettie. Our subject is a prominent member of the Masonic 
Lodge No. 665, of Macedon. 

Blaine, C. G., was born in the town of Varick, Seneca county, March 23, 1856, was 
educated in the Ovid Academy and graduated from the University of Michigan in 
1882, taking the law course. He came to Lyons in 1882 and entered the office of 
Major Roys and in 1883 was admitted to the bar of Wayne county, and entered into 
general practice. In 1889 he bought the George H. Cramer insurance business, and in 
1894 also bought the Charles E. Crandall agency, doing the largest line of insurance and 
handling real estate and placing loans in Lyons. At the age of twenty-eight he mar- 
ried Cassie A., daughter of Amos Desmond, of Galen, and they are the parents of one 
son, Carlton A. Our subject is a very active business man, identified in advancing the 
best interests of his town and the leading events of the day, and is recognized as a man 
of sterling integrity and worth. 

Baltzel, G. H., the eldest son of Henry Baltzel, who came to Lyons from Alsace Sulz 
in 1842, was born in Lyons January 12, 1851. He was educated in Lyons, and at an 
early age became his father's assistant in his many enterprises, paying special attention 
to the boot and shoe trade, which, at the death of his father in March, 1878, he con- 
tinued, being at the present time one of the leading merchants and carrying one of the 
largest stocks of fine footware of all kinds in Wayne county. Retiring and unassum- 
ing he has done much to advance the best interests of his town as any of his towns- 
people, having in connection with his brother, W. H. Baltzel, erected the well known 
Baltzel block. 

Baltzel, W. H., was born May 5, 1855, in Lyons. His father, Henry, came from 
Alsace Sulz to Lyons in 1842, first engaged in the hotel and boot and shoe business, and 
gradually acquired a large amount of real estate, and at his death, in March, 1878, was 
one of the wealthiest and most prominent business men in the town of Lyons, leaving 
a large estate to his ten children. W. H. Baltzel was educated at Lyons Union School 
and finished at the Rochester Business University, after which he engaged in the dry 
goods and provision business, and, in connection with his brother, Henry, erected one 
of the largest blocks in Lyons, containing four stories and the Baltzel House. At thirty- 
one years of age he married Jennie B. Reads, of Syracuse, and they have three chil- 
dren : Irene, Pauline, and Marjorie. Our subject is one of the prominent business men 
in his town, identified in advancing its best interests, and is recognized as a man of nigh 
business ability and strict integrity. 

Boeheim, F. W. & Son, Furniture and Undertakers. — The firm is composed of F. W. 
Boeheim, came from Wurtemburg, Germany, in 1850, settled in Lyons and established 
himself in the same business now carried on by himself and sons in 1854. Starting in a 
small way he soon began to acquire a competence, and in 1880 took into the firm the 
eldest son, Frederick, and in 1891 the youngest son, Charles. In 1891 he bought the 
Leonard property on Water street which they rebuilt, making one of the largest busi- 
ness blocks in Lyons, occupying four floors and carrying the largest and most complete 
line of furniture and undertaking goods in Wayne county. F. W. Boeheim married 
Philopena Gehres, daughter of Daniel Gehres, of Germany, and they have four chil- 
dren: Frederick, Philip, and Charles, and one daughter, Mrs. William Buisch, of 
Lyons. Frederick married at twenty-three Sallie Buisch, of Lyons, daughter of 
George Buisch, and they have one son, Frederick. Charles married at twenty-one 
Libbie, daughter of Adam Frey, and they have three children : Charles E., Bessie, and 



170 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Clara. Our subjects are noted among the business community as men of energy and 
high business ability, identified in advancing the best interests of their town, where 
they have been selected to fill many positions of trust and of recognized worth and 
sterling integrity. 

Barton, Daniel, was born June 12, 1830, on the old Barton homestead in Lyons, which 
at the time of his birth was a log house. His father, Elisha. was a prominent farmer in 
his town. Daniel was educated in the common schools, attending school during the 
winter and working on the farm during the summer. At the age of twenty-five he mar- 
ried Eliza, daughter of David Griffiths, who died in 1857, and in 1859 he married Soph- 
ronia, daughter of James Miller, of Arcadia. They have had three children, two of whom 
are living: Bernard M., and Lillie B. Eliza died in 1880, at the age of twenty-three. 
In 1869 he bought the Captain Merry property of 100 acres, raising mint, hay, grain and 
stock. Our subject is one of the leading farmers in his town, elected as assessor in 
1893. He took an active interest in educational and religious matters. 

Barton, Theodore, was born in Putnam county, January 7, 1828, came to Wayne county 
in 1829 with his father, Elisha, and was educated in the common schools of his day, to 
which he has added through life by reading and close observation. At the age of twenty- 
seven he married Jeannette, daughter of Philip Pulver, of Lyons, and they have one 
daughter, Ida. In 1856 he bought the Ben Carroll property of sixty-five acres, and 
in 1869 bought part of the Captain Merry property of thirty-three acres, having sixty- 
nine acres of some of the best farm land in Wayne county, raising mint, hay, grain 
and stock, Our subject is one of the prominent farmers in his town, filled the office 
of commissioner of highways, and a liberal supporter of educational and religious in- 
stitutions. 

Beadle, Judd, was born in the town of Marengo. March 28, 1859. His father, Orrin, 
the proprietor of Beadle's Hotel for fifty years, is also a native of the county. Judd 
Beadle was educated in the common schools, to which he has added through life by 
reading and observation In 1888 he established a general grocery and mercantile 
store at Marengo, and disposing of it in 1891 came to Clyde and remained in busi- 
ness one year, and in the fall of the same year came to Lyons and established the 
same business in the double stores on the south side, carrying one of the largest and 
best selected stocks of fire groceries, dry goods, boots and shoes, rubber goods, in 
Wayne county. Our subject is recognized as one of the most energetic and enter- 
prising merchants in his town, identified in advancing its best interests and in the 
leading events of the day. 

Bastian, David, was born in the town of Galen, February 7, 1849. His father, 
Michael, came from Alsace. David was educated in the common schools. At the age 
of twenty-four he married Magdalena, daughter of George Ehreman, of Lyons, and 
they are the parents of four children : Philip A., Helen L., Bertha, and Maud N. 
In 1881 in connection with his brother George B., he bought the Walter Aikenhead 
property of 320 acres, which they divided, raising hay, grain and stock, making a 
specialty of milk dairying, averaging 200 quarts per day. Our subject is one of the 
intelligent farmers in his town, identified in advancing its interests. 

Boyd, James, is a native of Ireland, born January 6, 1843, and is a son of James and 
Catherine Boyd, natives of Ireland. Our subject has two sisters, Margaret, wife of 
Samuel Bailey, of Clyde ; and Mary. At the age of thirteen he left his native land, 
home and friends, and sailed for America, coming direct to Clyde, where he had an 
uncle, making the journey alone. He learned the blacksmith trade, and has followed it 
ever since. In 1865 he came to Huron, and in 1891 purchased the farm of 101 acres, 
where he now resides. In 1863, he married Dalinda, daughter of Bradley and Sarah 
Abies, of Wolcott. He enlisted in Co. G, 9th Heavy Artillery, and served until the close 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 171 

of the war. He participated in the battles of Cold Harbor, Weldon Railroad, Monocacy, 
Cedar Creek, Petersburg, Sailor's Run, and Hatcher's Run. He has reared six children : 
Minnie E., wife of Irving Winchell, of Huron ; Jay W., James A., Erne A., Florence, 
Leslie, and Clayton, who died aged five years. Mr. Boyd is a member of the G-. A. R., 
Keeslar Post, No. 55, and in politics is a Republican. 

Beadle, M. D., was born in this county in 1818, reared on a farm, and in 1839 married 
Betsey Doraner, moving to Palmyra in 1860, where he deals in live stock and wool. 
Their children are: Frances M., wife of Czar Dunning; George S., and Augustus M. 
Both sons reside in Palmyra. The parents of the subject of this sketch were Ira and 
Hannah (Langdon) Beadle natives of Washington county, the former dying May 7, 
1864, and the latter October 27. 1859, aged seventy-four and fifty-nine years, respect- 
ively. 

Brown, George R., dealer in groceries and provisions, and president of Wayne Build- 
ing & Loan Association, is a native of Palmyra, born April 10, 1850. He was educated 
in the common schools and took the classical course at the Union school. At the age 
of twenty-one he entered the employ of G. N. Crouse & Co., of Syracuse, where he 
remained five years. After this he returned to Palmyra, and engaged in the grocery 
business with his father, George Brown. The latter was a native of this county. 
Since 1888 our subject has conducted the business alone. He is also a director of the 
Globe Manufacturing Co. In 1875 he married Harriet E. Barnham, also a native of 
this town. Mr. Brown is vestryman of Zion Church. 

Bump, William H., was born in Saratoga, May 31, 1830, but in early childhood 
moved with his parents to Ontario county, where his father, Charles, died in 1883, and 
his mother, Maria Sax, in the same year. The father was a farmer all his life, owning 
and residing on one farm in Ontario county over fifty years. Our subject was the old- 
est of four children: John H., who lives on the homestead in Ontario county; James 
H., who enlisted in the 111th N. Y. Yols. under Colonel Seeley, and July 3, 1863, was 
killed in the battle of Gettysburg; Helen A., who married Charles Clark, of Ontario 
county, and died in 1882; our subject married February 1, 1854, Sarah E. Cornwell, a 
native of Palmyra, and after his marriage farmed fifteen years in this town, then for 
two years engaged in the cabinet maker's and undertaker's business. Since 1874 he 
has conducted a livery, and also owns a hearse, having attended over 1,600 funerals. 
He was trustee of the village, and under-sheriff for three years. 

Budd, Thomas, was born in England April 18, 1827, the youngest child of eight 
children born to Thomas and Betsey Budd, who lived and died in England. In 1852 
subject came to Ontario, and after working by the day, first bought ten acres and now 
owns ninety acres and follows general farming and fruit growing, having five acres of 
berries. He is a Republican in politics. Mr. Budd married October 1, 1862, Sallie A. 
Wilson, of Webster, by whom he has one son, James W. Mrs. Budd was a daughter 
of Adolphus and Phiphena Sprague, of Hartford, Conn. Mr. Sprague and wife both 
died in Webster, he in 1859 and she in 1863. 

Brown, R. K., born in Monroe county July 28, 1825, is the ninth of a family of eleven 
children of Daniel and Margaret (Kennedy) Brown, the former a native of Connecticut, 
and the latter of Penfield. Mr. Brown came to Monroe county in 1804, where he died 
in 1834, and his wife the same year. Subject was reared on a farm, educated in Marion 
and Macedcn Academies, has been principally engaged in farming, and taught school 
fourteen winters. Mr. Brown has been captain of a boat on the Erie Canal three sum- 
mers. He is a Republican, and has been assessor and justice of the peace. He married 
Mary J., daughter of John and Esther Horton, who settled in Phelps. They came 
from Kinderhook and settled on a farm in Ontario in an early day, where he died in 
1860 and his wife in 1882. Subject and wife have had three children: Myron H., 



172 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

(deceased), Hattie A., wife of Alfred M. Mead, and they have three children : Edgar 
K., Dora and Mary E., and Evaline, deceased. Subject is a farmer, owns 118 acres of 
land, follows general farming, and has seven acres of apples and small fruit. 

Barnsdale, Thomas, was born in England, coming to America in 1854 with his 
parents, Thomas and Jane Barnsdale. They had four children. By his first wife Sarah, 
he also had four children, she being the mother of our subject. Mr. Barnsdale was a 
farmer by occupation, and died in Ontario, his widow now residing in Rochester. 
Thomas was twenty years of age when he came to this town, and settled on the place 
he now owns, which comprises sixteen acres in the village of Ontario. He is a Repub- 
lican in politics, and cast his first vote for Abraham Lmcoln. He follows general farm- 
ing, and has about four acres devoted to apple culture. 

Bullock, F. L., senior member of the firm of Bullock & Coleman, merchant millers, of 
South Butler, was born March 8, 1868, in the town of Butler. Educated at Red Creek 
Academy, his business life began in April, 1893, when the co-partnership was formed 
with C. A. Coleman. His wife, to whom he was married April 21, 1892, is Julia, 
daughter of the late Dr. Pasco. A young man of excellent habits, and business ability, 
and with hosts of friends wherever known, his future deserves a large measure of 
success. 

Beal, Emery, of Macedon, was born in this town April 20, 1836. His father was 
Seth Beal, born in the town of Palmyra, now Macedon. He was a farmer by occupa- 
tion and settled on the place now owned by our subject. The father of Seth was 
Leonard, a native of Massachusetts, who was one of the first settlers in this locality, 
and his father was Seth Beal. The mother of our subject was Hannah Reed, of Mac- 
edon, who had twelve children, ten now living. Emery has followed agriculture all his 
life, excepting the time spent in the army, which was from August, 1862, to March, 
1865. He participated in numerous battles, and was among those who captured the 
gunboat " Cotton " at Fort Bislane. He never received a wound during the service. 
In 1874 he married Rose E. Smith and they have had three children : Charles, Frank, 
and Willis, and one daughter, Dora, deceased. Our subject is a G. A. B. man, and has 
served as collector and commissioner of highways, being a Democrat. 

Brooks, Benjamin, was born in England, July 12, 1818, and came to Clyde in 1831, 
where he settled. His father, Thomas, followed boating three years, and soon acquired 
real estate and engaged in farming. He died in 1863, aged seventy-three years. Ben- 
jamin was educated in the common schools. In 1863 he inherited the homestead and 
the Stephen Smith property of 235 acres. He sold the Smith property, and now has 
170 acres of some of the best land in Wayne county, raising fruit, hay, grain and 
stock. At the age of twenty-five he married Lydia Ann, daughter of William Hopkins, 
and they have six children : Thomas Buell, Arthur, Mary, Fanny, and Emma. Our 
subject is one of the representative farmers in his town, taking an active interest in ed- 
ucational and religious matters, giving his service to build the cemetery in 1832. 

Bennett, John A., was born in Williamson, November 22, 1834. He is the ninth 
child of a family of thirteen children of John and Jane Nason Bennett, who came to 
Williamson when eleven years old with his parents. John Bennett was a farmer and 
mechanic, and died in 1865 aged seventy- five years. Our subject learned the cooper's 
trade when fifteen years of age, and also worked at the carpenter's trade for about 
fifteen years, and then dressed tools in a blacksmith shop for three years, after which 
he purchased a grist mill at Beaver Creek and followed milling for seven years. He 
again followed the carpenter's trade for three years and in 1893 came to the village of 
Ontario Center, where he at present keeps a meat market. He owns a place near Fur- 
naceville, where he raises fruit. He is a member of Ontario Grange. In 1859 he mar- 
ried Anna Maria Truax, of Williamson, a daughter of Jacob Truax, and one of eight- 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 17:', 

een children. Mr. Bennett and wife have two children : Olive, who died in infancy, 
Claud F., born January 16, 1874, educated at the common schools and now resides at 
home. 

Booth, Charles R., a very estimable young farmer of Huron, born in the house he 
now owns October 29, 1867, is a son of Zenas H. Booth, also born in Huron June 16, 
1831, was a blacksmith and farmer. His wife was Marian Morey, born in Rose in 
March, 1834, and their children are : Josephine D., born August 15, 1856; Manvill J., born 
in November, 1857 ; Edmund D., born in January, 1861, and Charles Z. Zenas H. 
and wife died in 1877 and 1878 respectively. Subject was educated in Wolcott School. 
In 1888 he purchased the homestead, where he has since resided. In 1889 he married 
Susan, daughter of Henry McMillan, and they have one child, Hazel, born in May, 
1892. Subject is a member of the Farmers' Alliance. 

Boss, Cornelius, born in Sodus April 6, 1856, is the fifth of nine children of Isaac 
and Sarah (Dedee) Boss, natives of Holland, who came to America in 1854 and settled 
in Williamson on a farm. He bought a farm in Sodus where he resided till 1865, when 
he went to Michigan for a year. He returned to Sodus, again buying a farm, which he 
sold and bought the farm, a part of which is now owned by our subject. He died 
April 3, 1887, and his wife March 28, 1880. Subject was reared on a farm, and edu 
cated in Sodus and Marion. He married April 7, 1880, Annie, daughter of Frank and 
Mary (Lawrence) Leroy, natives of Holland. Mr. and Mrs. Boss have one son and one 
daughter, Frank O, born September 6, 1866, and Jessie. Mr. Leroy died in 1866, and 
Mrs. Leroy resides in Marion. Mr. Boss has always been engaged in farming, and 
makes a specialty of fruit growinsr. He is a member of the Grange, and is also a mem- 
ber of the Security Tent K. 0. T^M. 

Baker, Edward, Macedon, was born in England July 22, 1852, son of John Baker, 
who was born February 23, 1827, who is a farmer. Subject was fourteen years of age 
when he came with his parents to this county. The other children of the family were 
Daniel, Sarah A., Charlotte and Ellen. Our subject now owns a fine farm, from which 
he produces grain in abundance. He was educated in the common schools, and married 
January 13, 1886, Harriet E. Holloway. 

Boynton, Frank M., was born in Ontario in 1850, one of four children of Lorenzo S. 
and Philura (Maine) Boynton, he a native of Walworth, born January 2, 1816, and she 
of Connecticut, born April 18, 1813. Mr. Boynton was reared and educated in Wal- 
worth and always followed farming. He came to Ontario about 1845, and owned a 
farm of eighty acres. He died September 12, 1884, and his wife July 26, 1858. His 
father, Jonathan, was born August 10, 1779, and was one of the first settlers of Wal- 
worth, where he died March 28, 1845. Frank M. was educated in the common schools 
and Walworth Academy, also the Jonesville Union School of Michigan. He has always 
followed farming, and now owns the homestead place, devoting some attention to fruit 
raising. He has a fine place and is one of the leading men of the town. He is a 
Republican and a member of the Grange. In 1878 he married Maggie A., daughter 
of Robert and Jane (Walton) Franks, who both died in Walworth. Lorenzo S. 
Boynton was twice married, his second wife having been Lenora Wheeler, daughter of 
Ralph and Lucy (Ray) Lovejoy. She resides in Ontario. 

Blackmore, H. F., came to America when six years of age from London, England, 
where he was born in 1841. When the first call for volunteer soldiers was made in 
1861 he was a student at Weedsport and promptly entered the service of his adopted 
country, enlisting in Company C, 75th N. Y. S. Vols., afterward the 75th New York 
Veteran Battalion. He was an active participant in the La Fourche, Port Hudson, and 
Red River campaigns, his brigade being always at the front. He was also engaged in 
the battle of Winchester and Fisher's Hill, at the latter receiving a severe wound 



174 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

which confined him to the hospital five months, at the end of which period, August 30, 
1865 he was mustered out at Savannah, G-a. Mr. Blackmore's wife was Emma Rising, 
of Auburn, N. Y., and they were married October 7, 1884. Since the war he has filled 
the position of keeper at Auburn eight years, and has held various offices of trust at 
Wolcott, where he is highly esteemed. 

Bradway, A. J., only son of the late William Bradway, was born at Victory, Cayuga 
county, June 1, 1839. A sister, Hannah, now Mrs. Uelmer, lives in Wisconsin. A.J. 
Bradway came to Wayne county in 1S64 on his return from the war, in which he had 
seen three years' service as a member of Company E, 13th Mich. Vol. Infantry. For 
many years he operated a saw mill at South Butler, also manufacturing butter tubs, 
barrels, and cooper's materials. More recently he has been engaged in farming in 
Wolcott. He has served as collector, constable, and deputy sheriff. November 5, 
1859, he married Mary A. Wheeler, of Hannibal, Cayuga county, and has one daughter, 
Emma, born August 11, 1860. 

Brooks, Alfred, son of Augustus R. Brooks, of Cato, Cayuga county, was born in 
1834, and when seventeen years of age came to Wolcott, where his parents were en- 
gaged in farming, and where he now pursues the same avocation, devoting his atten- 
tion chiefly to small fruits. His wife is Mary A., daughter of H. B. Carr, of Wolcott, 
and they have two children : Deborah, wife of D. F. Lockwood, of Lyons ; and Laura 
Frances, who died at fourteen years of age. 

Bourne. W. E., was born in Lyons September 9, 1863. His father, James, came 
from England and settled in Lyons. He married Ann Lee, of England.' He died in 
1891 at seventy-six years of age. W. E. Bourne was educated in Lyons Union School, 
after which he entered the employ of E. B. Price & Son, grocers, and after several 
years of experience in business, in 1894 purchased a half interest with W. M. Young, 
carrying the largest and most complete stock of books, stationery, toys, confectionery, 
baby carriages, and office supplies in Wayne county. At the age of twenty-five he 
married Mary A., daughter of Arthur M. Sunderlin. Our subject is recognized as one 
of the most energetic merchants in his town, identified in advancing its best interests 
and in the leading events of the day. 

Burnett, A. E., was born in Phelps, Ontario county, April 29, 1852, was educated at 
Phelps Union school and finished at Eastman Business College, Poughkeepsie. After 
leaving school he returned to his father's farm two years, and in 1876 came to Lyons 
and established himself in the grocery and general produce business in the same loca- 
tion he now occupies. In 1888 he established a coal and wood yard, handling 3,000 
tons per year. At the age of twenty-two he married Laura J., daughter of Levi Lane, 
of Lyons, and they are the parents of one daughter, Frances H. He is a Republican in 
politics, and held the office of supervisor in 1889, 1891, 1892, and 1893, being the first 
Republican elected in ten years, and the only one that held the office for four terms 
since the foundation of the party. Our subject is one of the leading business men in 
his town, identified in advancing its best interests and of recognized character and 
sterling worth. 

Avery, A. G., was born in Lyons November 28, 1826. His father, Cyrus, came to 
Lyons in 1814 and the following year purchased part of the King estate of 150 acres, 
which is well known as the Avery homestead, and is now in possession of his son. It 
has been in the family eighty years. After a few years Cyrus sent for his father, Benja- 
man, who was a Revolutionary soldier. Enlisting at the age of eighteen under General 
Arnold, he took part in the storming of Quebec, also served under General Anthony 
Wayne and passed the winter with the Continental Army at Valley Forge, serving un- 
til the close of the war. He received an honorable discharge at the close of the war. 
Being destitute he was granted a pension by the United States Government. He died 



FAMILY SKETCHES. (.75 

May 4, 1843, at the house of his son Cyrus, aged eighty-five years. Cyrus Avery mar- 
ried Parthenia Skilton, of Watertown, Conn., and they were the parents of three 
children, two of whom are living : Mrs. John C. Bishop, and A. G. Avery. A. G. was 
educated in the common schools, to which he has added through life by reading and 
close observation. At the age of forty-two he married Beulah, daughter of B. F. Clark, 
of Sodus Center, and who were the parents of two children : Saxon G., and Anna E. 
Saxon G. died at the age of eighteen, a young man of brilliant attainments. Our sub- 
ject is one of the intelligent farmers of his town, raising hay, grain and, stock. Conserva- 
tive and independent in character he is recognized as a man of sterling integrity and 
moral worth. 

Arnold, George H. (deceased), was born at Kichmond, Ontario county May 24, 
1830. He was educated at Lima, at the age of twenty-two graduated from the law 
school at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., and soon after located in Lyons and commenced the 
practice of law in the office of Smith & Cornwall. By force of character, moral worth, 
and animated by the high standard he ever strove to attain, he soon made his mark 
among the members of his profession and was recognized as a man whose integrity was 
unimpeachable. At the age of thirty he married Mary A., daughter of Deacon Newell 
Taft, and they are the parents of two daughters : Annie L., and Mary A. He died 
July 2, 1867, aged thirty-seven years, striving through his last few hours to soften tbe 
blow for those he loved so dearly, assuring them that with him all was well. 

Alderman, George F., of Macedon, was born in Leicestershire, England, January 15, 
1848, and came to America in 1863, where he worked for a number of years, both by 
the month and farming on shares. He then bought a farm of eighty acres, and started 
for himself. This farm he still owns, and follows general farming. He married in 
England Sarah A. Beck, and they had two children : Born in England, Harriet and 
Arthur, and since coming here they have reared six,*as follows; William, Bertha, 
Frederick, Florence, Nellie and Ray. The children have all had a good common school 
education, and Harriet has attended school at Palmyra. Mr. Alderman is a Republican 
in politics, and is a school trustee. 

Althen, Daniel, was born in Lyons January 13, 1840. His father, Philip, came from 
Bavaria, on the Rhine, in 1835, settled at Lyons, and was a clothier and merchant tailor 
by profession. He died in October, 1886, aged seventy-six years. Daniel was edu- 
cated in the common school, to which he has added through life by reading and close 
observation. In 1856 he went to Cleveland, Ohio, and remained six years. In 1862 
he returned to Lyons, and established his present business of dealer in fine groceries 
and fruits. At the age of twenty-one he married Lena, daughter of Frederick Studer, 
and they are the parents of two children : Mrs. Bertha Damon, of Rochester, and May 
F. Our subject is one of the oldest merchants in town. In 1886 he built the brick 
block now occupied by him in his business. 

Seager, Asher W., was born in Rose May 9, 1843, son of David J. and Hannah War- 
ner, he a native of Connecticut, born December 19, 1808, and she of Sodus. born 
July 16, 1811. The paternal grandfather of subject was John N. Seager, a native of 
Connecticut and one of the early settlers of Huron, where he died. The maternal 
grandfather of subject was Asher Warner, who settled in Sodus early and was killed at 
Sodus Point during the War of 1812. The father of subject first settled in Huron in 
1825, and on the farm our subject owns in 1837. Mrs. Seager died in 1892, and Mr. 
Seager resides in Rose. Our subject was reared on a farm and educated at Wayne 
Center. He has followed farming, owns seventy-seven acres, making a specialty of 
raising pepermint, in which industry he has been very successful. Mr. Seager has been 
highway commissioner nine years and assessor six years. He married twice, first in 
1869 Mary J. Wicks a native of Rose and daughter of Caleb Wicks. She died Decem- 
ber 1, 1890, and he married in 1892 Elizabeth, daughter of John Klippel, of Lyons. 



176 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY 

Mr. Seager is a member of Rose Lodge No. 590 F. and A. M., and also of Sherman Post, 
No. 401. He enlisted August 19, 1862, in Company D, 9th Heavy Artillery, and served 
nearly three years. He was at Cold Harbor, Monocacy, Winchester, Cedar Creek, in 
front of Petersburg and at Sayler Creek. 

Miller, George F., was born in Lyons November 1, 1866. His father, George F.. 
born October 13, 1836, came from Germany and married Rosina Englehardt. He died 
July 28, 1886, at forty-nine years of age. He established a bakery and confectionery 
business which has been carried on by the family for twenty-five years, being now con- 
ducted by his son. It is one of the largest in that line in the town, comprising a full 
line of confectionery, toys, etc., and making a specialty of fresh bakery merchandise. 

Hickok, Eugene, was born in Genoa April 5, 1835, a son of William and Sophia C. 
(Gunn) Hickok, of New England stock, but the mother was of Scotch descent. The 
grandparents were Moses and Zesvia (Felton) Hickok, who ware early settlers of 
Wayne county but natives of New England. William Hickok was a wheelwright by 
trade, at which he worked for a number of years in Genoa. He then came to Huron, 
being one of the earliest settlers there, bought a farm, cleared a home, and worked at 
his trade. He sold out, came to Rose and bought a farm where they resided until their 
death. Mr. Hickok died in 1871 and his wife in 1881. Subject was reared on the 
farm, and with the exception of four years in grocery business, has been engaged in 
farming. He now has 135 acres, and makes a specialty of dairying. In 1863 he mar- 
ried Narcissa M., daughter of Oliver C. and Jane T. Colvin of Butler, by whom he has 
had two children.: Horton E., born April 14, 1868, wko died January 9, 1888; and A. 
Jennie, born November 25, 1869, married in 1888, and died in 1889, leaving one daugh- 
ter, Musetta A. Barless. who lives with her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Hickok. Mr. 
Hickok is a member of Rose Lodge No. 590 F. & A. M., also of Clyde Grange 
No. 33. 

Fish, Harry, was born in Williamson, 1812. He is a son of Isaac and Polly Fish, 
early settlers of Williamson, where they lived and died. Harry S. Fish was reared on 
a farm and educated in the common schools. He has always been engaged in farming 
and has for many years been known as one of the leading farmers of his town. His 
wife was Fannie M. Stewart, and they have had nine children. Mrs. Fish died Jan- 
uary 13, 1894, and Mr. Fish now resides in his native town at the age of eighty-two. 
He has been highway commissioner of the town. He is a member of the M. E. 
Church, of which his wife was a member until her death. He is a Republican. His 
children are all away from home except his daughter, Hattie, who attends her father 
in his sickness and also assists him in the management of his farm. 

Foist, George P. (deceased), was born on the Foist homestead in 1840. His father 
was John L. At the age of twenty- seven he married Mary A., daughter of Peter Mal- 
hizer, by whom he has one daughter, Mrs. C. M. Robinson of Newark, N. Y., and one 
son, John W. Foist. Our subject was one of the representative farmers of his town, 
and died April 1, 1890. John W. Foist married Sarah, daughter of George Oakleaf, by 
whom he has one son, George P., who manages his father's estate of 180 acres, raising 
fruit, hay, grain and stock. 

Everhart, H. L., was born at Danby, N. Y., April 6, 1833. His father, Samuel Ever- 
hart, is now and has been for fifty years a resident of Lock Berlin, Wayne couuty, and 
is now ninety-two years of age. His mother, Katherine, died in 1884, aged seventy- 
seven years. Henry was in earlier life for ten years a dealer in lumber, operating a saw 
mill at Clyde. In 1866 he began farming in Arcadia, removing in 1891 to Butler. 
October 27, 1356, he married Eunice, daughter of Harvey and Maria Bishop, of Galen, 
and their children are: Frank, born September 29/1858, who married Nellie Phelps of 
Galen, and is a farmer and dairyman in Yates county ; Foist, born June 15, 1860, mar- 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 177 

ried Adele Pulou of Sodus. He graduated from the Albany Law school in 1886, and is 
now practicing in Buffalo. Subject and wife are members of the M. E. Church. 

Field, N. J., North Wolcott, dealer in dry goods, groceries, hardware, crockery, etc., 
born at Sterling September 15, 1843, is the second son of the late Simeon and Harriet 
Field. Simeon Field was born in Vermont, and for many years was a builder at Ster- 
ling and Victory. Nathaniel, our subject, was educated at the Red Creek Academy, 
and before he attained his majority became a soldier, going out with the famous Ninth 
Heavy Artillery. He escaped unhurt the perils of Cedar Creek, but was afterwards 
confined to a hospital many months. In 1865 he married Ellen, daughter of Nelson 
Lovejoy, of Wolcott, and they had three children : the oldest, Lillie Theresa, having 
died when ten years old. The others are Nelson, Hattie and Nellie. In 1874 Mr. Fields 
established the mercantile business at North Wolcott, and has continued since without 
interruption. He was postmaster at that place eight years. He is assessor at present. 

Foster, William, was born in Palmyra in 1814, of English descent. His parents were 
Cyrus and Millicent Foster, natives of Long Island, who located here in 1892. He died 
in 1854 and his wife in 1837. In 1844 William married Esther Young, a native of 
Albany, and their children are : Albesta, who married Lyman Herbert, and died in 
1884 ; Charles, Cyrus, Salem, Whalend and Edward. Mr. Foster has been prominent 
in education and public matters, and has served as school commissioner, supervisor, and 
president of the School Board. 

Fellows, George F., was born in Lyons Jannary 12, 1859. His father, John E., came 
to Lyons in 1830, has passed a very active business life, and is one of the prominent 
men of the town. George F. was educated in the Lyons Union school and finished at 
the Cazenovia-Oneida Conference Seminary, after which he taught four years and man- 
aged his father's farm. In 1886 he established his present business of general produce, 
agricultural implements, coal and fertilizers, handling the largest amount of his special- 
ties of any house in Wayne county. At the age of thirty-one he married Grace, daugh- 
ter of M. B. Brandage of Lyons, and they are the parents of one son, Edward F. He 
is a Republican in politics, and is now assessor in the town, taking an intelligent interest 
in educational and religious matters, and is identified in advancing" its best interests. 

Forrester, H. E., was born in Tryon, N. Y., February 11, 1860. His father was a 
native of that town, also a wholesale grocer of Elmira, H. E. Forrester was educated 
in Elmira. In 1883 he entered the Philadelphia Dental College, also Hospital of Oral 
Surgery, and graduated in 1886, then came to Lyons and purchased the W. T. Reynolds 
dental rooms, where he is now established in business having one of the best appointed 
offices in Wayne county, fitted with all modern appliances and using the latest improved 
methods known to his profession. At the age of twenty-seven he married Adelaide, 
daughter of Jacob Kern, of Terre Haute, Ind., and they are the parents of two children : 
George K., and Margaret E. Our subject is one of the progressive men of his town, 
identified in advancing its bests interests in church and school matters, being the first 
president of Eastern Wayne Y. P. S. C. E., and chairman of the organizing committee 
of the Y. M. C. A., also a director in that association and member of the 7th district 
Dental Society of Western New York. 

Finn, Allen S., was born at Clifton, Pa., February 4, 1840. He is the oldest of seven 
children of Urial and Jane (Sanders) Finn, natives of Scranton, Pa. Urial Finn is a 
boat builder by trade, which he followed for many years. He was also a farmer, but 
has now retired and lives in Marion. Mrs. Finn died in 1879. Allen S. in early life 
learned the trade of boat builder, at which he worked at Lockport for a number of 
years with success, but having met with reverses he gave up the business. He has since 
been engaged for seven years in the insurance business in Buffalo, and engaged in 
farming in Marion, where in 1874 he purchased 122 acres, on which he has put out 



178 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

gfty six acres of apple orchard, He married, in 1873, Kittie House, of Lockport, by 
whom he has one daughter, Kittie E. She was educated at the schools of Lockport, 
and is now studying stenography and typewriting. Mrs. Finn died in 1885, and Mr. 
Finn married, second, Jennie 0. Smith, of Marion. 

Freeman, Frank R., was born in Nova Scotia August 9, 1859. His father, Samuel, 
a general trader at Milton, Nova Scotia, also engaged in West India trade, and repre- 
sented the Legislature for twelve years. Frank R. laid the foundation of his education 
in the common schools, taking a course of lectures in the Medical School at Halifax, 
the Dalhousie University, and in the Massachusetts School of Pharmacy, making a 
special study of chemistry and pharmacy. In the spring of 1869 he came to Clyde, 
and in connection wiih C. C. Martin purchased the drug store formerly owned by Lyle 
Ackerman. In 1894 he bought Mr. Martin's interest and is now carrying on a large 
and fine selected stock of imported and domestic drugs. At the age of thirty-one he 
married Ellen, daughter of Robert Anderson, of Baddick, Cape Britain, and they have 
had two daughters, Amy and Dorothy. Our subject is a s-upporter of educational and 
religious institutions. 

Finch, Charles H., was born in the town of Butler December 27, 1852. His father. 
David S., was a native of the town of Rose, and is now a prominent farmer in Galen. 
Charles H. was educated in the district schools, Dr. Sweeting's private school, and 
finished at the Falley Seminary, Fulton, N.Y. He afterward returned to his father's 
farm and in 1874 came to Clyde and engaged in the clothing business, "remaining two 
years. In 1876 he went to Wolcott and established himself in the same business, re- 
maining ten years. He then came back to Clyde and purchased the clothing stock of 
C. A. Howe, and is now carrying one of the largest and best selected stock of fine 
merchant tailoring and gents' furnishing goods in Clyde. At the age of twenty-five he 
married Mary, daughter of Dratt Francis, of Butler, and they have one daughter, Maude. 
Our subject has lived an active business life, taking an intelligent interest in educational 
and religious matters. 

Frost, Oscar J., was born April 2, 1844, on the spot where he now resides, and which 
was reclaimed from the wilderness by his father, Alanson Frost, who was a pioneer 
from Connecticut. Alanson Frost cleared with his own hands most of the 125 acres 
now constituting the homestead farm and upon which he erected a log cabin. He was 
a pensioner of 1812, and died at the old home December 27, 1867. Oscar was a school 
boy. fresh from Falley Seminary, when he enlisted in the famous 9th Heavy Artillery 
in August, 1862, and went with them to the front, a sergeant at eighteen. Through all 
the perils of Cold Harbor, Monocacy, Cedar Creek, and Winchester, the boy soldier 
passed unscathed, and so passed three years in active service. November 27, 1867, he 
married Augusta, daughter of John Caywood, of Wolcott, and they have one son, 
Alfred W., born March 9, 1869, and now a merchant in New York. Also Bertha M., 
a daughter by adoption, born March 25, 1877. Mr. Frost is now justice of the peace 
for the second term. 

Everhart, W. H., born in Galen October 27, 1840. His father, Samuel Everhart, a 
well and highly respected resident of Galen, is now ninety- two years of age, and his 
paternal ancestors were all celebrated for their longevity. W. H. Everhart, who made 
farming his principal business, first followed that occupation in Walworth, having only 
recently become a citizen of Butler. December 24, 1867, he married Elizabeth, daugh- 
ter of Hugh Ross, late of Galen. Their daughter, Alma J., born February 3, 1873, mar- 
ried, in 1894, William T. Pethic, of Ontario, and their son, Hugh, born September 1, 
1876, is an expert machinist and electrician in the West. 

Edwards, D. L., D.D.S., was born in Waterville, March 2, 1864. His father, David 
L, Edwards, was a native of Wales and came to the United States in 1849. He was a 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 17!) 

prominent farmer. D. L. Edwards was educated at the Waterville Union School and 
Academy, and in 1890 he entered the Philadelphia Dental College, from which he grad- 
uated in 1892. In the same year he came to Clyde and established his dental parlors, 
employing the latest and most improved appliances, in all branches of dentistry and using 
a special local anesthetic of his own preparation, which has been demonstrated to be 
perfectly harmless, as proven by the testimony of the leading people of all parts of 
Wayne county. He is a member of the Odd Fellows, and of the Apollo Club. 

Emigh, David A., was born in the town of Galen June 22, 1849. His father, Peter, 
came from Dutchess county to Wayne county in 1845, and settled in the town of Galen. 
His wife was Sarah A., daughter of Beriah Austin of Dutchess county. He died in 
1887, aged ninety-one years. David A. was educated in the common schools. At the 
age of twenty-five he married Kate C, daughter of Dr. E. J. Schoonmaker, of Tyre, 
Seneca county. In 1887 he bought the J. W. Hopkins property of ninety acres, raising 
fruit, hay, grain and stock. Our subject is identified in advancing the best interests of 
the town. 

Everhart, Samuel, was born in Winchester, Northumberland county, Pa., January 25, 
1804. His father, Frederick, was a native of Germany, and came to the United States 
before 1800. Samuel Everhart married Catherine Foist, and they have six children : 
Rebecca A., Margaret, Jane, Henry, William and John. In 1842 he bought the Andrew 
Yan Hooven property of 113 acres, raising fruit, hay, grain and stock. Our subject has 
been a member of the Presbyterian Church, of Lyons, fifty-six years, and is recognized 
as a man of sterling integrity. 

Eyer, Henry, was born in the town of Galen November 17, 1848. His father, Fred- 
erick, was a native of Germany and came to the United States in 1830. He married 
Lanie Links, and died in 1890 aged seventy-two. Henry Eyer was educated in the 
common schools, and at the age of twenty-two married Dora E., daughter of Jacob 
Rankert, and they have two daughters, Mattie L., and Carrie E. In 1882 he bought the 
Israel Phelps property of 208 acres, raising fruit, hay, grain and stock. Our subject is 
one of the representative farmers of the town, taking an intelligent interest in educational 
and religious matters. 

Elliott, Charles, was born in Genesee county August 22, 1834, son of John and Ellen 
(Needham) Elliott, he a native of Massachusetts and she of Yermont. They came to 
Batavia in 1830, where they died when our subject was a child, and he was reared by 
his uncle, James Elliott. He was educated in the common schools, and at the age of 
thirty learned the jeweler's trade, which he followed some time. Later he went to 
California and engaged in mining, where he remained until 1861. He enlisted in Co. D, 
1st Cavalry, California Yols., and served three years. He then returned to Walworth 
and in 1864 re-enlisted in Co. F, 3d N. Y. Inf., and served until the close of the war. 
He was at the battle of Fort Craig and Red River expedition, served until the close of 
the war and three months afterward. He was corporal two years and sergeant most of 
the time during the last enlistment. He then returned to Walworth and engaged in 
partnership with Mr. Rabe in the boot and shoe business for six years, and since then 
has been engaged in the jewelry business. He is overseer of the poor, having held the 
office ten years, and was also town clerk two years. He has been trustee of the schools 
six years, a member of the Walworth Lodge No. 254, F. & A. M. He married in 1866 
Maggie Hartwell, a native of Canada, and daughter of Edwin and Rhoda Hartwell, 
natives of Canada. Mr. Elliott and wife have four children : Charles E., born January 
2, 1867, educated in Walworth Academy, learned the jeweler's trade with his father, 
and is now in business in Williamson. He married in 1892 Libbie Sawyer, of Walworth, 
by whom he has one child, Leah E. Jessie, who died in infancy ; Willie, born July 3, 
1876, educated in Walworth Academy and resides at home ; and one who died in 
infancy. 



180 LANDMARKS OP WAYNE COUNTY. 

Ely, George S., born in 1836, is the son of the late Alvah and Harriet Elizabeth Ely, 
who were Jefferson county farmers, and who reared a family of ten children. Our sub- 
ject is the sole living representative of his family in Wayne county, his father having 
died in 1877 at the age of seventy-eight, and his mother in 1875, aged seventy-four. 
George spent his boyhood and school days in Jefferson county, where he was for ten 
years a schoolmate and intimate friend of Roswell P. Flower. In 1859 he married 
Mary A., daughter of Thomas Faire, of Depauville, N.Y., and has two children, William 
and Amy L. 

Dratt, L. H., late of South Butler, was a prominent man in that locality, and repre- 
sented the town on the Board of Supervisors in 1888 and 1889. Republican in politics, 
he was also for many years a justice of the peace and assessor. He was born in Butler 
September 26, 1830, and farming has been his principal occupation. September 11, 
1889, he married Helen, daughter of Andrew Piersall, of Savannah. He died Novem- 
ber 20, 1893, after a long and painful illness. 

De Right, Henry, was born in Williamson, Wayne county, July 22, 1860. He is the 
youngest of six sons of Adrian and Magdelena De Right. Henry was reared on the 
farm and educated in the schools of Williamson. He came with his parents to Marion, 
where he worked on the homestead farm till 1888, when he removed to the farm he 
now owes. Mr. De Right has a farm of 124 acres, and carries on general farming and 
fruit growing. He and wife are members of the Grange, and he is a member of the 
K. 0. T. M. January 15, 1889, he married Lizzie, daughter of Daniel and Mary McGee, 
of Palmyra. Mr. and Mrs. De Right have had two sons : Samuel, who died aged one 
year, and Weldon. 

De Right, Daniel, was born in Williamson, Wayne county, in 1866, the fourth of six 
sons of Adrian and Magdalena De Right. He was reared on a farm and commenced 
business as farm hand and painting, but soon engaged in the fruit evaporating business, 
which he has always followed in connection with farming and fruit growing. He now 
owns seventy-six acres of land, which he purchased in 1893, it being a part of the 
homestead. He married, Jannary 29, 1893, Elizabeth Brown, of Marion. He is a mem- 
ber of the Marion K. O. T. M., also of the Grange. He and wife attend and support 
the Christian church, of Marion. 

Deright, Hermones D., born in Williamson in 1853, is a son of Adrian and Magdelena 
Deright, natives of Holland. The grandfather, Jesse, emigrated from France'to Holland, 
where he engaged in farming, fie came to America about 1849, settled in Pultney- 
ville, living with one of his sons. The family of seven are all deceased except Cath- 
erine, wife of John Putty. Adrian Deright was born in 1815, and came to America 
with his parents. He bought and sold several small farms, then bought sixty acres 
which he gave to his sons, and bought seventy-seven acres in Marion, He also helped 
one of his sons buy a farm of 140 acres. He died in November, 1892. H. D. Deright 
commenced work at the age of twenty-one and worked three years. He married 
Mary, daughter of Daniel Delass, of East Williamson, by whom he has two sons and 
two daughters : Sarah, Adrian, and Minnie, who survive, and Samuel, who died in in- 
fancy. Mr. Deright has a farm of 133 acres and is largely engaged in fruit growing. 
He has twenty-five acres of apples and three acres each of pears, plums, quinces, 
fifteen acres of raspberries. He is a strong temperance advocate, is a member of 
Williamson Grange, also of Williamson Tent No. 152, K. 0. T. M. 

Dow, Jasper E., was born in Butler in 1836, son of John and Mary Dow, who came 
here from Vermont in 1832. John Dow was one of the first settlers at North Wolcott, 
purchasing 300 acres at $5 an acre. He died in 1884, leaving six children, and his wife 
is yet living at the ripe age of eighty-two years. Jasper's educational advantages were 
few, and he was for many years a traveling salesman and a speculator in real estate. In 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 181 

1872 he bought a saw mill plant near Wolcott, which he still operates, and he has also 
commenced the manufacture of spring beds, with every facility for a large production, 
October 8, 1859, he married Olive Ash, of Primrose, Wis., and they have one son, John 
D., born March 1, 1865, now an employee of the D. & R. G. R. R. at Salida, Colo. 

Davis, B. D., born in Orleans county December 9, 1824, was the third of eight chil- 
dren of Oliver and Betsey Davis, a native of Montgomery county, N. Y., and emigrated 
to Palmyra in 1815, he being eighteen years of age. He went to Orleans county and 
after five years returned. to Palmyra, and finally emigrated to Michigan in 1856 where 
he died in 1881, and his wife in 1841. He was educated in Marion Academy, learned 
the furnace trade, and followed that twelve and the blacksmith trade twenty-six years. 
He now owns a farm of eighty-five acres, and lives in the village of Marion. He mar- 
ried January 4, 1847, Arvilla Skinner, a native of Marion, by whom he has had four 
children : John, Allie, deceased ; Oliver and Emma. He and wife attend the Christian 
Church. 

Devoe, Daniel, was born in the town of Mentz, Cayuga county October 24, 1837. 
His father, Daniel, was a native of St. Lawrence county. The family were of French 
and English extraction. Daniel Devoe, sr., died at his son's residence in Clyde in 1893, 
aged eighty years. Daniel Devoe, jr., was educated in the common schools, to which 
he has added through life by reading and close observation. At the age of twenty-five 
he married Mary E., daughter of Henry Miller, and they have three daughters : Mrs. 
Stella M. Mead, Mrs. Olga Watson and Florence W. In 1876 he bought the Erastus 
Snidecker property of 112 acres, and in 1888 bought the Gideon Ramsdell property of 
160 acres in the town of Savannah, raising fruit, hay, grain and stock. Our subject is 
one of the representative farmers of his town, taking an intelligent interest in educa- 
tional and religious matters. 

De Laney, Henry Suydam, was born in the town of Galen April 4, 1826. His father, 
Jonathan De'Laney, came to the town of Galen in 1822 and was a prominent farmer, 
and justice of the peace of this town. He died in Michigan in 1848 at the age of fifty'. 
Henry S.De Laney was educated in the common schools and in 1852 went to California 
and with the exception of one short trip east, spent thirteen years in Oregon, Washing- 
ton, British Columbia, engaged in mining and mercantile enterprises, returning in 1866. 

Dunning, G. W., was born in North East, Dutchess county January 16, 1822. His 
father, Samuel, came to Wayne county in 1847, and settled in Lyons. He was born in 
Dutchess county in 1789, and died in Lyons in 1876. G. W, Dunning was educated in 
the common schools. At the age of twenty-eight he married Phoebe, daughter of 
Elisha Barton, of Lyons, and they are the parents of one son, Charles Barton of Lyons. 
In 1855 he bought the Judge Churchill property and afterwards bought part of the 
Vorhees estate. Our subject is one of the intelligent men of the town, and is identified 
in educational and religious matters. 

Durfee, Hiram C, of Macedon. was born in the town of Palmyra April 5, 1830. He 
is a descendant of the old family of Durfee of Tiverton, R. I. In 1790 Gideon and 
Edward Durfee came to Farmington, and in the fall Gideon returned, reporting so 
favorably that the whole family resolved to come here. Gideon returned in the winter 
of 1790-91 on an ox sled, consuming seventeen and a half days upon the journey. 
Gideon located on what was known as Durfee street, a short distance below Palmyra. 
The father of our subject, William Durfee, was born May 3, 1800. Hiram C. married 
December 21, 1853, Susan M. Lapham, daughter of Richard and Ruth Lapham, also an 
old pioneer family of this section. Hiram C. settled on his present place in 1854, 
(where his wife was born). Mr. Durfee was elected supervisor, serving during 1880-81. 
Mr. and Mrs. Durfee are members of the Friends Church, and own one of the finest 
farms in the town. 



182 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Deuchler, Plilip, was born in Alsace, Germany, September 14, 1838, came to the 
United States in 1855, and settled in Syracuse for five years. After various employ- 
ments, he established his present business in Lyons in 18G6. Starting in a small way 
with one man, he has increased his force up to the present time, employing from twelve 
to fifteen men, and three separate buildings of three stories and basement each, manu- 
facturing wagons and sleighs and making a specialty of horse shoeing, and all kinds of 
repairing. At the age of twenty-eight he married Dorothy T., daughter of George 
Hoppel, and they are the parents of four children : Edward P., Charles H., Albert L., 
and one daughter, Florence. He is a Republican in politics, and has been trustee of the 
town. Our subject is one of the most successful business men in Lyons. Self-made 
and self-educated his life has been a success, owing to the ability and sterling integrity 
of his character. 

Dillingham, Delos, was born in Seneca county, August 25, 1846. His father, Will- 
iam S., was a native of Wayne county, the family coming from Orange county. Delos 
was educated in the common schools, to which he has added through life by reading 
and close observation. At the age of twenty-two he married Elizabeth H., daughter of 
Thomas F. Stanton of Lyons, and they have had five children, four of whom are now 
living: Ora, Clinton D., Mrs. Cairie E. Aldrich and Belle I. Dillingham. In 1876 he 
bought the Daniel B. Westfall property of forty-four acres, raising hay, grain and 
stock. Our subject is identified in advancing the best interests of the town. 

Doty. John Franklin, was born in Huron in 1866, is the son of John Doty a native 
of New York, who was a carpenter and farmer. His wife was Mrs. Emeline (Ben- 
nett) Stanley, who had two children, Richard and Nettie, wife of Jacob Waldruff. Mr. 
and Mrs. Doty have had these children : William Wesley, Delia Ann, wife of Edward 
Lasher of Huron, and John F. At the age of sixteen subject began for himself, at 
twenty-one purchased the homestead of seventy acres, and in connection with farming 
is interested in the evaporating business. In 1888 he married Adelia O, daughter of 
Stephen and Lucy (Doolittle) Sherman, of Huron. Mr. and Mrs. Doty are members of 
the Huron Grange, and in politics subject is a Republican. 

Dowd, Judson H., one of Huron's patriots, was born in Huron August 7, 1843, son 
of Watson Dowd who was born in Cheringham, Mass., in 1810. The grandfather, 
Asel Dowd, was a native of Massachusetts, who came to Huron in 1825 with his wife 
and family of seven children. He was a soldier in the War of 1812. He died in 1878 
aged eighty. Watson spent his life as a farmer in Huron. His wife was Harriet, 
daughter of Silas Lovejoy of Rose, and their children were : George, Lucy, Ann, Pat- 
rick, Mrs. Harriet Wilder of Wolcott, Judson H., and Minnie Quereau of Huron. Our 
subject has followed photography for many years in Newark, N. Y., and the Western 
States ; since 1876 has resided in Huron on his farm. At the age of seventeen in 1861 
he enlisted in Co. E, 10th N. Y. Cavalry, for three years, re-enlisted on the field and 
served until the close of the war. Some of the principal engagements in which he par- 
ticipated were : Gettysburg, Wilderness, Brandy Station, Chancellorsville, Stoneman's 
Raid and Sheridan's raid at South Ann River. He was captured and imprisoned in 
Richmond, was transferred to Andersonville, thence to Milan, in all seven months. Of 
thirty-two who were captured he was one of three who survived the prison hardships. 
He returned to his home nearly a physical wreck. In 1870 he married Cassie Cole, 
and their children are : Mrs. Mabel Gillett of Huron; Emma and Lee F. Mr. Dowd 
is a member of the G. A. R. Keeslar, Post No. 55 of Wolcott, and has served as town 
collector. 

Davis, William H. ( was a native of Tompkins county, born in 1858. He is the son 
of Caleb Davis of Tompkins county. His wife was Jane Church and their children 
were: Sarah H., William, James. Frank, Lewis, Lucinda, Anna (deceased), Charles, 
Clarence, Jennie and Hattie. He came to Huron in 1861, and here our subject grew 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 183 

to manhood. In 1880 he purchased the farm where he now lives, in an elegant house, 
which he erected in 1892. He is interested in the breeding of fine coach horses and 
Jersey cattle, and has twenty-two of these fine horses and colts. Since 1880 he has 
been extensively engaged in the apple evaporating business, and in recent years has 
dealt in carriages, wagons and harnesses. In 1879 he married Minnie E., daughter of 
Alfred and Philena Parker, of Huron, and they have one child, Bennie W., born in 
1883. Mr. Davis and wife are members of the Huron Grange P. of H., No. 124, and 
in politics our subject is a Republican. 

Delling, Albert, was born in North Wolcott in 1849, son of Ira Delling, a native of 
Sodus, Wayne county, born in 1823. The grandfather was Rev. Manoah Delling a 
native of Maine, who came to Wayne county and settled in the town of Sodus about 
1820. Ira at his death in 1855 owned half interest in the Dayton Mills. His wife was 
Caroline Delametter, of Columbia county, and their children were : Albert, Frances and 
Edgar. At six years of age Mr. Delling went away from home to live, and at sixteen 
began work at the blacksmith trade. After seven years he was interested in various 
enterprises, from 1890 to 1892, conducted shop in Huron, and in 1893 purchased the 
Roswell Reed farm. In 1874 he married Belle Harper of Huron, who died five years 
later, and in 1884 he married Ella, daughter of Roswell E., and Almira (Bender) Reed, 
pioneers of Huron. Mr. Delling is a member of the Masonic order. 

Dunn, James J. (deceased), was born in Sullivan county, NY., January 7, 1822, and 
came to Lyons in 1834 with his parents, James Dunn sr., and wife, who purchased 412 
acres of land lying south of Lyons. James, jr., was educated in the common schools, 
to which he added through life by reading and close observation. At the age of 
twenty-nine he married Nancy, daughter of John Mitchell of Galen, and they were 
the parents of three children, of whom but one, Amelia, now Mrs. Thomas Smart, is 
now living. Our subject died October 31, 1863. at the age of forty-three years. He 
was one of the largest farmers in his towu. Mrs. Amelia Smart married Thomas G. 
Smart, of Lyons, and they are the parents of one son, James D. Smart. 

Dunn, James, was born in Rochester, July 31, 1832. His father, James, was a native 
of Scotland. Subject was educated in the common schools. After leaving school he 
went to work on a farm by the month. At the age of thirty he married Adelia A., 
daughter of John Rook, and they are the parents of three children: John R., William 
A., and Sadie Belle. In 1866 he bought the Thomas Roo< farm of seventy-nine acres, 
in 1883 bought the Thomas Stanton farm of fifty-seven acres, and in 1885 bought the 
William Miller property of thirty-eight acres, having 143 acres of some of the best 
farming land, raising large amounts of hay, grain, and stock. Our subject is one of the 
leading farmers in his town, taking an active interest in educational and religious mat- 
ters, a member of the M. E. church of Lyons forty years. 

Doolittle, Miss Franc, born at Butler in 1846, is the daughter of the late George 
Doolittle, who was at various times during his life recipient of political honors, holding 
the offices of assessor, justice, and supervisor. His wife, Thankful, left three daugh- 
ters, of whom Franc is the youngest. Educated at Leavenworth Institute, she first 
engaged in business with an elder sister at Howell, Mich., spending thirteen years 
there. In 1883 she came to Wolcott and established a millinery business at No. 51 
East Main street, where she now employs five assistants, and besides a large local busi- 
ness, shipping finished goods to the far West. 

Clark, William H., was born in Williamson February 27, 1816, a son of Hubbard and 
Sarah (Mallory) Clark, natives of Groton, Conn., who came West, and spent their last days 
in Albion, Mich. The grandfather of William H. was Roswell, a native of Groton, 
Conn, and a soldier in the War of the Revolution, his son, the father of our subject, 
having been in the war of 1812. William H. was educated in the Palmyra Academy, 



184 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY 

and has always followed farming, with the exception of four years, when he carried 
the mail from Palmyra to Porterville, and four years in the brewery business in Roches- 
ter. In 1840 he married Sibyl Swan, of Hartland, Vt., and daughter of Col. Edward 
Swan, who fought in the war of 1812 and died at the home of our subject in On- 
tario. Mr. and Mrs. Clark have had five children, all now living: Edward, Sibyl, 
Austin H., Mary, John P., all residing in Ontario. Mr. Clark came here in 1840. He 
owned 275 acres of land, but has given his children homes, and now owns but fifty 
acres, forty-three acres being near the village. He has interested himself largely in 
selling lots in the village, building houses, etc., for sale. He is a Republican in politics, 
having voted for the two Harrisons. Mrs. Clark died March 11, 1890. 

Casey, A. W.. was born in Nassau, Rensselaer county, December 5, 1814, the oldest 
of ten children of Adam and Lucy (Larrabee) Casey, the former born in 1778, and the 
latter in 1789. The father of Adam was Jesse, a native of Rhode Island, and one of 
the first settlers of Nassau, where he died March 22, 1867, and his wife July 1, 1868. 
The father of Lucy Larrabee was Richard, who served throughout the Revolution, and 
the war of 1812. A. W. Casey was educated in the common schools, and followed the 
blacksmith's trade for some time. In 1853 he came to Ontario and worked at the 
same trade, but in 1867 took up farming, now owning 100 acres of land. He has 
been a life-long Democrat, has served as justice of the peace for sixteen years, justice 
of sessions six years, and postmaster about six years, first holding office under Buchan- 
an. May 12 1836, he married Harriet A. Quinby, a native of Nassau, born January 
26, 1819, and a daughter of Daniel and Mary (Lyon) Quinby. Mr. and Mrs. Casey have 
had these children : Mary E.. born October 1, 1837 ; Lucy A, born November 22, 1839 ; 
Charles H., born January 5, 1842; Daniel A., born January 4, 1844; Harriet E., born 
May 18, 1847 ; Phoebe A., born July 11, 1849 ; Harriet A., born July 29, 1855; Ella S., 
born October 27, 1857. Harriet E. died April 28, 1852; Harriet A. died September 22, 
1856; Ella S. died May 27, 1863. Mr. and Mrs. Casey have been married fifty- eight 
years and have eleven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. His grandfather 
was James Quinby, and the father of the latter was Ephraim Quinby, who lived to the 
age of 106 years, seven months and ten days, and voted at the age of 103, also walking 
three miles in one day. 

Cole, Lafayette, deceased, was born in Palmyra in 1847, and spent his life on the farm 
where he was born, and on which his father, Marcus Cole, had located many years pre- 
vious, the place being three and one-half miles north of Palmyra. La Fayette married 
Catharine McDermott, a native of Pennsylvania, and their children are: William, born 
in 1865; Myron, born in 1867, the former residing on the home farm and the latter 
in the village of Marion. Mr. Cole died in 1890, and his widow resides on the home 
farm with her son. 

Cole, Frank W., was born in Bellevue, Mich., in 1853. His family came originally 
from New York State, and his father, William P., for forty years was a well known 
nurseryman in Western New York. In 1871 Mr. Cole graduated from the Lockport 
Union school, and commenced newspaper work on the Youngstown, O., Miner and 
Manufacturer in 1872. He was next at Hamilton, Canada, on the Spectator, later was 
connected with the Lockport Union. In conjunction with John M. Ives, he bought out 
the Brockport Democrat. When he left this he started a paper at Spencerport, where 
he remained for five years, then for four years was connected with the Rochester Post- 
Express. In 1885 he started the Palmyra Democrat and was so successful that he 
afterward enlarged it from four to eight pages. Its circulation is now said to be about 
1,700. It is printed in a commodious building of four floors with basement, owned by 
Mr. Cole. A complete job printing department is also in connection. Mr. Cole has had 
considerable to do in shaping the political affairs of the county, and has been a pronounced 
Hill Democrat. He has served on the county committee, and in other ways has made 
his influence felt. In 1872 he married Miss Doddman, of Hamilton, Canada, and three 



FAMILY SKETCHES. is.", 

children grace his household : George J., who assists in the Democrat office, Ruby and 
Minnie. He is a fine oarsman and has rowed with Hosmer, Hanlon and others. He 
has been manager of the Palmyra Opera House. Mr. Cole does a great deal of corres- 
pondence for the New York papers, and keeps in touch with the times on popular 
questions. He has also spoken considerably during political campaigns, and can both 
tell a funny story and make a pointed argument. Mr. Cole has now disposed of the 
Palmyra Democrat, and is connected with the Horse World of Buffalo. 

Coates, John C, a native of Macedon, was born in 1847, residing on the farm with 
his parents until they came to Palmyra, and in 1856 moved to Neponset, 111., where his 
father, William Coates, died in November, 1856. The latter was a native of Yorkshire, 
England, and the mother, Christiana (Chapman) Coates, came from the same country. 
William came to Palmyra from England about 1844, and a few years later married and 
settled on a farm. They had only one child, our subject, who was educated at the dis- 
trict and Class Union schools and in 1876 engaged in the livery business. This he con- 
ducted three years, and in May, 1881 was appointed railway postal clerk from Syracuse 
to New York, soon after taking charge of the fast mail between those points. In 
August, 1889, he was appointed post-office inspector, and assigned to the New York 
division, which position he still holds. January 9, 1884, he married Bertha Bushnell, 
and they have one child, Francis William, born April 25, 1887. 

Cole, Romain H., is one of Huron's prominent young men, born in Covert, Seneca 
county, in 1848, a son of Ogden Cole, a native of New Jersey, who was a son of Daniel 
Cole. Ogden was a farmer by occupation, and followed that vocation all his life. His 
wife was Clarinda, daughter of Elkanah Smith, of the town of Rose, and they raised 
two children : John E., and Romain H. Subject was educated in music and in 1871 
came to Huron and taught music. In 1873 he built a store in North Rose and engaged in 
the mercantile business ; two years later purchased a half interest in the farm of his father- 
in-law, Benjamin Catchpole. In 1878 he engaged with R. A. Catchpole and William Gat- 
chell in the apple business and in 1880-82 he engaged in the wood business with R. A. 
Catchpole and John Buerman, known as Catchpole, Buerman & Cole. In 1884-85 in com- 
pany with James M. Streeter, he was interested in the malting business in Clyde, since 
which time he has devoted his attention to the farm and premises, with his father-in-law. 
In 1875 he married Susan Catchpole. He is a Republican, and while in North Rose 
served as justice of the peace and postmaster. He and his wife are members of the 
Huron Grange Lodge No. 124. 

Catchpole, Benjamin, commonly called '' Uncle Ben," is one of Huron's prominent 
and highly successful citizens, a native of England, born May 16, 1826. He is the son of 
James Catchpole, who was a farmer. He came to Geneva with his family in 1835, a 
few years later he removed to Huron and purchased the farm in lot 109, where his son 
James now lives. He died in 1882 at the age of ninety years. His wife was Susan 
Knights, and their children were : Susan, wife of Thomas T. Smith, of Geneva; Ann, 
wife of Edward Thomas, of Geneva ; Jemima, wife of John S. Smith, of Huron ; James, 
Benjamin, Mary, Hobart A. deceased, and Matilda. At an early age our subject began 
life's battles, in 1845 he accompanied his employer, Gideon Lee, to Texas, where he 
spent two years hunting. While there he witnessed the final funeral ceremony of Sam 
Houston, Davy Crockett and Steve Bowie. He returned and purchased land in 
Huron, in company with his brothers and John S. Smith, known as Catchpole & Co., 
and engaged extensively in the manufacture of lumber. They cleared 800 acres, sold 
the mill, later divided the land, and has since devoted his time to farming. In 1887 he 
and his son-in-law purchased fifty-seven acres of the R. R. Lummis estate, which they 
transformed to a beautiful summer resort, popularly known as Bonnicastle, and which 
is situated on the east side of great Sodus Bay. They are interested in the apple cul- 
ture, having fifty acres. In May, 1853, our subject married Hannah M., daughter of 



186 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Randall and Eunice (Williams) Comstock, born in 1833, and they have one child, Susan 
B., wife of Romain H. Cole. Mr. and Mrs. Catchpole are members of the Huron 
Grange Lodge No. 124. Our subject is a Republican, and the active interest he has 
taken in elections is well known. He is the oldest member of the Rochester Gun Club, 
and is the oldest participant in the State shoot. 

Carver, George L., jr., was born in Lyons September 26, 1851. His father, George 
W., was also born in the town, and is one of its most prominent business representa- 
tives. George L. was educated in the Lyons Union school and finished at Detroit, after 
leaving which he went into the hardware business with Col. William Kreutzer, con- 
tinuing two years, afterward engaging in various small enterprises. In 1880 went into 
the flour and feed business in Lyons, in Center building on Williams street. In 1889 
he erected the Joppa Roller Flour Mills, making a specialty of graham and buckwheat 
flour, where he is now engaged in business. In 1890 took the contract to build the 
highway through the marshes between Lyons and Galen for the sum of $7,500. At 
the age of twenty-eight he married Kate P., daughter of Asaph Waterman, of Lyons, 
and they have one son, George W. Our subject is one of the leading men in his busi- 
ness and is identified in advancing the best interests of his town, being recognized as a 
man of sterling integrity and worth. 

Cronise, Samuel, was born in Arcadia January 8, 1833. His father, Henry, was a 
native of Frederick county, Maryland, came to Wayne county in 1808, and purchased 
a farm in what was then the town of Sodus, now Arcadia. He died in 1870 at the age 
of eighty-one. Samuel was educated in the common schools to which he has added 
through life by reading and close observation, being a self-made and self-educated man. 
At the age of twenty-seven he married Jane E., daughter of Martin Fredenberg, and 
they have had two children : Nettie, who died in infancy ; and Elbert, who died at 
sixteen years of age, was a young man of brilliant promise and sterling character. In 
1883 he moved from his farm in Arcadia to Lyons, where he engaged in contracting 
and building, and in 1881 in connection with Stephen Reals erected the block on the 
corner of Geneva and Elmer streets, known as the Cronise & Reals block. In 1889 he 
was elected overseer of the poor, in which he has made a record for ability and honest 
service, saving his town large sums of money each year. 

Carver, George W., was born in the city of Albany March 6, 1831. His father, 
George W., came to Lyons in 1838, remaining until 1839 when he went to Toronto, where 
he died at forty-two years of age. George W. was educated in Lyons, and at the 
Academy in Lima. After leaving school he learned the silver plater's trade, following 
it twelve years, and was then forced to give up the business on account of his eyesight. 
He was elected constable and served fifteen years, deputy marshal and deputy provost- 
marshal, making a specialty of the private detective business, and was the means of 
breaking up the Loomis gang of horse thieves and robbers, arresting Clark, alias Tom 
Alvord, a noted horse thief, a man by the name of Belcher and two of the Loomises, 
whom he landed single handed in Wayne county jail. In 1869 he was appointed deputy 
revenue assessor of the towns of Lyons and Galen, and afterwards of all the towns of 
the eastern assembly district, was also appointed deputy revenue collector. In 1874 he 
was appointed keeper of the Wayne County Poor House and Insane Asylum, remaining 
there until 1885, erecting the larger part of the present buildings under his administra- 
tion. In 1888 he was appointed police justice, serving three years. Our subject has 
lived one of the most active lives of any man in the town, identified in advancing its 
best interests and the leading events of the day, where he is recognized as a man of 
sterling integrity and moral worth. 

Cady, Stephen P., was born in the town of Lyons, May 12, 1844, a son of Lorenzo, 
whose father, Philo, was a native of Columbia county, who later removed to Wayne 
county and settled near Lyons. His wife was Fannie Parks, and their children were : 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 1*7 

Lorenzo, Sarah Ann, and Edwin. Lorenzo was born in Columbia county in 1823, and 
the following year his father removed to Galen, and here he grew to manhood, remain- 
ing on his father's farm until about 1856, when he removed to Huron and bought the 
Major Sheldon farm of 150 acres, on which he spent the remainder of his days. He 
married Almira, daughter of Stephen Ferguson, and they had six children: Stephen P., 
Fannie J., wife of Joseph Chapin, of Huron; Zachary Taylor, Chauncey, who died in 
infancy ; Martha, who died aged eight years ; and Lura, wife of Charles Reed, of 
Buffalo. Mr. Cady died in 1870, and his wife in March. 1891. Stephen P. Cady was 
reared on the farm and educated in the common schools and Wolcott and Sodus 
Academies. At the age of twenty-one he bought a farm adjoining his father's, and 
later purchased a part of his father's farm, now owning 135 acres, which he leases. 
In 1864 he married Amanda, daughter of Thomas J. and Almira (Bender) Sherman, of 
Huron, where she was born in 1839, her only sister being Philena, wife of Alfred 
Parker, of this town. Her father was killed by a runaway team when she was a child, 
and her mother married, second, Roswell E. Reed, by whom she had seven children. 
Mr. Cady is a Republican in politics. 

Church, Adonijah, was born in Huron, March 6, 1827, the son of Noah B. Church, of 
Massachusetts, whose father was Osgood Church, a surveyor, who was prominent in 
the early history of Huron. Noah B. was justice of the peace for eight years. His 
wife was Ann Burghdorf, and their children were: Alanson, Francis, Adonijah, Mary, 
Nancy, Martha, and Lamira. Our subject is a farmer. In 1870 he was appointed 
keeper of the State prison at Sing Sing, N.Y., and a year later, by his request, was 
transferred to the same position at Auburn. In March, 1858, he married Josephine 
Thomas, and their children are : Byron, Mary B., and Anna, wife of Fred Fowler, of 
Throopsville, N.Y. His second wife was Catherine Waldron, of Huron, whom he mar- 
ried in 1879. He and his wife are members of the Wolcott Grange. Our subject was 
overseer of the poor one term, and is now one of the excise commissioners. He is 
also a Mason. 

Creque, Arvin H., was born in Wolcott November 1, 1853, is the son of Herman C. 
Creque, a native of Trumansburg, Tompkins county, and a blacksmith by trade. He 
married Mabel, a daughter of Allen Pease, of the same place, and came to Wolcott 
in 1830. They had nine children : Allen P., Andrew J., H. M., Eliza G., Homer C, 
John W., Arvin H., Clarissa S., and Hetty C. The grandfather of our subject, John 
Creque, was of French aucestry. Our subject started for himself at the age of twenty- 
five in the farming business. In 1885 he moved to Huron and purchased the farm where 
he now resides, making a specialty of fruit raising. In March, 1878, he married Carrie 
A., daughter of Harry Clapper, of the town of Rose. She is one of five children. Mr. 
and Mrs. Creque are members of the Wolcott Presbyterian church, both being officers 
and teachers of the Sabbath school. They are also members of the Wolcott Grange, P. 
of H., No. 348, of which Mr. Creque is chairman of the finance committee. Mrs. 
Creque officiates in this lodge as Pomona and is a member of the choir. In politics 
subject is a Republican. 

Clark, C. W., of Macedon, was born at the Center Jannary 23, 1856. Arsel Clark, 
his father, was a native of Vermont, and a son of Hubbard Clark, also of Vermont, who 
finally settled in Michigan. Arsel married Pauline Bancroft for his second wife, and 
their only child was our subject. The latter has always followed farming, and now owns 
a place in Macedon Center of ninety-two acres, doing general farming, and up to 1892 
also carried on a dairy. He married Ida B. Eldredge, of Penfield, a daughter of Charles 
D. Eldredge, and they have had three children : George A., Laura P., and Vernie, who 
died aged nine months. Our subject has held several offices in the town. He is a mem- 
ber of the Knights of S. F. A., and in politics is a Republican. 

Chapman, Robert, was born in England September 18, 1820. His father, John 



188 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Chapman, was a native of England, born in 1798. He married Ann Wilson, and they 
were the parents of two children, Robert and Christiana, who married a Mr. Coats and 
died at the age of forty-five. John Chapman, the father, came with his family to this 
country in 1830, and settled first in Macedon, then moved to Walworth and finally to 
Palmyra, where he died at the age of sixty-four. He has always been engaged in 
farming, his son also following the same occupation. Robert Chapman is now the 
possessor of 100 acres of land. In 1847 he married Ann Wigglesworth, of Macedon, 
and they were the parents of four children: Anna, William, Christiana, and John. The 
two daughters are deceased. The youngest son, John, is traveling salesman for the 
Garlock Packing Company of Palmyra. Mr. Chapman is a member of the Episcopal 
church. In politics he is a Republican. 

Coniff, John, of Macedon, born in Ireland, June 23, 1836, and came to the United 
States with his parents in 1846, being ten years of age at that time. He was one of 
five children of Patrick and Mary Coniff, all of whom settled here. Patrick was a 
blacksmith by trade and this he followed one year, then bought a small place of two 
acres with a house, added six acres, and after a time sold out and bought sixty acres. 
This he also sold, and bought ninety acres, which he finally disposed of and resided 
with his son, our subject, who bought fifty- five acres near the village, which he worked 
seven years, then sold to his brother Barney, and now owns 106 acres all under cultiva- 
tion. In 1863 he married Bridget McCue, of Rochester, and they have six children: 
Burnett, Arthur J., Maggie, Nellie, Eliza and John. Burnett is married and living in 
Farmington. Our subject is a member of the Catholic Church, and a Democrat in 
politics. 

Cogswell, Hiram S., was born in Marion November 16, 1817, the oldest of six born 
to Joseph S. and Sarah E. (Smith) Cogswell. Joseph S. was born in Rhode Island, 
September 9, 1797 and died in 1887. His wife was born November 15, 1798, and died 
January 25, 1845. Our subject was reared on a farm, educated in the common schools, 
and has followed farming. He spent most of his life in Marion on his farm of 245 
acres. He came to Williamson in 1882, and also owns 135 acres of land near the vil- 
lage. He has taken an active interest in the politics of the day. He and his wife are 
members of the Baptist Church, and he has always been a temperance advocate. 
He married February 17, 1841, Ruth Putnam, born in Walworth, November 25, 1821, 
by whom he had three children; Agatha E., born November 12, 1842, who died 
September 2, 1847; Marvin, born December 9, 1851; and Elistine D., born October 16, 
1854, who died June 9, 1863. Marvin married first, Emma Thompson, who died No- 
vember 22, 1886, and second Julia Pontie. He was educated in the New York In- 
stitute for Deaf Mutes. Mrs. Cogswell died March 31, 1891, and in 1892 he married 
Ophelia M. Huggins, a native of Illinois, and a daughter of Jonathan and Jane A. (Put- 
nam) Huggins, natives of Cornish, Mass., and of Walworth, N. Y., respectively. Mr. 
Huggins died in 1876 and his wife in 1881. Ruth Putnam, wife of our subject, and 
Jane A. Putnam, mother of his present wife, were sisters, their father being Stephen 
Putnam, an early settler of Walworth, and a direct descendant of Israel Putnam. Mr. 
Cogswell assisted in drawing lumber from Marion for the building of the first railroad 
in the State of New York. 

Cornelius, John, born in Holland in 1837, is the son of Adam and Sarah Cornelius, 
who reared a family of six children now living. They both died in Holland. Subject 
was reared on a farm and afterward engaged as sailor, but has been a farmer since he 
came to Wayne county. He came to Palmyra in October, 1867, and to Williamson in 
1875. He now owns 150 acres of land and follows general farming and fruit raising, 
also mint and onions. Mr. Cornelius married in 1867 Cora Scotchman, a native of Hol- 
land, by whom he has these children : Adrian, Mary, John, Sarah, Cora, Jacob and 
Peter. The father of Mrs. Cornelius was John Scotchman a native of Holland, where 
he died. Mr. Cornelius and family are members of the Reformed Church. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 189 

Cole. Salathiel A., was a son of Welcome Cole, who died in 1883, aged ninety-two 
years. He was a prominent figure among the pioneer settlers of Butler. It was largely 
by his own efforts that nearly 500 acres of arable land were reclaimed from the prime- 
val forest. The old homestead in central Butler, which was the theatre of his life 
work is now jointly owned by his sons, Salathiel and Harlow, who were born here the 
oldest in 1827. Some cylinders of basswood cut by Welcome Cole, seventy-five years 
ago, are still in use for the storage of grain. Salathiel married Mary Chamber] in of 
Auburn, in 1880. 

Calkins, Clarissa V., widow of the late Hudson Calkins, who was born in Butler in 
1840. They were married in 1862, and they had two children, Hattie and Frank. Mr. 
Calkins went to the front in 1862, as second lieutenant Company G, 9th Artillerv, and 
served with honor until the close of the war. He died in 1872. Clarissa Calkins is the 
daughter of F. H. Moore, who with his parents came from Connecticut in 1810 with a 
team of oxen. He was then five years of age and lived in the town of Butler for eighty 
years after. His wife who was born in Massachusetts in 1811, survived him until 1894. 

Creager, William, was born in Galen December 26, 1836. His father, William, was 
a native of Fredericksburg, Md., came to Wayne county in 1785, and settled on lot 93 
where his descendants now reside, the property having been in the family for more 
than 100 years. He died in 1837, aged forty-nine years. He married Elizabeth, daugh- 
ter of John Barrick. William Creager was educated in the common schools, and at the 
age of twenty-seven married Lucina I ., daughter of David Closs, by whom he had two 
children, Mrs. Belle Sutterby and David Gr. Creager. In 1881 he bought the old home- 
stead of 100 acres, raising mint, fruit, hay, grain and stock. Our subject is one of the 
representative farmers of his town, elected assessor for three years, and takes an active 
interest in school and church matters. 

Clouse, Charles, was born in the town of Arcadia November 28, 1859. His father 
was a native of Alsace, Germany, and came to the United States in 1850. He married 
Magdalena Brock, and died in 1888, aged seventy-one years. Charles Clouse was edu- 
cated in the common schools, and a the age of twenty- three married Mary A., daugh- 
ter of Charles A. Bremner, by whom he has two sons, Irving and Frank. In 1882 he 
bought the Levanway property of 103 acres, raising fruit, hay, grain and stock. Our 
subject is one the representative farmers in Wayne county, and takes an active interest 
in educational and religious matters. 

Crane, Zebina, born in Marion July 20, 1818, is the oldest of two children of Jacob 
G., and Parmelia (Dexter) Crane. Mr. Crane came to Marion with his parents, Zebina 
and Mary E. Crane in 1804, and here Zebina died in 1820, and his wife died in Illinois 
in 1840. Jacob G. was a farmer, and was poormaster of the town. He and his wife 
are both dead. He married twice afterward, his second wife being Mary Carr, by 
whom he had two children now living. His third wife was Ann Smith, and they had 
two children now living. Our subject was reared on a farm and educated in the com- 
mon schools. He has always been a farmer, and owns 110 acres. He has been high- 
way commissioner. He was married twice, first January 17, 1844, to Hannah Peer, 
daughter of Thomas Peer, an early settler of Williamson. Mr. Crane and wife had four 
children De Witt C, Emily P., Alonzo B., and Mary. Mrs. Crane died in 1875, and 
Mr. Crane married Mariana Cogswell, daughter of Giles Cogswell, a native of Rhode 
Island and one of the early settlers of Williamson. His wife was Parmelia Sanford. 
Mr. Cogswell died in Marion in 1874, aged eighty-four, and his wife in 1864. They 
had ten children, of whom six are living : Eliza J. Eggleston, wife of subject and twin 
sister Marietta, Richmond P., Almond G, and Marnett H. 

Clark, Samuel, of English stock, came to Palmyra and located about 1790, having 
three sons: Samuel, jr., who removed to Michigan with his family about 1840; Ben- 



190 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

jamin, and Oliver, the latter two buying land together one mile north of East Palmyra. 
This farm was afterward divided, Benjamin taking the north and Oliver the south 
part. Here Benjamin died, also his daughters, one granddaughter removing to the 
West in 1840. Oliver was born February 14, 1767, and died January 21, 1843. He 
came from Long Island about 1794, and was a tailor, having a farm just across the 
creek from East Palmyra. Of his three sisters who settled and married here, one be- 
came the wife of Gabriel Rogers, and later removed to Sodus. She was the mother 
of B. R. and James, of Lyons, and Erastus, of Sodus. Another sister married Sol- 
omon Franklin, and, after his death, Luther Sandford. The other sister married a Mr. 
Soverhill, of Arcadia, and had two sons, Joel and Hiram. Oliver married Sarah 
Jessup, of Long Island, who died January 8, 1823. Their children were: Maltby, born 
March 31, 1798; Matilda, born June 3, 1800, who died April 2, 1827; Jerry, born Sep- 
tember 16, 1802, of Orleans county ; Dennis, born March 21, 1805 ; Nelson, born May 

7, 1807; Betsey, born December 5, 1810; Hannah, born February 14, 1812; and Hiram, 
born April 29, 1814, died January 11, 1835. The mother of these children died January 

8, 1823, and Oliver married, second, Susan Romeyn in 1828, who died in 1857. Maltby, 
the oldest of the family, who died in 1875, married Maria Mason, who died in 1822, 
and, second, Jerusha Jagger, by whom he had eight children : Henry M., born March 
6, 1826 ; Maria M., born January 25, 1829; Abigail J., born November 3, 1831 ; Har- 
riet E., born August 8, 1834 ; Nelson, born March 23, 1837 ; Lucius H., born December 
8, 1840; Oliver N., born January 31, 1846; and Mary E., born January 28, 1850. 
Maltby served in various town offices, was superintendent of the poor nine years, and 
was a Republican. Henry M. Clark resided with his parents until the age of twenty- 
one, when he married, April 3, 1850, Frances A. Foster, a native of Palmyra, and 
their children are : Edwin H., born January 3, 1852, who resides near his father ; 
George W., born July 26, 1853, died September 30, 1875 ; Julia F.', born August 14, 
1856, who married Edwin F. White. Henry Clark began married life on his grand- 
father's farm, remaining four years, then bought fifty-four acres, which he afterwards 
sold and bought the place where he now resides. He is a Republican, and has served as 
supervisor and member of Assembly, being elected to the latter office in 1874. The 
family are Presbyterians, and he has been clerk of the Presbytery of Lyons for twenty- 
four successive years. 

Converse, Charles, was born in Cayuga connty in 1827, son of Josiah Converse, a native 
of Allegany county, whose father was Samuel Converse, a farmer. The father of our 
subject was also a farmer. His wife was Betsey Laberrux, and they have seven chil- 
dren. At the age of twenty-one our subject went to Michigan, soon after returned 
and erected a steam saw mill in Cayuga county and engaged in the manufacture of 
lumber. In 1852 he came to Huron, and for some years followed coopering. Since 
then he has devoted his time to farming and is a prosperous farmer, owning several 
farms and fifty acres of the homestead in which he was born. In 1854 he married 
Demorah Schofield, of Onondaga county, and they have one child, Eliza, wife of 
Charles Davis, of Huron. 

Chapin, Spencer E., was born in Huron in 1845. His father, Harlow, also born in 
Huron in 1822, is the son of Spencer Chapin, a native of Massachusetts, whose father 
was Phineas Chapin, of Massachusetts, who came to Huron in 1811 with his wife and 
six children, and was killed the following year by the fall of a tree. He was the first 
man born in Huron. Harlow was a thrifty and successful farmer. His wife was 
Fannie Reed, and their children were: Spencer E., Joseph R., Charles E., Frank H., 
Ella L., wife of Rev. Matthew Gafney, of Manlius, Onondaga county ; Edgar W., Har- 
low and Fannie (twins). Mr. Chapin began farming when twenty-one years of age. 
From 1875 to 1879 he was interested in a barrel and stave factory in Huron. In 1877 
he purchased his present farm, and since 1890 has been engaged in the manufacture of 
lumber. In 1867 he married Etta L. Persons, born in Berkshire county, Mass., in 1847, 
and they have one child, Gertie, wife of George Hatcher, of Huron. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 191 

Church, William 0., is the only son of the late Hiram Church, who was a pioneer of 
Wolcott, a successful business man, of liberal views and wide information. He came 
from Massachusetts to Wolcott when two years of age with his father, Osgood Church 
who was the first supervisor of Wolcott. He died in 1889, at the age of eighty-four 
years. He was born February 22, 1847. William 0. Church graduated from Falley 
Seminary in 1865, and two years later entered into partnership with his father. He 
was for many years a prime mover in the large mercantile interests of Wolcott, but is 
now retired from active business. He married in 1867 Sarah E., daughter of Professor 
Bragdon, of Lima. N. Y., and their only child, Belle B., born February 16, 1876, died 
in infancy. • 

Catchpole, James, was born in England in March, 1825, the son of James and Susan 
Catchpole, who came to America in 1835. Their children are : Mrs. Susan Smith, of 
Geneva; Mrs. Ann Thomas, of Geneva; Jerimia Smith, of Huron; Benjamin, Mary 
Ann, Robert, and Matilda. In 1844 they came to Huron and settled on the farm now 
owned by our subject. Mr. Catchpole was at an early date in partnership with his 
brothers, Benjamin and Robert, and John Smith engaged extensively in the manufac- 
ture of lumber. They built the lake boats called Charger and Catchpole, and they also 
built a storehouse in North Rose, and dealt in produce for many years. For several 
years our subject has devoted his attention to farming on the homestead of 118 acres, 
where he now resides with his sisters, Mary Ann. and Matilda. 

Curtis, Omar M., was born May 9, 1867, son of the well known veteran soldier and 
merchant, George B. Curtis. He was educated at Albany, and upon reaching his 
majority, took charge of the foundry and machine shop, known as the Curtis Deoxy- 
dized Plow Works, manufacturers and dealers in agricultural implements, probably 
the largest and oldest firm in the country in this line. This firm makes a specialty of 
Land Rollers, and of the Giant Fruit Dryer, possessing characteristic and unique points 
of merit, largely due to the inventive genius and business energy of Omar M. Curtis. 

Carrier, Amaziah T., son of Amaziah and Wealthy Carrier, was born in Brutus, 
Cayuga county. One of a family of five children, deprived of a father's care while a 
mere boy — he early learned the lessons of patient toil and economy, and developed 
those sterling qualities of character, which gave him in future years the esteem of all 
who knew him. He married in 1831 Lois J. Bottum, of Conquest, Cayuga county, N. 
Y. Their early married life was spent in the near vicinity, till in 1844 he purchased a 
farm in Rose, one mile east of the present village of North Rose. There for twenty 
years, he, his wife and a family of five children, assimilated themselves into the life of 
the community around them. Members of the Methodist Church their home became 
the half-way house of the itinerating clergy, and the center of the social life around 
them. In November, 1859, the first sorrow overshadowed the home, in the death of the 
eldest daughter, Mary, a beautiful girl of nineteen years. Then came to the sixties, 
those years that covered our whole broad land with blood and tears — and when as of 
old it might be said "there was not a house where there was not one dead." The old- 
est son, William Seward, caught the patriotic fire, and seeing only his country's danger, 
turned his back upon his school life at Lima Seminary, without title or bounty, and 
marched southward with the 10th Regiment N. Y. Vol. Cavalry, Company E. The 
rigors of camp life proved too severe for the student, and August 3, 1862, at the hos- 
pital in Baltimore his brave young life went out. aged twenty-four years — only one of 
the numberless thousands who "counted not his life dear unto himself." The second 
son, Elbert, a practicing physician in Syracuse, died August 3, 1870, aged twenty-eight 
years. In 1864 Mr. Carrier exchanged his property in Rose for a home in Wolcott. 
Failing health caused him to retire from active labor, and June 15, 1872, he passed 
away. Mrs. Carrier still occupies the home in Wolcott. Two daughters are living — 
Ellen J., wife of George Aldrich, North Rose, with one son, J. Clarence ; and Lettie, 



192 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY 

wife of Rev. B. A. Partridge, member of Central N. Y. M. E. Conference, and their 
only daughter Ethlyn. 

Cuyler, John H., was born in Orleans county, in 1826. His father, Abram, a promi- 
nent man of affairs in his day, settled here in 1833. Our subject has been identified 
with various industries in this locality in early years; was the first producer of barrel 
staves in Wolcott, but since 1854 has devoted himself to farming and has for a quarter 
of a century occupied a house on a farm of 150 acres. March 16, 1854, he married 
Cordelia, daughter of Nelson De Vinney, a merchant of Newark. They have three 
children, Ella, Nelson and Id^i. Ella has been a teacher since the age of seventeen, and 
it is due to her efforts as orignator and promoter of the idea that the excellent library 
at District No. 3 must be ascribed. The library is conducted upon a sound business 
basis, and its value as an educational factor is thereby enhanced and prolonged. 
Founded in 1888, it consists at present of nearly one hundaed volumes of educational 
and historical works. 

Cosad, Samuel, the popular and efficient commissioner of schools in the first district 
of Wayne county, was born December 24, 1855, in the town of Junius, Seneca county. 
His father was James M. Cosad, who was born in Somerset county, N. J., in 1810, and 
who removed with h's parents to Seneca county in 1819. He married first Elizabetn 
Stout, and had two children : Cassie Robinson, and George Combe. He married sec- 
ond, Catharine Stout, born in Arcadia in 1818, a sister of his first wife, and had two 
children, Frank and Samuel. James M., who was a farmer, removed from Junius to 
Huron in 1856, where he resided till his death, August 15, 1893. He was a very suc- 
cessful business man and accumulated a large property, consisting of about 600 acres 
of valuable lands, which, before his death, he divided among his three surviving chil- 
dren. Samuel received such an education as was obtainable in the common schools, 
supplemented by two years attendance at Leavenworth Institute, Wolcott, and was one 
year at Sodus Academy, after which he spent three years in teaching and then entered 
upon the study of law with Senator Thomas Robinson at Clyde, N. Y. These studies 
were continued for two years, and were then interrupted by the necessity of aiding his 
father in the management of his farms. He early took an active part in politics, being 
a Republican, and when but twenty-two was made town clerk of Huron, to which po- 
sition he was thrice elected. In 1886 he was chosen supervisor, and for seven years 
represented the town of Huron in the County Legislature. In 1892-93 he was chair- 
man of that body. His advocacy of economical and reformatory measures made him 
an especial favorite with his constituency, and in the fall of 1893 was elected school 
commissioner of the first district of Wayne county. In 1888 he married Ida E. Smith 
of Galen, by whom he had one daughter, Lillian, born January 22, 1893. Mr. Cosad is 
at present residing in the village of Wolcott to which place he removed in the spring 
of 1894 that he might devote his whole time to the discharge of his duties as commis- 
sioner of schools. And while at present a resident of that village, his whole life has 
been so closely identified with the town of Huron and its interests that it is proper that 
his biography should appear among the citizens of that town. 

Van Duzer, Z. A., was born in the town of Macedon, April 25, 1833. Caleb Van 
Duzer, father of the above, was born in Orange county, N. Y., in 1800. He came to 
the town of Macedon when four years of age, settling one-half mile east of Macedon 
Centre, where he engaged in farming and speculating. He married Lydia Maloney, 
aud of this marriage were born five children, the youngest being Z. A. Van Duzer. 
Z. A. Van Duzer has been engaged in farming all his life and has acquired a large 
amount of valuable property. In connection with his farm he also has a fine dairy bus- 
iness. He is a member of the Baptist Church and of the Masonic fraternity, Macedon 
Lodge, No. 665. In politics he is a Republican. 

Vought, Nicholas, wholesale and retail dealer in coal, lime, fertilizers, picket and 



FAMILY SKETCHES. L93 

wire fences, at Wolcott, with office and storehouse near the R. W. & 0. R. R. depot, 
is the second son of David and Maria (Apham) Vought, of Huron, where he was born 
in 1848. Mrs. Maria Vought still lives upon the old homestead farm in Huron, which 
is operated by the oldest son, A. U. Vought. Nicholas Vought spent his early years in 
Huron, chiefly engaged in farming, and acquired his present business by purchase from 
David De Mell in 1891. His wife, Emma L., is a daughter of Hugh Green, of Wolcott. 
They were married January 23, 1873, and have one daughter, Ina L. Mr. Vought is 
commander of Wolcott Lodge, Knights of S., F, and I. 

Van Der Veer, H. E., was born in Montgomery county, N. Y., April 27, 1843, the 
only child of G. Van Der Veer and M. Allen, the former born May 9, 1813, and the 
latter June 24, 1814. The grandfather of our subject was Garret Van Der Veer, a 
native of New Jersey, born' in 1765. The family is of Holland descent, and date their 
ancestry to the coming ' of Cornelius J. Van Der Veer to America from Holland (Alk- 
marr) in 1659. Garret married Rachael Covenhoven, a native of Monmouth county, 
N. J., on whose father's farm the battle of Monmouth was fought. The grandparents 
came to Montgomery county, where they lived and died. The father of our subject 
came to Wayne county in 1848, and settled at Marion, where the mother died, Decem- 
ber 1, 1890. Mr. Van Der Veer has devoted much of his time to the manufacture of 
machines for packing apples, and also kept hotel at Marion five years. He has always been 
a Democrat, a temperance man, and a prominent anti-slavery advocate before the war. 
H. E. Van Der Veer was reared in the village of Marion, where he was educated in the 
Colgate Institute. At the age of fifteen he began as clerk for F. & J. B. Reeves, which 
he followed in that place and Palmyra, and was also in the Commissary Department in 
Indian Territory, at Fort Gibson, and was also in Kansas. In 1866 he came to Marion 
and engaged in the drug trade and in 1873 came to Ontario village, where he has since 
conducted a successful business in that line. He is a Democrat, and was appointed 
postmaster in 1893. He is a member of Wayne Lodge No. 416 F. & A. M., and the 
K. 0. T. M., in both of which he holds positions of honor. February 22, 1870, he mar- 
ried Annette L. Pratt, of Williamson, born April 15, 1841, daughter of Jonathan and 
Clarissa (Jennings) Pratt, of Whatiey, Mass., and Burlington, N. Y., respectively, who 
had fourteen children, six of whom grew to maturity. Mr. Pratt and wife settled in 
Williamson in 1811, where he became one of the wealthiest farmers of the town. His 
oldest child, Aaron W., shipped with the first whaler in the northern seas. Another 
son was Capt. William W., a whaler and merchantman for forty years. 

Van Vleck, Lawrence, was born in Schuyler, Herkimer county, March 17, 1817, and 
has for forty-two years been a continued resident of the town of Butler, having settled 
first in Savannah in 1842, and in 1852, removed to Butler. His parents, Merinus and 
Icy Van Vleck, reared a family of ten children in Herkimer county, of whom he is the 
third son. He married, September 21, 1839, Prudy A., daughter of John and Susan 
Hughes, of Schuyler, Herkimer county, who has been his faithful companion for more 
than half a century, and by whom he had eleven children, of whom all are living but 
the older, Louise, who died during their residence in Savannah, December 18, 1850 : Curtis 
E., Cady L., Susan L., the wife of Alfred Bullock, of Red Creek; Merinus, Harry D., 
Francis, Emma, now Mrs. N. Pierce, of Grariby, N. Y., Ernest, Lawrence, and Allen. 
The family group is one of which their parents are justly proud, and upon whom no 
stigma has ever befallen. 

Upham, H. M., whose paternal lineage may be traced to the earliest known settle- 
ment of Butler, was born February 25, 1863, on the place which was the home of his 
grandfather, and which was also the birthplace and life-long home of his father, Ebe- 
nezer Upham, who was hale and hearty at seventy-five years of age, and is the father 
of four children, of whom Merton is the elder. His wife, Marie, a sister of Jeremiah 
Lebring, of Wolcott, died January 5, 1894, aged sixty-nine years. Merton was edu- 



194 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

cated at Red Creek Academy, and is a young man of much ability and character, and 
greatly esteemed by all who know him. His wife is Delia, daughter of Robert O'Brien 
of Huron. 

Vantassel, Elmer, of Butler, is the son of the late James Vantassel, who came here 
from Conquest, Cayuga county, in 1862. His wife, who is Ellen Brown, survives him. 
She is nearly seventy years of age, and of four children none are living except the 
subject of this sketch, who is the eldest of her children. He was born during their 
residence at Conquest June 8, 1849. December 15, 1873, he married Lucinda Burgh- 
dorf, daughter of John Burghdorf, of Victory, and their children are : Dewayne, born 
August 1, 1881, and Charlie, born February 28, 1873. 

Van Lare, Jacob, born in Holland in 1832, was a son of Jacob and Zina Van Lare, 
natives of Holland, who came to Marion and he died in Sodus in 1859, and his wife 
resides at East Williamson. Jacob came to Marion in 1854 and bought the farm now 
owned by the family of 100 acres, and put up good buildings. He married in Wayne 
county Frances De King, a native of Holland, by whom he had eight children : Adrian, 
Zina, Abram, Annie, Maggie, William, David, and James. By his first wife, Lizzie Van 
Lare, he had five children : John, Jacob, Josiah, Isaac, and Peter. The family are mem- 
bers of the Dutch Reformed church. Mr. Van Lare died November 5, 1891. 

Vosburgh, John (deceased), was born in Copake, Columbia county, December 29, 
1807, and came to Wayne county in 1837. He married Christiana, daughter of Tunis 
Race, of Ancram, Columbia county, and they have seven children : Cornelius, Tunis, 
John, Lee, Mrs. Clarinda Winegar, and Anna, and Mrs. Ella Miles. The family are 
now living on the Vosburgh homestead of 147 acres, which was settled by John Vos- 
burgh, having resided there fifty-seven years. He came from Columbia county with a 
sleigh. He raises large amounts of fruit, hay, grain, and stock. Our subject was among 
the early settlers of Wayne county, and the family were prominent in Columbia 
county. He died in 1891 aged eighty-four. 

Van Holde, John, born in Holland September 3, 1827, is the fifth of fourteen children 
of John and Sarah Van Holde, natives of Holland, who came to Marion in 1855, where 
Mr. Van Holde died in 1857, and his wife in 1860. Subject was reared on a farm and 
educated in the common schools. He came to Williamson in 1853, where, with the 
exception of thirteen years in Marion, he has resided. He owns forty-nine acres of 
land, and follows general farming. He married, in 1853, Tannetje Rosencrantz, a native 
of Holland, by whom he has had three children: John, Jacob, and William. Two died 
in infancy. Mr. Van Holde was assessor nine years, and he and family are members 
of the Reformed church. 

Tassell, Frank W., was born in Williamson August 31, 1853. He is the fifth of six 
children of Lewis and Harriet Tassell, natives of England, and who came to William- 
son in 1340, and here lived the remainder of their days. Mr. Tassell died in 1880, and 
his wife now resides in Williamson. Our subject finished his education in Marion 
College, and is a carpenter by trade. He followed farming until 1885, beginning the 
produce business then, and in 1888 formed a partnership witn Mr. H. J. Bradley, which 
firm has since continued. Mr. Tassell is a member of the Pultneyville Lodge No. 159, 
F. &A. M. In 1876 he married Phoebe M. Wood, a native of Sodus, and they have 
three children : Otis L., Willis G., Stanley, who died in 1886. 

Thomas, Philip, was born in the town of Ledyard, Cayuga county, May 29, 1825, son 
of Alexander Thomas, a miller. His wife was Ruth Hart, and their children were : 
Isaac H., Alexander, William George, Abram, and Philip. When twenty-one our sub- 
ject began farming, and in 1846 came to Huron, and in September, 1864, enlisted in 
Company A, 9th Heavy Artillery, was taken sick and spent most of his time in the 



FAMILY SKETCH ES. 1!).-. 

hospital. He contracted ailments from which he never fully recovered. In 1865 he 
purchased his present farm in lot 38, and in 1846 he was married to Charlotte, daugh- 
ter of Richard Morey, of Rose. Their children are : George, Eliza, wife of William 
Snyder, of Huron : Gene, wife of Josiah Cartwright, of Michigan ; Lottie, widow of 
Frank Dago ; Charles, E., deceased ; and Edward. Our subject is an honored member 
of the G. A. R., Keeslar Post No. 55, and a Republican. 

Terbush William Spencer, was born in Junius, Seneca county, April 26, 1851, son of 
John Terbush, who came to Huron in 1859. His wife was Eunice Jane Weeks, and 
their children were Emma Jane, William S., and George W. His second wife was 
Adelia Abbott, and their children were: Franklin, Lura, Clara and Adelina ; and his 
third wife was Frances M. Chase, by whom he had one child, Wesley. Our subject be- 
gan for himself when nineteen years of age, conducting his father's farm. Later years 
he was interested in dealing in live stock, and since 1892 has worked at the carpenter 
trade. His wife is Ordice Streeter of Pinkey, daughter of David Streeter. and their 
children are : Eunice Jane and Earl S. Subject is an Odd Fellow. 

Townsend, Hammond (deceased), was born in Lyons January 1, 1847. His father. 
Asa, bought a farm lying southeast of Lyons, which has been in the family for sixty 
years. Hammond was educated in the common schools to which he added through 
life by reading and close observation. He afterward returned to his father's farm 
(which he inherited in 1880) of seventy acres, raising hay, grain and stock. At the age 
of twenty-one he married Ariah, daughter of Henry W. Leach, and they are the par- 
ents of two children : Mehan L. and Mrs. Lizzie G. Mehan. Our subject through life 
was identified in advancing the best interests of his town. 

Teller, Daniel V., was born in Lyons July 14, 1830. His father, William A., was a 
native of Schenectady, came to Lyons in 1825. He married Hannah, oldest daughter 
of Daniel Van Etten, who was among the first settlers and one of the representative 
farmers in the town. Daniel was educated in the common schools, finished at the Ly- 
ons Union School, to which he has added through life by reading and close observa- 
tion. After leaving school he returned to his father's farm in 1835, and bought the 
John B. Shaver business, which he followed eight years. In 1863 he established him- 
self in the produce, nursery stock, and agricultural implements business, which has con- 
tinued twenty years, up to 1883, and was then appointed superintendent of section 8 of 
the Erie Canal, holding the position eight years and was then tendered the position 
of special agent of the Erie Canal, which he held for two and one-half years. In No- 
vember, 1893, he was appointed postmaster at Lyons by President Cleveland. At 
the age of twenty-four he married Mary E., daughter of Daniel Morey of Lyons, and 
they are the parents of three sons, two of whom, Arthur D., and Dexter M., are now 
living. Charles W. died in his twenty-seventh year. Subject is a Democrat in poli- 
tics, also takes an active interest in educational and religious matters. 

Tyler, Henry, of Butler, was born October 3, 1845. His parents, James and Mary 
A. Tyler, came here from Summit, N. Y., shortly before his birth, and have been suc- 
cessful, not only in their chosen vocation on' the farm, but in well ordered and blameless 
lives. He married Libbie, daughter of Stephen Fink of Victory, Cayuga county, 
December 24, 1872, and their children are Grace E., Howard C, and Nellie. 

Thorn, Thomas P., was born at Ely's Corners, Seneca county, August 24, 1820. His 
father, Joel, was a native of New Jersey and came to Wayne county in 1821. He mar- 
ried Rachel Hobrough of English birth. He was a prominent farmer in his time and 
died in 1867, aged eighty years. Thomas P. laid the foundation of his education in 
the log school of his district. At the age of thirty he married Mary, daughter of Sam- 
uel S. Briggs, and they have these children : Phineas R. and Seward T. In 1858 he 
came to Clyde and engaged in the distillery business remaining up to 1865, and in'1866 



196 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

bought the Henry Stevens malt house, to which he added and rebuilt in 1869, and is 
still engaged in the business, having a capacity of 70,000 bushels. Our subject was 
supervisor of the town, and takes an an active interest in educational and religious 
matters. 

Tobin, William M., was born in Jordan, October 9, 1855. His father, Michael, was a 
native of Kilkenny, Ireland, and came to Quebec in 1839, then to Clyde in the spring of 
1856, and was a cooper by trade. He died in 1887, aged seventy- five years. William 
Tobin was educated in the common schools, to which he has added through life by reading 
and close observation. At the age of thirty-one he married Catherine, daughter of John 
O'Brien, of Seneca Falls, N. Y., and they have had six children, three of whom are now 
living : John M., Louise, and Marie E. Our subject was trustee of the village three 
years. He is now engaged in the livery business, which he established in 1880, also in the 
coal business, handling 3,500 tons of coal in 1893. 

Traver, Henry, was born near Clifton Springs June 3, 1832. His father, Daniel, was a 
native of Columbia county, and lived to be eighty-five years of age. Henry was educated 
in the common schools, to which he has added through life by reading and close observa- 
tion. In 1831 his father bought the Nathan Chase property of 110 acres, and in 1887 
bought the Michael Beadle property at Marengo of seventeen acres, raising fruit, hay, 
grain and stock. Our subject is a liberal supporter of all charitable enterprises. 

Tassell, Charles L., born in Williamson, November 25, 1844, is the third of a family of 
six children of Lewis and Harriet Tassell. He was educated in the common schools of 
Williamson, followed farming eight years, and then came to Marion in 1874 and engaged 
in buying and selling stock and produce. He also has an interest in the Wayne County 
Canning Company, is one of the directors and holds the office of treasurer. Mr. Tassell 
has been overseer of the poor, now serving his twelfth year. He is a member of the John 

B. Burred Post No. 444, Department of New York, and of the A. O. U. W. of Marion. 
Mr. Tassell enlisted March 4, 1864, in Co. A, 111th Yol. Inf., and served over one year. 
He was in the battles of the Wilderness and Cold Harbor and was taken sick in the battle 
of Petersburg. He married January 18, 1866, Hannah Field a native of Orleans county, 
born in 1841, and daughter of Henry acd Elizabeth (Clark) Field. The father died in 
Williamson in June, 1893, and the wife resides in Williamson. Mr Tassell is also serving 
his third year as quartermaster of the Wayne County Soldiers' and Sailors' Association. 

Tabor, Charles R., is the son of Lewis Tabor, of Sterling, and known as one of the 
most successful farmers of this locality. Born May 20, 1868, his boyhood passed with- 
out special note, except that he acquired habits of industry and frugality. He married 
March 12, 1890, Sarah, oldest daughter of C. W. Eddy, and has purchased a farm of one 
hundred acres at this place, where he bids fair to acquire a competence before middle 
age. They have one son, Eddy, born April 26, 1892. 

Taylor, Henry G-., is the son of Garrison Taylor, of Seneca Falls, a well-known mer- 
chant now eighty-six years old, and retired from active life, and surviving his wife, Jane 
(George), whose ancestors were English, and who died in 1883. Henry was born at 
Seneca Falls, February 19, 1845, acquiring an academic education, and when eighteen 
years of age going to Elkhorn, Wis., where he spent three years at bookkeeping for a 
dry-goods house. After returning to his native place, he spent several years as a teacher, 
since when farming has been his chosen vocation. December 28, 1870 he married Sarah 

C, daughter of George R. and Betsey A. Van Fleet, of Wolcott, the former of whom 
died March 6, 1883, at the age of sixty-two, and the latter, now sixty-four years of age 
lives with a son at Fairhaven. Mr. Taylor has two lovely children : Laura, born Feb- 
ruary 10, 1881, and Olive L., born March 6, 1890. The genealogical tree of this family 
is one of great antiquity and interest and Mr. Taylor is a contributor of historical data 
for the volume. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 197 

Slaght, George Ambrose, was born in Huron October 12, 1833, son of Simeon, who 
was born in 1800. He was a son of Jeremiah Slaght, of Pennsylvania, who came to 
Huron in 1818. Simeon was the fifth of seven children. At eighteen he purchased a 
farm of 100 acres, which he cleared. His wife was Sally Bissell, and their children 
were: Azel, Laura, George A., and Martha. At the age of twenty subject purchased 
the farm where he now lives. Besides this he owns other farms amounting to 300 
acres. In 1853 he married Charlotte, daughter of Samuel and Camilla (Hyde) Cantrell, 
of Huron. Camilla Hyde was the daughter of John Hyde, and the first white child 
born in the town of Huron. Mr. and Mrs. Slaght have three children : Carrie, wife of 
Lorin Parsons of Huron; Ida, wife of Fred Blauvelt; and Charles A. They are mem- 
bers of the Wolcott Grange, P. of H., No. 348, of which our subject is worthy master. 
In politics he is a Republican, has served as commissioner of highways, assessor, and 
justice of the peace. 

Servoss, E, B., was born in Fonda, Montgomery county, December 10, 1838. His 
occupation has been that of farming, and he, now owns a farm of eighty acres. In 1850 
he settled in she town of Macedon, and through his own efforts acquired his present 
property. In 1867 he married Elizabeth Allyn, daughter of Russell Allyn, of Macedon. 
They have no children. Mr. Servoss is a Republican and has filled several town offices. 

Spencer, Andrew, of Butler, a citizen of more than ordinary mental attainment, has 
been three times chosen to represent his town in the County Legislature, was for two 
years inspector of schools, and has filled many minor positions of trust. Born in Huron 
in 1824, his early manhood was spent in school teaching. His parents were Elihu and 
Jemima (Upton) Spencer. Elihu settled in Huron in 1811, and for many years operated 
a grist mill, the first one built in that town, In 1853, Andrew married Maria Soule, 
daughter of Rowland Soule, the well known M. E. Evangelist. They had three daugh- 
ters : Hattie, Lucile, and Flora, all deceased. 

Shepard, John, was born in Petershead, Scotland, in April, 1869. He is the eldest 
son of John and Mary (McRea) Shepard, both natives of Scotland. John, father of 
our subject, still resides in Scotland and carries on a tailoring business near Peters- 
head. His wife died in 1882, and in June, 1886 he made a visit to his son, John, in 
Williamson, with whom he remained three months, and then returned to Scotland. 
John Shepard, subject of this sketch, came to Canada in 1869, to Williamson in 1875 
and bought the farm of 104 a^res he now owns, of which he has cleared over fifty 
acres. Mr. Shepard received his education in Scotland, and has followed farming 
through life. In the spring of 1875 he married Ellen Rennie, born in Scotland Febru- 
ary 22, 1859, and daughter of William and Margaret (Mitchell) Rennie, both natives of 
Scotland, who came to America in 1874 and settled in Canada on a farm. Mrs. Rennie 
died in 1881. He still lives in Canada at the age of seventy-four. Mr. and Mrs. 
Shepard have had three sons and two daughters: Mary, Thomas, John, Clara, and 
Willie. 

Swift, Elisha T., born July 17, 1818, is the second of a family of four sons and four 
daughters of A. and Elizabeth Swift, pioneers of Williamson, coming there from the 
eastern part of the State. They went to Michigan, leaving Elisha T. with Mr. Smith, 
of Marion, with whom he remained till of age. He commenced business for himself 
in saw mill and manufacturing and selling pumps. He then engaged in the cooper's 
business at Walworth, exchanged this business for a farm in Walworth, and traded that 
farm for the farm in Williamson, where he now resides. Here he was also engaged in 
the lumber business a few years. He has made nearly all of the improvements on the 
farm. Mr. Swift has been three times married, first to Catherine Vandeshearse, and 
after her death to Martha Wake, who dfed in 1874, and by whom he had one son and 
three daughters, two now deceased, Emma and Jennie, He married, third, Maria S. 
(Evans) Harding, daughter of Luther and Elizabeth (Howland) Evans, natives of 



198 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY 

Massachusetts, who went to Michigan in 185G, where he died in July, 1844, and his 
wife in 1850. Mrs. Swift came to Williamson at the age of fourteen years. She mar- 
ried, first, John Harding, by whom she has one son. Fred, a farmer in Nebraska. Mr. 
Harding died in 1866 and she married Mr. Swift, by whom she has one daughter, Lizzie 
D. Mr. Smith has for some time been disabled by paralysis, and Mrs. Swift now has 
charge of the farm. They have 103 acres, and are engaged in general farming and 
fruit raising. They attend and support the M. E. church. 

Shippers, Abram, born in Holland November 14. 1862, is the oldest of five children 
of Abram and Mary (Lalone) Shippers, natives of Holland. He was a farmer in Hol- 
land, and died October 17, 1877. The mother came to America in 1879, bringing the 
family of five children and settling on a farm in Marion, where she died June 1, 1885. 
Abram was reared on a farm, and attended school in Holland and Marion. He com- 
menced work as a farmer and is also a carpenter by trade, which he follows part of the 
time. He bought the farm in 1886, and carries on a general fruit business. The family 
are members of the Reformed Church. He is a member of Security Tent at Marion K. 
0. T. M. No. 137. 

Sprague, John, of Butler, who traces his paternal lineage back to the famous Sprague 
family of Rhode Island, 'was born in Butler, January 22, 1835. David and Violetta 
Sprague, his parents settled in Butler about seventy years ago, and their numerous 
descendants are to-day representatives of the best agricultural class of the town. 
David Sprague had two wives, and was the father of fifteen children. He died July 
11, 1874. at eighty-nine years of age. Violetta Sprague, the mother of six of his chil- 
dren, is now living, and is eighty-two years old. John received his]early education at 
the famous old Academy at Red Creek, and his mature years have been devoted to 
farming, with a full measure of success. His wife, Martha, is a daughter of the late 
John Acken, of Butler. One daughter, Martha, was born to them. She died at the 
age of twenty-four years. 

Shephard, Harvey, was born on the homestead October 11, 1848. His father, Harry, 
was a uative of St. Albans, Vt., and came to Wayne county in 1817. settling on lot 21 
where his descendants now reside. He married Harriet, daughter of William Gordon, 
by whom he had five children : Albert, Silas, Harvey, Minerva, and Louisa. Harvey 
was educated in the common schools, to which he had added through life by reading 
and close observation. In 1867 he inherited part of the well known Shephard estate of 
300 acres, raising fruit, hay, grain, and stock ; making a specialty of milk dairying, 
producing'from 150 to 200 quarts per day. Our subject is one of the largest farmers in 
the town, was elected road commissioner from 1887 to 1893, and takes an intelligent 
interest in educational and religious matters. 

Southard, Henry, was born in Somerset county, N. J., May 15, 1829, son of Israel 
R., who came to Wayne county in 1827. He married Elizabeth Whitman, and in 1842 
bought the Levi Hendrick property where his son now resides. He died iu 1860, aged 
fifty-seven. Henry Southard laid the foundation of his education in the log school 
house, after which he returned to his father's farm. At the age of twenty-five he mar- 
ried Lottie, daughter of Abram Myers, by whom he has three children ; Raymond L., 
Sadie E., and Luella May. In 1861 he inherited and purchased his father's estate, in 
1866 purchased the John Reynolds property, and in 1870 purchased the Daniel 
McDonald farm. He has 275 acres and raises fruit, hay, grain and stock. Our subject 
is one of the representative farmers of his town, was elected assessor in 1877-78-79, 
and takes an intelligent interest in all educational and religious matters. 

Sweezy, Smith, born in Marion March 8, 1829, is the oldest of seven children of 
Stephen and Fannie (Reeves) Sweezy, natives of Palmyra. Stephen was the oldest son 
of Isaac Sweezy, who came to East Palmyra in 1799 and settled on a portion of the 



FAMILY SKETCHES. I!)!) 

Long Island purchase. The father of subject was reared on the Long Island purchase, 
where he died in 1861, and his wife in July, 1882. Smith Sweezy was reared on the 
farm, and came to Marion in 1865. In 1855 he married Mary Danforth, of Sodus, by 
whom he had two sons, Frank, who died in 1876, aged nineteen. He was a graduate 
of Commercial College of Rochester; and H. B., who is a clerk in New Haven, Conn. 
The mother died July 16, 1881, and Mr. Sweezy married Malissa, daughter of William 
G-riswold, of Rose. He has 150 acres of land, and carries on general farming and fruit 
growing. He is a member of Marion Grange. 

Sloan, Charles A., was born in the town of Galen, May 19, 1848. His father, Prosper 
Sloan, was a farmer and cooper of that town and died in March, 1891, at seventy-six 
years of age. Charles A. Sloan is a self-made and a self-educated man. He learned 
the carpenter's trade, and after five years spent in Michigan he came to this town and 
gave his attention to farming. In 1887 he entered the employ of R. J. Rogers & Co., 
and in 1891, in company with George W. Sloan, purchased the business and now carries 
one of the largest stocks of pine and hemlock lumber, shingles, slat and wire fencing 
in the county. Mr. Sloan married Miss Amy J. Field, daughter of Byron Field, and 
they are the parents of four children : Walter, Willard, Charles, and Frances J. 

Simmons, Henry B., was born in Utica August 13, 1852. His father, Duane L., 
marble dealer in that town, was a native of Rochester. He died in 1887 at sixty-two 
years of age. Henry E. was educated in Utica, after which he entered into business 
with his father, continuing until 1883. He then came to Clyde and entered the employ 
of W. N. Fields, and in 1892 established his present business of furniture and undertak- 
ing, using the latest and mort improved methods of embalming, and carrying a selected 
stock of fine furniture. At the age of twenty-seven he married Lois A. Brewster, of 
Clyde, and they are the parents of one daughter, Mabel. Our subject takes an active 
interest in educational and religious matters. 

Stock, John, was born in Hesse Darmstadt, Hoffmansfield, January 22, 1838. His 
father came to the United States in 1861, only living two years. He settled in Balti- 
more", Md. John Stock, jr., came to the United States in 1868 and settled in Lyons, 
remaining until 1872, when he came to Clyde and entered the employ of F. Stoetzel| 
and in 1874, in connection with Henry Lanster, established the market under the firm 
name of Lanster & Co., dealers in fish and salt meats. In 1886 Mr. Lanster retired, 
and subject bought his interest and still continues the business. He is the leading 
dealer in his business, and was elected trustee in 1890. 

Streeter, S. D., was born in Berlin, Rensselaer county, N. Y., October 22, 1827. His 
father, Williard Streeter, was a native of Berlin, and the family settled in Charleston, 
Mass., in 1684. Williard Streeter died in 1841 at the age of forty-six. S. D. Streeter 
laid the foundation of his education in the common schools, and in 1852 went to Cali- 
fornia and engaged in the mercantile business, remaining there six years. In 1861 he 
came back to Clyde, and engaged in the distilling business with Briggs & Thorn, closing 
out in 1864. Since that time he has been engaged in the malting and grain business. 
At the age of thirty-four he married Mrs. P. J. Casey, daughter of Royal Lilli bridge. 
Our subject has served as supervisor of his town for several years. 

See, Andrew, born in Arcadia, N.Y., February 7, 1830, is he second child of Abram 
and Cyttie A. Turner, he a native of Schenectady, born in 1802, and at the age of 
twenty-one came to Arcadia, and finally came to Marion and bought the farm now 
owned by subject. He died in 1882, and his wife in 1868. Subject was educated in 
the common schools. He married, March 7, 1862, Mary E. Lovejoy, a native of 
Elbridge, N. Y., and daughter of William Lovejoy, who came to Marion about 1840, 
where he lived and died May 22, 1891, and his wife February 17, 1893. Mr. See and 
wife have had two children : Charles who died in infancy, and Clarence William, born 



200 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

February 19, 18G5, educated in the common schools, is a farmer and resides at home. 
Mr. See owns fifty-eight and one-half acres of land, and follows general farming. Mr. 
Lovejoy was born in 1811 in Williamstown, Oswego county. His wife was Mary L. 
Hinds, a native of Manlius, Onondaga county. They had seven children, of whom 
five are living. Mr. Lovejoy is a member of the Christian church. 

Scott, Mathew B., was born in Ireland in 1850. He was the fourth child of John 
and Mary Scott, natives of Ireland, where the father died and the mother now resides. 
Mathew B. was reared on a farm and educated in the public schools of his native 
land. He came to Macedon, and December 10, 1871, came to Ontario, since which 
time he has purchased 125 acres of land, and follows general farming. In politics he 
is a Democrat, and has been assessor six years in a Republican town. In 1875 he mar- 
ried Mary Kelley, by whom he had five children : John, James. George, Mary, and 
Margaret. His first wife died, and he married, second, Maggie Regan, by whom he had 
two children : Sarah and Thomas. 

Smoulton, John, a native of England, came to America at the age of twenty, in 1830 
or 1830 or 1831, first settling in Montreal, Canada, and then in Hydesville, later going 
to Williamson, where he remained on a farm until his decease, in 1879. His first wife, 
Louisa, died in. 1845. She was a daughter of James Walton, of Palmyra, and by her he 
had these children : Charles H., who resides on the homestead in Williamson ; James 
E. ; Louisa A.; Mr. Smoulton married second Mrs. Ann Curtis, nee Culliver, of one of 
the original families of Pultneyville. She died in Williamson in 1880. James E. 
Smoulton was born June 19, 1842, was reared in Williamson, and in 18G2 came to Pal- 
myra, where he married in 1867 Henrietta Burchard, and located on his grandfather's 
farm, which he had been conducting since 1863. In 1880 he bought the place, where 
he has since resided. Mr. and Mrs. Smoulton have had these children : Mary L., now 
the wife of Otis Bird, of Manchester; and William J., who reside at home. James 
Walton was a native of England, who came to America and bought a tract of 100 acres 
of Willard Pullman, on which he settled. 

Smith, John Sled, was born in Middletown, Delaware county, February 15, 1821, and 
is the son of Elkana'h Smith, born in Fishkill, in 1789. His wife was Amanda, daughter 
of John Sled, of Connecticut, and their children were: Clarinda (Cole), Lucretia (Cole), 
Jane (St. John), Jacob, Harrison, Lucinda (Becker), John S., Morgan L., Rhoda, Ada- 
line and Samuel. He died in March, 1880, aged ninety-one years. Our subject's prin- 
cipal vocation has been farming. In 1841 he with his father and brothers came to Huron 
and purchased the farm on which he now resides, and soon entered into partnership 
with Catchpole Bros., engaging extensively in the manufacture of lumber. They built 
one lake vessel and a large storehouse at Sodus Bay, dealing largely in produce. In 
April, 1848, he married Jemima, daughter of James Catchpole, of Huron, and they have 
five children : William O, born 1852 ; Margaret E., 1855; James E., and Edgar, 1858; 
and Nora M., 1860, now the wife of Fred Kelsey, of Galen. Mr. Smith is a Republican. 
He has placed the homestead in the possession of his two sons, William 0. and Edgar J., 
who are interested in berry culture, also in apples, and the evaporating business. William 
3., married Jennie Post, of Rose, and they have these children : Harold E., 1882 
Walter H, 1885;- Ralph L, 1890; and Bertha O., 1892. 

Shuler, George H, was born in the town of Arcadia February 15, 1846. His father, 
George, came from Alsace, Germany, in 1835. He married Magdalena Erhardt who 
was among the first German settlers in Wayne county, and for one summer camped out 
on the court house and jail ground and then bought a farm in Arcadia. George H. was 
educated in the common schools and is a self educated and self made man. Was reared 
a farmer and remained on the farm until twenty-four years of age, and then came to 
Lyons and bought the Hiram Miniah mill property, which was burned in the spring of 
1871, and which he rebuilt the same year and was again burned m 1886, having bought 



FAMILY SKETCHES. '.'ill 

the Miles S. Leaeh milling property in 1875 for a custom mill He transferred his whole 
business to that site where he is now established. At the age of twenty-four he married 
Frances, daughter of Zachariah Avery, of Arcadia, and they have two children: Maude 
L., and Clarence, who died in August, 1889, aged twelve years ; a boy of brilliant promise 
and character. Our subject is a very active business man, but finds time to take an 
interest in educational and religious matters, having been for three years trustee of the 
Presbyterian church, of Lyons. He is identified with advancing the best interests of 
his town, and recognized as a man of high character and sterling worth. 

Stephan Brothers. — This firm is composed of Edward P. and Harry A. Stephan. 
Their father, George, came from Germany and settled in Lyons and was a wagonmaker 
by trade. The sons, Edward and Harry, were educated in the Lyons Union School. 
Edward on leaving entered the employ of E. B. Price & Son in the grocery business, 
and was with the firm ten years. After the death of E. B. Price his son continued the busi- 
ness, carrying a large line of fine groceries, wooden ware, and making a specialty of 
choice teas and coffees. Our subjects are recognized as one of the most active and 
enterprising firms in the town. 

Sparks, Jefferson (deceased), was born in Ulster county, November, 1818, was edu- 
cated in Montgomery county, and finished at Hobart College, Geneva. At the age of 
twenty-six he married Esther M., daughter of Ehada Watkins of Fairfax, Va., and 
they were the parents of three children: Eli J., Mary A. and Harriet E., neither of 
whom is living. Jefferson Sparks came to Ontario county when he was seventeen 
years of age, and removed to Wayne county in 1860, settled east of Alloway and 
bought the Burnett property, in 1868 bought the Nathan Gere property of 132 acres, 
raising mint, hay, grain and stock. Our subject was one of the leading men in his 
town, taking an active interest in educational and religious matters. He died June 5, 
1883, a loss not only to his family and friends, but to the community in which he lived, 
leaving a wife and daughter. 

Schwab, Philip, was born in Alsace, Germany, May 1, 1821, came to the United 
States and settled in the town of Arcadia. In 1873 he came to Lyons and bought the 
Barrick estate, in 1886 bought the La Rue estate, having 475 acres, raising fruit, hay, 
grain and stock. At the age of twenty-six he married Elizabeth Studor and they were 
the parents of six children, two of whom are now living, Mrs. Frederick Stolz and 
George. George Schwab married Lena Brubacher, daughter of Martin Brubacher of 
Lyons, and they are the parents of two children : Charles E. and Lizzie M. Our sub- 
ject with his son are among the largest and leading farmers in Wayne county. 

Shannon, Lester H., an old and respected resident of Huron, was born on the farm 
he now owns in October, 1850, son of Archibald R., a native of Ireland, who settled in 
Huron in 1808. Archibald R. married Jane Hyde, and their children were Albert and 
Lester. Our subject has always followed farming, and served as poormaster and con- 
stable two years and as excise commissioner. In 1874 he married Frances Helen, 
daughter of William and Jane (Twombley) Burns of the town of Rose, born in 1850. 
Their children are : Marvin L., born October 28, 1875 ; Frank M., born February, 1877 ; 
Albert (deceased), and Nettie B., born February 19, 1887. 

Sutphen, John M., was born in Cayuga county, February 8, 1842. He was educated 
as a lawyer, reading law under Judge Hastings of Rochester and was admitted to the 
bar. He taught school for about twenty years and then practiced his profession for a 
short time. He afterward abandoned the practice of law and devoted himself to farm- 
ing, which occupation he has since followed. In 1863 Mr. Sutphen married Mary E. 
Boothe of Manchester and settled on the farm on which he now lives. This farm con- 
sists of eighty-five acres of land. He has four children : Minnie C, Eleanor E., C. 
Ames and Clarissa H. The two older daughters are teachers, the son is at home with 



202 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY 

his parents, and the youngest daughter is attending the Palmyra Union School. Mr. 
Sutphen was justice for eight years and is a Republican. 

Robinson, C K., manager of the Lyons Road Cart Co., was born in Lyons January 7, 
1853. His father, John, came from England in 1840 and settled in Lyons in 1846, was 
a blacksmith and wagon manufacturer and achieved a prominent position in his town 
and trade of the county. C. K. Robinson was educated in the Lyons Union school, 
and after leaving engaged in the business with his father, and enlarged and extended 
the business, to-day having an output of 800 buggies per year. He is a Republican in 
politics, having been trustee of the village, and takes an intelligent interest in educa- 
tional and religious matters, and is identified in advancing the best interests of his 
town, where he is recognized as a man of business ability, of strict integrity and ster- 
ling worth. 

Snyder, J. F., born in Saratoga county January 23, 1821, and came to Wayne county 
in 1855. His earlier years were spent as a carpenter and builder, and since 1883 he 
has been engaged in farming. During the latter part of the war of the Rebellion he 
was a member of Company C, 96th N. Y. S. Vols. July 28, 1844, he married Melinda 
Drigman, of Gloversville, N. Y., and they have five children: Hiram, Sarah M., Eliza- 
beth, Frances, and George Henry, who died in 1856 in infancy. 

Strait, John GL son of J. G. Strait, of Savannah, was born at that place in 1842. 
He enlisted August 21, 1861, in Company 8, 137th N. Y. S. Vols., and with the great 
Army of the Potomac, participated in the battles of Antietam, Winchester, Chancel- 
lorsville, and Gettysburg, and was honorably discharged in 1864. After the war he 
engaged for many years in carpentry and building in Wolcott and established his pres- 
ent business in 1882, that of manufacturer and wholesale dealer in lumber, and in 1884 
erected his large and modern planing mill and factory. In 1867 Mr. Strait married 
Sarah E. Rumsey, of Wolcott. She died in 1882, leaving four children, Walter, Mabel, 
Lena, and Leon. He again married in 1884 Hattie, daughter of H. P. Lewis, of Huron, 
and has two sons, Robert and Archer. 

Schuyler, Henry, was born at Orleans August 23, 1844. His business training was 
completed at the Albany Commercial College, after which he engaged in farming for a 
period of ten years, and in 1885 began keeping books for a mercantile house at Lyons, 
where he remained for five years. In 1890 he came to Red Creek, where he operates a 
surburban farm of eighty acres. Mr. Schuyler is a Republican and holds the position 
of overseer of the poor. In 1880 he married Elizabeth Reese, of Pavilion, N. Y., who 
died five years later. His present wife was Ida Dominick, of Fulton, N. Y. During 
the war of the Rebellion he enlisted in the 132d Illinois as chief of the headquarters 
guard, and holds a certificate of thanks for honorable service, from Abraham Lincoln, a 
document which he naturally prizes highly. 

Seymour, L. D,, son of Orrin D. Seymour, of Huron, was born July 25, 1850. He 
left home at ten years of age, being compelled by circumstances to make his own way 
in the world, and was for a time a sailor on the lakes. When sixteen years old he de- 
cided to adopt he profession of veterinary surgery, and to that end became a student 
under John Graves of Pultneyville, studied one year with Professor McKenzie in Buf- 
falo, and one year at the Veterinary College at Adrian, Mich. In 1874 he came to 
Wolcott, where he has practiced his profession twenty years. April 4, 1872, he married 
Harriet, daughter of Jacob Reynolds, of Huron. Their children were: Susie M., born 
May 4, 1873, who died soon after her graduation from Leavenworth Institute, at the 
age of nineteen; Eugene, born November 28, 1876, and Draper, born October 28, 1893. 

Risley, Charles M., was born in Russell, St. Lawrence county, November 28, 1848, 
the second of nine children of Marvin A. and Mariette (Bishop) Risley, natives of 
Massachusetts, who early came to Russell. Later they came to this town, and after- 



Family sketches. &63 

wards removed to Webster, but again came to Ontario, where they died, he in 1892, 
(May 27), and his wife March 22, 1889. Mr. Risley served as constable two years, 
and was a Republican. Charles M. was educated in the public schools, and is a mason 
by trade. He follows farming, owning forty-five acres of land, and raising stock, also 
devoting some attention to fruit raising. He is a Republican and a Granger, also a 
member of Fish Post, No. 406 G-. A. R. In 1864 Mr. Risley enlisted in Company B, 
9th N. Y. Heavy Artillery, serving till the close of the war. He was at Cold Harbor, 
Monocacy, Winchester, Sayler Run, Cedar Creek, Petersburg. At the close of the war 
he went to Webster, and in 1868 came to Ontario, where he has ever since resided. In 
1876 he married Marion, daughter of Hubbard Risley, of Russell, and they have one 
son, Manley H., who resides at home. 

Sheldon, Roger, and Elizabeth Marsh, his wife, came from Hartford, Conn., to Huron 
in 1809, and took up a farm about two miles east of Sodus Bay. Their family con- 
sisted of these children : Norman, Wareham, George, Grove, Ralsoman, Ralph, Amanda, 
Maria, Flora, and Harriet. Norman lived and died in Huron, aged ninety-eight ; 
Wareham spent most of his life in Huron, but died at Geneva, aged ninety-five; 
George resided near the homestead ; Grove died aged sixteen ; Ralsoman lived in Genoa, 
and died at the age of nearly 100; Ralph died in Wolcott October 4, 1871, aged seventy- 
six. His widow,Minerva Flint, also died there, aged seventy-six ; Maria married a Mr. West 
and died at advanced age at Yictor; Amanda married a Mr. Humphrey, of Albany, and 
died aged ninety-six; Flora married Wm. Mudge, and died in Huron ; Harriet married 
John Wood, and died in Clyde. On the way from Hartford to Huron Roger Sheldon 
and family stopped over night with Judge Johnson in Dutchess county, and Mrs. John- 
son gave the children some pears, the seeds of which they saved and planted in their 
new home. From this source came the Sheldon pear, a famous variety, the original 
tree yet standing on the old homestead. The children of Ralph and Minerva Sheldon 
were as follows: Hiram, who married Hannah Demmon, and resides in Huron; 
Sophronia, who married Rev. George Paddock, and resides in Rochester; Henry, one 
of the first settlers of Kansas, where he now lives in Burlingame ; Andrew F., who 
married Lucetta Salsbury. He graduated from the University of New York, having 
previously read medicine with Dr. E. W. Bethune, formerly of Huron, and practiced 
at Williamson before the war. He was appointed assistant surgeon of the 7th N. Y. 
Cavalry, known as the Black Horse in 1861, remaining until April, 1862, when he was 
appointed assistant surgeon in the 78th N. Y. Inf., and detailed for duty on General 
Wadsworth's staff in the medical director's office at Washington. Here he remained as 
executive officer until Augi.st, 1863, when he was commissioned surgeon of U. S. Vols, 
by Lincoln and assumed charge of Campbell U. S. general hospital at Washington, 
serving till the close of the war. He has been in the active practice of his profession 
since the war, except for "nine years while he served as county treasurer. His eldest 
son, Ralph, is a graduate of medicine ; and Albert, the younger son, is one of the pro- 
prietors of the Silver Metal Manufacturing Company at Oswego. The daughter, Nora, 
married Fremont Powers, and resides at Junius. Edwin Pomeroy Sheldon, youngest 
son of Ralph, graduated in medicine from the University of New York, and located in 
Burlingame, Kan., marrying Matilda, daughter of Judge Schuyler, of Ithaca. He was 
appointed surgeon of the 5th Kansas Cavalry, and after a few months of service died 
at Fort Scott, Mo. His wife still survives him at Ithaca, Jerome P. married Lydia 
Saxton and resides in Dodge City, Kan. 

Randal], Peleg, was born in the town of Corinth, Saratoga county, November 24, 
1806. His father, Hathaway, came to Wayne county in 1816 and settled in the town 
of Lyons. Peleg was educated in the common schools, only being able to attend 
through the winters. In 1835 he bought the John Seabring property of sixty acres, to 
which he has added, having 135 acres of some of the best farm land in the town, rais- 
ing mint, hay, grain, and stock. In 1879 he married Mrs. Rebecca Wright, daughter 



S04 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

of William Throop, of England. Our subject is one of the prominent farmers of his 
town, having been assessor, highway commissioner, trustee of school, and is identified 
in advancing the best interests of the town. 

Robinson, John W., was born in the town Huron of September 27, 1843 His father, 
Thomas, was a native of the northern part of Ireland, and came to the United States 
in 1830, first settled in Phelps and moved to Huron in 1834, where the family home- 
stead is now located. John W. was educated in the common schools, the Academy at 
Red Creek, Falley Seminary, Wolcott, and in March, 1867, graduated from the College 
of Physicians and Surgeons of New York. In 1869 he located at Alloway and estab- 
lished a general practice, which he still continues. At the age of twenty-eight he mar- 
ried Mary E., daughter of John B. Gorwey of Rensselaer county, and in 1890 was ap- 
pointed physician to the Wayne county Almshouse and Insane Asylum. Our subject is 
one of the leading men in his profession, identified in advancing the best interests of 
the town. 

Rice, Amman, second child of Isaac and Maria Rice, was born in Wolcott in 1847. 
His father, Isaac Rice, was born in Scipio, Cayuga county, in 1811 and came to Wol- 
cott in 1839, cleared up the farm now owned by our subject, erecting thereon a log 
house. He died June 12, 1893, and his widow, Maria, who was born February 8, 1818, 
survived him with her three children, Augustus, Amman, and Adelbert. In 1865 Am- 
man married Helen Morey, who died May 28, 1880, leaving four children, Gilbert and 
Charles, both of whom died in infancy, Anna M., born June 29, 1869, and Emma A., 
born August 31, 1874, who is a teacher. Mr. Rice's present wife was Melissa Quick, 
of Junius, Cayuga county, N. Y., and she has one son, Claude, now fifteen years 
of age. 

Reeve, Abraham, was born in England April 3, 1830. His father, Abraham Reeve, 
was born and died in England. Abraham Reeve, jr., came to this country when twenty 
years of age. He went to Pennsylvania where, after working on a farm for some time, 
he learned the carpenter's trade. He worked at his trade twenty years then engaged 
in farming. He moved to Binghamton in 1872 and took up farming there. In 1855 
he married Adaline Tompkins and they have five children. In politics Mr. Reeve is a 
Republican. 

Richards, D., M.D., born in Skaneateles, Onondaga county, September 16, 1835, is 
the seventh of thirteen children of Joseph and Selinda (Benjamin) Richards, natives of 
Otsego county, born in 1801 and 1805 respectively. The grandfather of subject was 
John Richards, a native of Otsego county, where he died. He was in the War of 
1812, and his father was in the Revolutionary and French and Indian Wars. The family 
is of English descent and date their ancestry back to three brothers who came over in 
the Mayflower. Joseph Richards was a hatter and spent his life in Onondaga county. 
He died in 1885 and his wife in 1844. Our subject was educated in the Union school of 
Marcellus, followed teaching six years and then studied medicine with Dr. Dimock of 
Phelps, N. Y., graduating from the Eclectic Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1865. 
The same year he came to Marion where he has since had a very successful practice. 
He is a member of Palmyra Lodge No. 294 F. and A. M., and of the A. O. U. W. No. 
296 of Marion. Dr. Richards married in 1858 Maria H. Bellows a native of Cortland 
county, and daughter of Zebulon Bellows, a manufacturer of furniture and pipe or- 
gans. He died in Cortland county in 1865. Dr. Richards and wife had one daughter 
at home, who graduated from the Syracuse Univeasity in class of 1894. Dr. Richards 
is a member of the Eclectic Medical Society of New York State. 

Russell, Darius F., was born in Williamson, January 24, 1839, and is the third son of Na- 
thaniel and Rachel W. Russell, he a native of Williamson, born 1804, and she born in Ver- 
mont in 1803. Nathaniel was a son of Daniel Russell, elsewhere mentioned in this work, 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 205 

a farmer who had only four months education in the common schools. He owned the 
130 acres now owned by the subject of this sketch. Our subject was reared on a farm 
and educated in the common schools and the Monroe Collegiate Institute, and began 
teaching at the age of eighteen, and taught seven years. Mr. Russell was the first man 
that enlisted at the first war meeting in the town of Williamson, although others had 
gone from the town and enlisted elsewhere previously. He enlisted September 11, 1861 
in Co. I, 17th N. Y., and served three years in the Army of the Potomac, and was in the 
Seven Days before Richmond, 2d battle of Bull Run. He is a Prohibitionist in politics 
and has been chairman of the Wayne County Prohibitionist Committee for seven years. 
He has been justice of the peace two years. He is a member of the Grange and was 
master one year. He organized the town Sunday School Association and was president 
for seven years. He and his wife are members of the M. E. church, and have taught the 
Young People's class for eighteen years. Mr. Russell has been twice married : March 
19, 1865, to Maria Van Ostrand, a native of Monroe, and they had two children, Fred 
D., aud Katie L., both residing in Buffalo. Fred is a real estate dealer. The second 
time Mr. Russell married Dora V. Tuttle, a native of Steuben county, N. Y., and they 
have three children : Charles P., Rachel E., and Mildred. 

Rodgers, Mason L., was born in Palmyra, N. Y., November 17, 1825, the son of John 
and Mary Mason Rodgers, he born in Rhode Island May 21, 1786 and she in Somerset 
Mass., May 18, 1787. Mr. Rodgers came to Palmyra when five years of age with his 
father William, who spent the rest of his life in that town. He died at the a»e of 
eighty-two years in 1836. John Rodgers was a farmer and lived in Palmyra until 1836 
when he moved to Marion and there died October 11, 1864, and his wife July 25, 1873. 
Mason L. resided in Marion until 1881, when he came to Williamson, and there spent 
the remainder of his days. He built the store now owned by Lewis P. Rodgers in 1877. 
In 1848 he married Lydia Putnam, of Macedon, born June 14, 1826, and a daughter of 
Stephen and Dorcas Smith Putnam. Mr. and Mrs. Rodgers have five children: Mary 
A., wife of Dr. Clark, of Williamson ; Lewis R,, a fruit grower of Albion, N. Y. ; Ida 
M., wife of Charles F. Adams, of Williamson, who died in 1892; Willis P., who married 
Matie H. Tuttle and resides on the old homestead in Marion ; and Carrie P., at home. 

Roe, Mrs. Sophia H., widow of the late John S. Roe, of Butler Center. Mr. Roe was 
born in Northern Wolcott in 1819, son of John Roe, one of the pioneers of that section. 
Liberally educated at Lima, N. Y., he became a man of influence in Butler, and held 
many positions of responsibility, among them for ten years county superintendent of the 
poor. His wife was Sophia Henderson, daughter of Worcester Henderson, of Butler 
Center. They were married December 25, 1844, made their home upon the farm, and 
reared two daughters, Jennie W. and Helen W. Universally respected and widely 
mourned, John S. Roe died October 8, 1893. 

Reed, Enos H., oldest son of Daniel and Mary C. Reed, of Huron, was born there in 
1842. He was educated in the common schools and at twenty years of age engaged in 
farming, which he followed twelve years with marked success. In 1874 he came to 
Wolcott and formed a co-partnership with Zenas Booth, establishing a warehouse busi- 
ness, which in 1879 became the firm of Reed & Cornwell. In 1884 Air. Reed purchased 
the Empire Roller Mill, which he operated for five years, being now interested in agri- 
cultural machinery. In 1862 he married Emma, daughter of Loomis and Arvilla Webb, 
of Huron, and they have seven children. 

Roe, G-eorge G., was born in Rose July 25, 1847, a son of John B. Roe, a prominent 
farmer and a member of the M. E. Church of Clyde. The latter died in 1885, aged 
sixty-six years. George B. laid the foundation of his education in the common schools , 
the Falley Seminary at Fulton, and is pre-eminently a self-made man. After traveling 
on the road for seven years Mr. Roe came to Clyde in 1874, where he established his 
present business, that of harness manufacturer and dealer in wagons, buggies, bicycles, 



206 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

etc., carrying the largest and best stock in Wayne county. In 1885-86 our subject was 
elected supervisor, has been notary public for ten years, and in May, 1890, was ap- 
pointed by President Harrison to the office of postmaster of the town of Clyde, taking 
possession in the spring of 1891. At the age of thirty-seven he married Frances J. 
Wood, daughter of Hudson R. Wood, of Rose, and they have one daughter, Edith J. 
Mr. Roe is one of the conservative men of his town, thoroughly alive to all things that 
will advance its best interests, and taking a prominent part in its political and educa- 
tional affairs. 

Reed, John Sherburne, M. D., was born in Rochester, April 19, 1864. His father, 
Isaac F., was a native of England. Dr. Reed was educated at the Academy in Roches- 
ter, graduating in 1883, read law for a year and then went to Cleveland, Ohio, and 
took the medical course at the College of Physicians & Surgeons, graduating in March, 
1888, and was made house surgeon at Buffalo Hospital, and then went to London, 
England, and took a post-graduate course at St. Bartholomew's Hospital. He returned 
to the United States in 1891 and located at Lyons, and established a general practice, 
succeeding Dr. J. C. McPherson in business. At the age of twenty-seven he married 
Ida L., daughter of John Wesley Slaughter, of Benton, Yates county. He is a Repub- 
lican in politics, and was appointed health officer of his town in 1893. Our subject is 
one of the best read members of his profession, identified in advancing the best interests 
of his town and recognized as a man of steiling character and worth, being a member of 
the N. Y. State Homoeopathic Medical Society, of which he has been secretary and 
treasurer two years. 

Reeves, Stephen, born in East Palmyra August 21, 1825, is the oldest of twelve chil- 
dren of Howell and Phoebe J. (Howell) Reeves, he a native of East Palmyra, born in 
June, 1797, and she a native of New Jersey, born July 19, 1803. The grandfather of 
subject was Elias Reeves, a native of South Hampton, born in 1762. He came to Pal- 
myra in 1792, where he died. He and another young man named Foster were sent to 
represent a colony from Long Island. His wife was Eunice (Howell) Reeves. Howell 
Reeves was educated in the common schools. He came to Marion in 1837, and settled 
on a farm now owned by subject, where he died October 7, 1865. and his wife Sep- 
tember 13, 1876. Our subject was reared on a farm, educated in Marion Academy, has 
always followed farming and owns eighty acres of land. He enlisted in 1862 in Com- 
pany" B, 9th N. Y. Artillery, and served three years. He was at Cold Harbor, Win- 
chester, Cedar Creek, and Monocacy. He has been assessor twenty- five years. He 
married September 18, 1868, Dolly Williams, widow of Alvan Andrew, who was killed 
at the battle of Winchester. She was a daughter of Albert and Eliza Williams, who 
came to Ontario in 1836 and then to Marion previous to the war, where Mr. Williams 
died January 6, 1884, and his wife April 28, 1891. Mr. Reeves and wife have had two 
sons: Albert H., a clerk in Rochester, and George S., at home. Mr. Reeves had three 
brothers in tlie late war. 

Richmond, Thomas J., was born in Onondaga county February 3, 1824. His father, 
Jacob Richmond, was a native of New Jersey, moving to Manlius, Onondaga county, 
where he married Esther ClarrC, daughter of Christopher Clark. He was a tailor by 
trade, and for several years he followed this occupation, when he sold out his business 
and invested his money in a farm, and was engaged in farming up to the time of his 
death, which occurred in 1842. Ten children were born to him, Thomas J. Richmond, 
the subject of this sketch, being the third child. Mr. Thomas Richmond was connected 
with the building of several different railroads, viz. : The Ogdensburg R. R., portions 
of the Malone, N. Y. Central from Palmyra east; and eight miles west of Batavia. 
He has built several miles of canal and about forty miles of railroad in Canada, and in 
company with Nathaniel Green built the aqueduct in Macedon. He is the owner of 
one hundred and ninety acres of fine land. In politics he is a Republican. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 207 

Roe, William, born December 14, 1834, is the second son of Willis and Flora S. Roe, 
of Wayne county. Daniel Roe, the paternal grandfather of William Roe, came to 
Butler from Connecticut in 1812, and was a man of much prominence. He died in 
1852, at the age of ninety, leaving five sons and five daughters. William Roe was 
graduated from Wesleyan University in 1855, and after the study of law with Judge 
Collin, was admitted to the bar in 1862. He was for six years the partner of his 
former preceptor, Judge Collin, beginning an independent practice in 18G8. Mr. Roe 
has a large legal business, and has been a member two years of the Democratic State 
Central Committee. He married, June 30, 1857, Sarah Dill, of Wolcott, and they 
have two sons and four daughters. 

Rogers, Hiram C. (deceased), second son of Col. Bartlett C. Rogers, was born July 
21, 1835, educated at Lyons and Fort Plain, after which he accompanied his father, 
who went out as captain of the 160th NY. Vols., to the war, acting as sutler to that 
regiment, returning in 1865. He served as deputy sheriff. At the age of thirty- one 
he married Julia C, daughter of H. Gr. Dickerson, of Lyons, and who are the parents 
of two sons, Heman D., of Detroit, Mich., and Percy L. Hiram C. died October 28, 
1888, at the age of fifty-three, leaving a wife and two sons to take up his many plans 
and carry them to completion. He was generous and benevolent in disposition, taking 
an active interest in educational and religious institutions, being a member of the Pres- 
byterian church. He was ready to answer when called. 

Patridge, Daniel, was born in the town of Manchester, Ontario county, August 10, 
1844. He has always followed farming, working his father's farm until he came on his 
present place. He married Ann Kipp, of Macedon, and they have two children, Carrie 
and Anna. Mr. Patridge owns 100 acres of land and keeps a small dairy. He is a 
member of the Grange and in politics is a Republican. 

Phillips, John M., was born in Wolcott September 25, 1860. His parents, William 
W. and Hannah, were for many years domiciled where our subject now resides. John 
Phillips is a young man of more than ordinary ability and highly esteemed wherever 
he is known. He acquired a thorough education at Red Creek, and in early manhood 
engaged in his chosen vocation, conducting the homestead farm of 100 acres. He has 
found time to fill various positions of trust in his town, but is largely devoted to his 
family and his home. His wife was Victoria, daughter of Charles and Elizabeth Green, 
and they have two sons : William Meric, born February 8, 1884, and John M., jr., born 
January 9, 1893. They lost a daughter, Beth, November 7, 1891, at the age of four 
years. 

Payne, William, was born in Heathfield, Sussex connty, England, December 9, 1845, 
the oldest of two children born to Peter and Ann E. Payne, natives of England, where 
the wife died September 25, 1850, and the family came to Ontario in March, 1854, and 
moved on the town line between Ontario and Williamson, in about fifteen years moved 
on south town line between Walworth and Ontario, and then to Walworth on a farm 
owned by Tappan Merrill, and finally to Walworth village, where he now resides. He 
married, a second time, Mary A. Payne, by whom he had three children. Mr. Payne 
has been a farmer, but now lives a retired life in Walworth. Our subject was educated 
in the common schools of England and this country. He came to America at the age of 
nine years and at sixteen learned the carpenter's trade, followed it about twenty years, 
and in 1883 purchased the farm of thirty acres he now owns, and follows general 
farming, fruit raising, and fruit evaporating. Mr. Payne married, in 1871, Electa E. 
Lane, a native of Ontario, and daughter of John and Hannah Lane, early settlers of 
Ontario, but now resides in Macedon. Subject and wife have had two children, Ethel 
F., who died in infancy, and Susie A. He was formerly a Democrat and held the office 
of highway commissioner four years, but is now identified with the Republican party. 
He is a member of Wayne County Lodge No. 416, F. & A. M. He was made a Mason 



jus LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

in 1867, and has held the office of master of lodge six terms, and is also a member of the 
South Shore Grange of Ontario. He and family are Universalists. 

Parker, Lorenzo, a native of Delhi, N. Y., was born in 1810, and at the age of seven 
years came to Palmyra, three miles north of the village, where his brother Seih pur- 
chased 400 acres of land, and there lived and died. Lorenzo was one of six children, 
and the only one whose descendants are still here. He resided with his parents till 
1862, when he moved to Palmyra, and lived retired until his death in 1887, and there 
his widow still lives. He married Charlotte S. Wales of Troy, a native of New Hamp- 
shire, and of their six children two died in infancy, and the others are : Roderick W., 
a resident of Palmyra, Charles A., with the Metropolitan Telephone Company of New 
York city; John M. who resides in Palmyra, and Clara M., a resident here. The orig- 
inal tract of land is still in the possession of the children. 

Pease, Charles, was born in Columbia county, August 2, 1810, son of Abel and 
Elizabeth (Potts) Pease. By a previous marriage with Miss Whitbeck, Mr. Pease had 
two children, both of whom are deceased. In 1828 he removed to Arcadia, in 1829 to 
Manchester, Ontario county, and in 1834 came to Ontario, Wayne county, where he 
spent his last days. Charles Pease is a natural mechanic, and has followed manufactur- 
ing of various articles in connection with his farm business. To the original homestead 
he has added till he now owns a splendid farm of 207 acres, and has a feed mill, cider 
mill, etc. He is the first man of Ontario run a steam engine, and put in the first drain 
tile in the town. January 8, 1832, he married Laura Beach, born in Hamilton, Madison 
county, September 23, 1811, a daughter of Nathaniel and Lucy (Smith) Beach, natives 
of Massachusetts. They had two sons and three daughters, Mrs. Pease being the only 
one now living. Mr. and Mrs. Pease have had two sons and seven daughters : Annetta, 
who died aged twelve years; Lucy, wife of Edward H. Pound, deceased; Charles 
Wesley, general mechanic, now resides in Rochester. His wife is Alma Giberson, a 
native of Ohio. In 1862 he enlisted in the war, and in 1863 was made second lieuten- 
ant and promoted first lientenant of the 10th Colored Regiment; Emily, wife of W. 
Speller of Ontario ; Louisa, died April 11, 1844; Celinda, wife of Isaac Hurley of On- 
tario ; Alzora, wife of Charles Gernee of Ontario ; Frank, who is general manufacturer 
and inventor in Rochester. His wife is Ella Meyer of Rochester ; and Fannie, wife of 
Conrad Schnetzer, of Ontario. Mr. and Mrs. Pease celebrated their golden wedding 
ten years ago. He is a liberal supporter of the M. E. Church, of which his wife is a 
member. 

Powers, William A., the genial and popular owner and proprietor of the JPowers 
Hotel, corner of Main and Fayette streets, is a native of Ontario county, born in Farm- 
ington in 1852. The hotel was built as the Palmyra Hotel, on the site of the old Eagle 
Hotel, by a stock company in 1836, at a cost of about $12,000, and was at the time the 
finest hotel structure in western New York. April 5, 1838, it was sold at auction to 
William P. Nottingham, who became its first landlord, and continued its management 
for over twenty-five years. The house was owned and conducted by other parties for 
a short time following Mr. Nottingham's retirement, and in 1867 Robert Hale came into 
possession and was for several years proprietor and owner. Under his management the 
house was changed and improved. In 1872 Joseph E. Cochran bought the furniture and 
fixtures, and leased the building for five years, at the expiration of which time C. B. 
Stewart become owner and proprietor for two years, then leased it for five years to 
L. D. Cummings. Pliny T. Sexton then bought the property, and in turn sold it in 
1886 to Mr. Powers, who gave it its present name. This hotel is under the efficient 
management of Mr. and Mrs. Powers as host and hostess, and is deservedly one of 
the most popular in the State. It is a three-story fifty-room building, with a wide 
porch and a row of Ionic columns in front, making it strikingly attractive in appear- 
ance. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 209 

Patterson, Roger J., was born in Edwards, St. Lawrence county, March 11, 1834. 
His father, John, came from Belfast, North Ireland, in 1832, and were of English 
descent. He first settled at Edwards, and in 1835 removed to Sheldon, Wyoming 
county. He was supervisor and a prominent man in that town. Roger J. was edu- 
cated in the common schools, attended Genesee Wesleyan Seminary and afterward 
graduated at 0. K. Chamberlain's Business College, Baltimore, Md., and came to Wayne 
county in 1859. He enlisted in the U. S. Army August 8, 1864, in the city of Wash- 
ington, and was detailed as hospital steward with the surgeon-general, and was dis- 
charged in March 1866. In 1867 he established a mercantile business, which he con- 
tinued up to 1876. and then traveled on the road for ten years. In 1893 he was ap- 
pointed police justice in his town. At the age of twenty-five he married Martha A., 
daughter of John Veeder, of Marille, Erie county, and they are the parents of one son. 
Harry W., now of Denver, Col. Our subject is one of the leading men in his town, 
taking an active interest in educational and religious matters, identified in advancing 
the best interests of his town, and is recognized as a man of sterling integrity. 

Phillips, Clarence A., was born in Auburn, Cayuga county, July 11, 1858, and came 
to Lyons in 1879. He was educated in the common schools, to which he has added 
through life by reading and close observation. In 1892 in connection with Edward B. 
Graff, he formed a partnership and established his present business of dry goods, 
groceries, crockery and glassware, carrying the leading and one of the best selected 
stocks in Lyons. At the age of twenty-eight he married Louisa A., daughter of 
Henry M. Baltzel, of Lyons, and they are the parents of three children : Joseph C, 
Mabel and Edith. Our subject is a Democrat in politics and was nominated for presi- 
dent of the village in 1894, taking an intelligent interest in educational and religious 
matters, and isidenti c 5ed in advancing the best interests of his town, where he is recog- 
nized as a man of conservative character and strict integrity, whose word is as good as 
his bond. 

Parshall, Rossman J., was born in Palmyra November 18, 1844. His father, Hendee, 
was a native of the county, who died at the age of seventy-six and was a prominent 
farmer. Rossman J. was educated in the common schools and finished at the Macedon 
Academy, after which he enlisted in -111th N. Y. Volunteers, and took part in the 
closing battles of the war, receiving wounds in the back of the neck and shoulder. He 
received an honorable discharge in July, 1865, holding the rank of second lieutenant at 
the end of his service. The 111th Regiment was a part of the Second Army Corps of 
the Army of the Potomac, and was known as the fighting regiment of that corps. 
After leaving the army he returned to Palmyra, and in 1866 came to Lyons and ac- 
cepted a position as bookkeeper in the Lyons National Bank, where he remained until 
1870. In 1872 he went to Sodus and took charge of the Shaker tract of land, and in 
1879 was appointed collector of the Port of Sodus Point and held the position up to 
1886, when he was elected sheriff and came to Lyons. At the expiration of the term 
of office he established the present firm of Parshall & Sweeting in the wholesale and 
retail lumber business. At the age of twenty-eight he married Kate E., daughter of 
Charles E. Thurber of Palmyra, and they have one son, Ross T. Mrs. Parshall died 
April 5, 1892, regretted by a large circle of friends and acquaintances. 

Pritchard, Edward, one of the veteran defenders of his country's flag, was born in 
Butler December 13, 1836, second son of the late William and Lydia Pritchard. In 
1861 he enlisted in Company H, 75th N. Y. State Volunteers, and was first under fire 
at the bombardment of Fort Pickens in Florida. Unable to endure the climate and 
privations of Santa Rosa Island, he was honorably discharged in 1863. Josephine 
Greenfield, of Butler, to whom he was married in 1870, has three children : Elmer, who 
died March 20. 1893, at twenty-one years of ag», leaving a widow and one daughter, 
Sarah, wife of Ernest Knowlton, of Butler, and Leland now eight years of age. 



21(1 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY 

Quereau, George Henry, was born in Sterling, Cayuga county, June 4, 1846, son of 
William Quereau, born in Westchester county in June, 1819, who came to Wayne 
county in 1847, and settled in the town of Wolcott. He was road commis- 
sioner, overseer of the poor, and filled various other offices. His wife was Mrs. 
Sabra Myers Lewis, and their children were : George H., William, Jennie, Frank, 
Corie, and Dewitt. When eighteen years of age our subject went to Michigan, 
where he engaged in the egg business from 1872 to 1882. Since that time 
he has been a resident of Huron. Since 1890 he has been interested in the evapor- 
ated apple business in Monterey, Mich. In 1869 he married Henrietta, daughter of 
Thomas and Sarah Bean, born in St. Lawrence county, of English extraction, and their 
children are: Mary Belle, Frank B., and Henry N. Our subject has served as overseer 
of the poor three terms, is a member of the Masonic order, Vernon Lodge No. 66, of 
Michigan. He and his wife are members of the Huron Grange. 

Patrick, R. Z., a retired contractor and builder, of Red Creek, was born July 23, 1814, 
in Otsego county, N. Y. For many years largely identified with the best business 
interests of this place, he is yet a hale and hearty man at eighty years of age, and 
worthy of the esteem in which he is held. His first wife was Mary Snyder, to whom 
he was married in 1842, and who at her death in 1875 at the age of fifty-five left two 
children: Lucy, the only daughter, now deceased; and one son, George, a resident of 
Missouri. In April, 1878, Mr. Patrick married Hannah Moore, of Baldwinsville, N. Y. 
Always a Republican he has held many official positions with honor and fidelity. 

Osborn, P. F., was born in Cattaraugus county, N. Y., April 10, 1846. He is the 
second child of a family of five children, born to Roswell and Emily J. (Arnold) Osborn, 
natives of Cayuga county, N. Y., and early settlers of Cattaraugus county, The father 
died in Wisconsin during a short residence in that State in 1886, at the age of sixty- 
eight years. The mother still resides in Ontario Centre. Mr. P. F. Osborn was reared 
in the village of Sandusky, N. Y., and there educated. He was a carpenter by trade, 
although he had spent six years in the oil regions. In 1883 Mr. Osborn came to Ontario 
Centre and engaged in the mercantile business, where he has been very successful. Mr. 
Osborn is a Republican in politics. He is a member of the Webster Lodge No. 538, 
K. Sz A. M., and Palmyra Eagle Chapter No. 79, R. A. M. Mr. Osborn was married 
twice, first, in 1869 to Augusta Ely, a native of Rushford, N. Y. By this marriage he 
had one child, Ernest, who died at the age of five years. Mrs. Osborn died in 1872, and 
in 1879 he married B. Agnes Sweeney, a native of Cattaraugus county. Byhissecond 
marriage he had one son, Homer S., born in 1885. 

Olmsted, William A., was born in Canada, May 7, 1852, son of Lauren Olmsted, a 
native of Huron, born in 1818, and a farmer by occupation. In 1840 he went to Canada, 
and while there married Sarah Reddington, a native of Canada. Some years later he 
returned to the homestead in Huron, where he was born and now resides. His father 
was Elijah Olmsted, a pioneer of Huron. At the age of twenty-three our subject began 
farming, in 1874 purchased his father-in-law's homestead, in 1894 moved to North Huron 
and engaged in a general mercantile business, where his genial disposition and business 
ability cannot but insure him success. In 1875 he married Phoebe, daughter of Martin 
McLaughlin, who came to Huron in 1830. She was born in 1854. They have two 
children: Mary E., born July 24, 1876, and Grare B., born March 12, 1879. Mr. Olmsted 
served two terms as collector, and he and wife are members of the Huron Grange 
Lodge. 

Orchard, R. P., was born in Bath, Somersetshire, England, June 9, 1811, son of 
Abram K. and Mary (Cuthbertson) Orchard, he a native of Bath, and she of Neath, near 
Swanzey. England. The father of Ahram K. was a bookbinder by trade, and also a 
minister of the Wesleyan Methodist Church. He died in 1857, aged sixty-seven years, 
and his wife in ,1813. Subject was reared in South Wales at Mantyglo. He began work 



FAMILY SKETCHES. ill 

in the iron works and at nineteen years of age took charge of a coal yard. He remained 
in that work until 1838, when he came to Rochester and engaged in the grocery business 
twenty-eight years, and in 1872 came to Walworth, where he has lived retired. Mr. 
Orchard was married three times, first to Elizabeth Whitehead in 1844, by whom he had 
one child, Rowel R., who resides in Washington as a livery manager. His second wife 
was Charlotte Baker, and his third wife, whom he married December 19, 1884, was 
Diana Turner, widow of Silas Turner, of Walworth. Mr. Turner died in 1881. Rowel 
R. married Hannah Everdeen, by whom he had three children : Charles, Libbie and 
Willie. Mrs. Orchard, wife of subject, first married Harvey Howes, by whom she had 
five children now living: Roswell F., Harriet A., E. Clarissa, Charles H., and William 
H, all living in Michigan, except Charles H., who is a Baptist minister of Clyde. Mr. 
Orchard has made his own property, and was the first man to deliver goods from a store 
in Rochester. 

O'Dell, John S., a native of Washington county, born May 31, 1845, is the second of 
two sons and one daughter of James and Hannah (Williams) O'Dell, natives of Wash- 
ington county. They came to Marion in 1866, and settled on the farm now owned by 
our subject. James O'Dell was a shoemaker by trade, at which he worked in Wash- 
ington county, but lie had a farm. The grandparents were James and Sallie O'Dell, of 
Washington county. He was a carpenter and millwright by trade. He went from 
Washington county to Onondaga and thence to Alleghany county, where he died. The 
paternal great-grandfather 'was Solomon Dutcher of Washington county. The father of 
our subject remains on the farm till the death of his wife, September 27, 1887. Soon 
after he sold the farm to his son John J., and returned to his native county, where he 
still resides aged seventy-eight years. Our subject married in 1878 Emma E., daughter 
of Edwin Curtis, of Marion, and they have one daughter, Hattie, born July 6, 1883. 
Mr. O'Dell's farm consists of one hundred acres, and he follows general farming and 
fruit growing. 

Newberry, E. W., was born June 3, 1841, at Huron. He was educated at Falley 
Seminary, Fulton, and his early years were spent on a farm. In 1874 he engaged in 
general hardware business, beside undertaking, at Wolcott, and in 1884 established the 
firm of Newberry & Burton, furniture dealers and funeral directors. In 1865 he mar- 
ried Josie C, daughter of Rev. Amasa Jones, of Huron. She died in 1881, leaving 
three children : Myrta J., Merritt E., and Albert J. Mr. Newberry again married in 
1883 Cordelia Furbush, of Wolcott, who has two children, Mary A., and Bradnor F. 
He is an earnest Republican, and beside many minor offices has served as coroner twelve 
years. 

Noonan, M. D., born in Province of Munster, Clare county, Ireland, February 2, 
1829, is a son of Michael and Ellen Noonan. The father died in Ireland, and his wife 
came to Macedon and there lived and died. Our subject was educated in Ireland, in 
1849 came to Cayuga county, and the same year came to Sodus, and has with the ex- 
ception of one and one-half years in Ohio, as foreman for Thomas Richmond, resided in 
Wayne county. He is a farmer and owns eighty-three acres of land. He married, 
November 9, 1851, Catharine Haloran, a native of Ireland, and daughter of Thomas 
Haloran, who came to Wayne county in 1849, and died in Ohio. Mr. Noonan and wife 
have had fourteen children: Thomas M., Francis, John D., Margaret E., Kittle B., 
Sarah W., Jennie W., Joseph W., Nellie, Dennie E., Charles E., Mary L., Willie, and 
one who died in infancy. Mr. Noonan is a member of the Marion Grange. 

Norman, William, of Macedon, was born here September 1, 1844.' His father was 
Isaac Norman, a native of England, who came here at the age of twenty years, settling 
in Marion, N. Y., where he followed farming for a time, then took up masonry, working 
at his trade for forty years. He died at the age of seventy-five years. His wife, 
Elizabeth Smith, died in 1893, aged eighty years. Of their eight children our subject is 



212 LANDMARKS] > OF i WAYNE£COUNTY. 

the fifth. He was educated in the common schools, and married first, Elizabeth Plumrn, 
of this town, by whom he had two children, one now living. His second marriage was 
with Elizabeth Glover, of Macedon, and they have four children, all living. Mr. 
Norman's farm consists of 118 acres, and he follows general farming. 

Middleton, Ira, was born in Ontario, January 28, 1855, the youngest of three children 
of Joseph and Orsena (Hill) Middleton, the former a native of Johnstown, N. Y., born 
November 4, 1812, and the latter born in Macedon, June 12, 1821. The father of 
Joseph was William, a native of New Jersey, who came to Ontario in 1813, where he 
died in 1842, and his wife, Catharine McArthur, in 1871. The father of Mrs. Joseph 
Middleton was Ira Hill, born in Macedon in 1795, who married Fannie Gilbert, of Mas- 
sachusetts, born in 1798, and died in 1832. He married Elvira, sister of his first wife. 
He died in 1865. Joseph Middleton spent his life in Ontario and followed farming, 
owning 300 acres. He was a Republican and served as highway commissioner, assessor, 
and supervisor. He died April 10, 1891, and his family now reside on the homestead. 
Ira was educated in the Marion Collegiate Institute, and has always resided at home. 
He is engaged in farming, and also deals in coal and merchandise. He is a Republican 
in politics, and was appointed postmaster in 1887 atFruitland, which office he held until 
1893. December 30, 1891, he married Lena Mack, daughter of Philip and Lucina 
(Easton) Mack, of Ontario. 

Miller, F. L., was born in Lee Center, Oneida county, January 26, 1859, laid the 
foundation of his education in the common schools, to which he has added through life 
by reading and close observation, being a self made and self educated man. In 1894 he 
came to Lyons and established his present business, carrying a large stock of dry goods, 
hardware, crockery, fishing tackle, making a specialty of all house furnishing goods. 
At the age of twenty-three he married Clara Merchant, daughter of Henry Merchant, 
of Central Square, and are the parents of two sons: William H. and Howard L. Our 
subject is recognized as one of the most progressive and enterprising merchants in his 
town, identified in advancing the best interests, and in the leading events of the day. 

Mapes, George, was born in Lyons February 14, 1852. His father, Jacob, came 
from Alsace, Germany, in 1840. George was educated in the Lyons Union School, to 
which he has added through life by reading and close observation. After engaging in 
various enterprises, in 1876 he established his present business of manufacturing cigars, 
and is now employing twenty hands, having an output of from 700,000 to one million 
cigars yearly, and is one of the best known manufacturers in Central and Western New 
York. At the age of twenty-three he married Elizabeth, daughter of Charles Frank of 
Lyons, and they are the parents of three children, two of whom are now living: Will- 
iam H. and George F. Our subject is one of the most active business men in his town, 
and takes an active interest in educational and religious matters. 

Munn, John, deceased, was born in Kent, England, and came to the United States in 
1820, first settling in Waterloo. He came to Wayne county in 1835. He married 
Sarah Filkins, who died in 1845, and afterwards remarried Mrs. Fannie Burnett, 
daughter of Gilbert Noolan, and who were the parents of four children, three of whom 
are now living: J. F. Munn, M.D., of Syracuse, and George and Frank of Lyons, who 
are now managing the estate in connection with their farm adjoining, raising fruit, hay, 
gram and stock. George Munn married at twenty-four years of age Eva L., daughter 
of Warren C. Depew, of Lyons, and have one son, George D. George was educated at 
the Lyons Union School and at the Cayuga Lake Academy, and afterwards taught for 
eleven years. Frank was educated at the Wolcott Academy, after which they returned 
to the homestead in Lyons, where they are recognized as conservative men of sterling 
integrity and moral worth. 

Mirick, W. P., was born in Lyons April 5, 1859. His father, Nelson R., was a native 
of the town of Rose, came to Lyons in 1857, and was prominently identified in the 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 213 

business interests of his town. W. P. Mirick was educated in the Lyons Union School, 
after leaving which he engaged in active business life establishing a coal and grocery 
business in 1881. In 1889 he added the malting business to his other interests, also 
conducts a farm of 150 acres one mile west of Lyons. At the age of twenty-nine he 
married Ellen, daughter of Van R. Richmond of Lyons. He is a Democrat in politics 
and was supervisor of the town in 1890. Oursnbject is one of the most active business 
men in nis town, identified in advancing its best interests, and is identified as a man of 
high business ability and sterling worth. 

Michel, Mrs. Mary (Sedore), was born in Savannah, Wayne county, in 1835, and was 
the daughter of John B. and Eunice (Weeks) Sedore, who were farmers. She is the 
granddaughter of David and Catherine Sedore of Saratoga. In 1861 she married 
Hanry, son of Philip Michel, a native of Gee, Noghern, near the Rhine and Cologne, 
and who came to America in 1849. He has five children : Andrew, Henry, Katie, 
Adam and Elizabeth. To Mr. and Mrs. Michel has been born one child, Addie, who 
died at the age of sixteen. Mr. Michel is a wide-awake, enterprising man. He began 
farming at twenty-five, and in time accumulated a large property. His death occurred 
in 1392, since which time our subject has conducted the farm. She is one of a family 
of thirteen children. She is a member of Wolcott Grange, P. of H., No. 348, and a 
lady of business ability. 

Myers, J. C, was born in the canton of Arragh, Switzerland, and came to the United 
States in 1854, at six years of age. His father, Francis Myers, came direct to Lyons. 
J. C. was educated in the common schools, and is pre-eminently a self-made and self 
educated man. At the age of tweniy-eight he married Emma, Baltzel, daughter of 
Henry Baltzel of Lyons, and they have five children : Nelton Newell, Belle, Frances 
and Florence. In 1870 he came to the village of Lyons, and in 1884 established the 
hardware and agricultural implements, feeds and produce business. He is a Democrat 
in politics, and was a candidate for county treasurer in 1889, also takes an active intelli- 
gent interest in educational and religious matters. Subject is one of the leading busi- 
ness men in his town, identified in advancing its best interests, and is recognized as a 
man of strict integrity and sterling worth. 

Moore, Charles H., was born in Lyons, May 4, 1841. His father, Zebulon Moore, 
was one of the prominent business men and contractors of Central New York, and at 
his death Charles H. took up his many large contracts und business interests and carried 
them to a successful completion. He is now associated with his brother-in-law, S, D. 
Holmes, in prosecuting large business interests in Canada, where they have accepted 
and completed severel large railroad contracts. At the age of twenty-three he married 
Catharine L., daughter of Alanson Whitney, of Kendall, Orleans county, and they are 
the parents of three children: Zebulon, Mrs. Mary Grace Thornhill, and Bessie. Our 
subject is one of the most active business men in his town, taking an active interest in 
educational and religious matters. 

Munn, William H., was born in Lyons, October 15, 1861. His father, John H., was 
engaged in the mercantile and produce business. William H. was educated in the 
Lyons Union School. In 1881 he bought the Munn homestead property of ninety-seven 
acres, which has been in the family fifty years. In 1890 he bought the Philip Goetzman 
estate of forty-seven acres, raising mint, fruit, hay, grain and stock. At the age of 
twenty-five he married Katie E., daughter of Cornelius 0. Brundage, and they are the 
parents of two children : John H., and Leona B. Our subject is one of the most enter- 
prising citizens of his town, taking an active interest in educational and religious 
matters. 

Murphy, John H., was born in Macedon, April 24, 1855. His father, John Murphy, 
was a native of Ireland and came to this country in 1849, and settled in Macedon, where 



214 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

he bought a small place. He married Margaret Coniff, of Ireland, and to them were 
born six children, including our subject, John H. Murphy. Mr. Murphy, the son, was 
educated in the Union School at Macedon and studied medicine in Buffalo. He is now 
engaged in farming, having bought the Van Duzer farm of 140 acres. In 1S84 he mar- 
ried Mary J. Dalton, of Lyons, and they are the parents of five children. Mr. Murphy 
is an Independent. 

Martz, Frederick, is a native of Germany and came to this country eighteen years 
ago. He settled in Palmyra, and for eleven years was engaged in farm work, then he 
bought the farm he now lives on, consisting of thirty-one acres. He married Mary 
Smith, daughter of Frederick Smith, and they have two children. Mr. Martz is a mem- 
ber of the German church. In politic 3 he is a Republican. 

Mansfield, George, Macedon, was born in England in December, 1848, came to this 
county with his parents in 1852, and settled in Brighton, Monroe county. His father 
is a blacksmith by trade and worked at it until 1874, when he bought a farm and moved 
to Macedon Centre, where he has since continued the business. He married Charlotte 
Haygreen, of England, and they had two children, Charles, living in Michigan, and 
George, our subject. Subject followed the blacksmith's trade until a year ago, when he 
bought the farm of eighty-four acres, which he still owns. He received a common 
school and academic education. He married in 1874 Elizabeth Ford, of Highland Mills 
Orange county, and they have two children, George and Leroy, who were educated in 
Macedon Academy. 

Mack, Ira W., born in the old town of Wolcott, June 10, 1835, is the youngest son 
of the late John and Hannah Mack. John Mack was a soldier of 1812, and his father, 
the paternal grandfather of our subject, of the Revolution. Mrs. Ira Mack is a daughter 
of the late Gansevoort Center. Estelle, their older daughter, married Jacob Crounce of 
Hannibal, Oswego, N. Y., and Jennie, next younger, maried William Crounce, of Butler. 
They have also two sons, Gansevoort, and Ira, jr. 

Murphy, Joseph E., was born in New York city, December 21, 1847. His father, 
Patrick Murphy, was a native of Ireland and came to the United States when fourteen 
years of age in 1830, and settled in Lockport, where he died in 1893 at the age of seventy- 
seven. Joseph E. Murphy was educated in Lockport, after which he engaged in the 
clothing trade for three years, and then learned the tanner's trade. In 1877 he came 
to Clyde and entered the employ of L. B. Denio. Two years later he purchased the 
interest of P. S. Nash and formed a partnership with P. Ira Lake, continuing up to 
1883, when Mr. Lake disposed of his interest to Thomas M. Ellicott. The firm is the 
leading hardware business in Clyde, and makes a specialty of fine plumbing. At the age 
of twenty-five years Mr. Murphy married Miss Susie Kimball, of Northfield, Vt., who 
died in 1885. In 1889 he remarried, his second wife being Mary Fraher, daughter of 
Edward Fraher, of Clyde, and they are the parents of these children : George Harold, 
Maude K., and Mary Alice. 

Miller, Charles A., was born in Williamson. March 23, 1860, the son of John and 
Mary Skinner Miller, he born in Greenfield, Saratorga county, and she in Waterloo, 
N. Y. The grandfather of our subject was Philaster Miller, of Greenfield, Saratoga 
county, N. Y. John Miller is a farmer and lives a retired life in Pultt eyville. His wife 
died when our subject was an infant, and Mr. Miller married Sarah L. Throop, of 
Williamson. Our subject was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools. 
He now resides with his grandfather. 

McKee, Hiram, was born in Webster, Monroe county, July 10, 1846, the only son of 
David and Agnes A. (Rodgers) McKee, both of Webster. The former died about 1850, 
and the latter in 1892. After the death of her husband Mrs. McKee married second. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 215 

Peter Brewer, and removed to Virginia, where she died. Hiram was educated in the 
common and select schools of Pultneyville, and August 3, 1863, enlisted in the 8th N.Y. 
Cavalry, serving till the close of the war. He was at Winchester, Cedar Creek, Lee's 
surrender, and received several wounds. August 4, 1866, he married Mariette, daughter 
of Harvey Sherburne, of this county, who died in 1891. They have these children : 
Dell, Oliver, May, Clyde, and Marshall. Mr. McKee carries on general farming and 
fruit raising, and has served as collector, inspector of elections, etc. He is a member of 
Walworth Grange No. 254, F. & A. M., and also of the G. A. R., Fish Post. 

Milhan, Martin L., born October 30, 1851, in Williamson, is a son of Martin and 
Maria Milhan. He was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools. He has 
always been engaged in farming, and owns eighty acres of the old homestead. He is a 
member of the P. of H. of Williamson. He married, December 23, 1874, Mary J. 
Barclay, who live in Sodus. Mr. Milhan and wife have three children : Effie, who died 
in infancy ; Helen L., and Martin S. 

McCourtie, John, is the son of one of the sturdy pioneers of Butler, bearing the same 
name, who cleared the homestead where our subject now resides, and died there in 1842 
at the early age of thirty- nine years. Of his two sons, John and William, the latter is 
engaged in real estate and milling business at Kalamazoo, Mich., and John, of whom we 
write, is one of the representative farmers of this section, and highly esteemed by all 
who know him. His wife is Melissa, daughter of Eleazer Smith, who was also a man 
of note in the early days of Butler. They Avere married August 28, 1853, and have two 
children: Jennie, born June 10, 1870, and Smith, born December 1, 1859, and who 
married Orpha Andrews, of Spring Lake. 

Mack. I. T., third son of John and Hannah Mack, who came to Wayne county in 1820, 
settling in Wolcott, near Fairhaven, where Isaac was born in 1826, one of a family of 
eight. John Mack was a prisoner of the war of 1812, and his father who reached the 
great age of ninety-seven years, was a soldier of the Revolution. John Mack died in 
1849 at the age of sixty years, and his wife, Hannah, in 1874, when seventy-five. Our 
subject has always devoted himself to farming, and has been very successful in that 
business, still operating nearly three hundred acres of land devoted to general farming 
His wife, Lucy M. Center of Butler, to whom he was married September 30, 1852, is 
the mother of six children : Nancy L., the wife of A. W. Park, of Wolcott ; Carrie, 
wife of Azael Harder, of Butler; Abraham C, a resident of Kansas City, Mo.; Gibson 
B., a graduate of Albany Normal School, and of Eastman Business College ; William G., 
engaged in the acquisition of a medical education, and Elizabeth, wife of Lincoln Har- 
der, of Butler. 

Mead, Rev. John Calvin, was born in Burdett, Schuyler county, October 8, 1859. 
His father, G. J. Mead, was a prominent farmer of his town. The family are of Scotch 
and English descent, and were among the earliest settlers in Central New York. John 
C. was educated in the common schools, and entered Cook Academy at, Havana, 
where his preparation for college was completed. In 1879 he entered Hamilton, taking 
the classical course, and graduated in 1880 with the degree of A.B., receiving special 
prizes as an essayist and debator; also giving special attention to the study of the law. 
In the fall of 1883 he entered the Theological Seminary at Auburn, graduating in 1886, 
and the same year was installed pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Canastota, re - 
ceiving the degree of A.M. from his Alma Mater. He remained in Canastota six years, 
the church body increasing threefold under his pastorate. The death of his mother in 
1882 caused several extended trips t ) Europe and in the United States, entering also 
the lecture field. In 1892 he came to Clyde and was installed as pastor of the Presby- 
terian Church. At the age of thirty-three he mairied Martha, daughter of Abram 
Lansing, of Albany. The church under his charge has been invigorated and the mem- 
ship increased. 



216 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Morrison, Jacob, a native of Holland, born February 9, 1838, was the eldest of five 
children of William and Janet Morrison, natives of Holland, who came to Marion in 
I860, where they died. Oar subject was reared on a farm, educated in Holland and 
Marion, and has followed general farming-. He married in 1864 Sarah, daughter of 
William Lookup, by whom he had three children : William, George and Frank. Will- 
iam married Nellie Michel; George married Alhe Davis and Frank married Maggie 
Meatt. Mrs. Morrison died December 6, 1892. 

Murphy, James S., manufacturer of harnesses, dealer in whips, nets, dusters, blankets, 
oils, etc., was born in Cold Water, Mich., May 8, 1859, son of Myrtie and Mary 
(Keeley) Murphy, natives of Ireland. They came to Palmyra about 1840 and worked 
on railroad and canal and soon went to Cold Water, but returned to Palmyra. They 
again returned to Michigan and in 1866 came to Palmyra and purchased a farm in Wal- 
worth, which he sold and went to Ontario and bought sixty-five acres. He went to 
Macedon in 1892 and purchased eighty-two acres, where he now lives. Mrs. Murphy 
died September 13, 1891. Subject was educated in Ontario, and in 1882 learned the 
harness trade with William G. Beckwith, of Williamson, came to Walworth in 1890, 
and has since had a very successful business. 

Little. Henry M., was born December 8, 1853, in Macedon. John Little, his father, 
was born in 1819. His occupation was farming and drover, handling cattle, sheep, 
hogs, etc. For nearly twenty years of his early life he shipped stock to New York 
markets of many different States. He held the office of justice of peace two terms in 
Murray. He married in 1850 Harriet T. Allen, by whom he had three children: Henry 
M., our subject, Emma and Mary, the latter being deceased. Our subject is engaged in 
farming and the breeding of blooded stock, also in the drug business. He was educated 
at Hulberton and Macedon, where he finished. He has been commissioner of highways, 
and for the last two years has been president of the village. He has been vice-presi- 
dent of the Trotting Horse Breeders' Association of the State of New York for seven 
vears, has many times acted as judge on stock at prominent fairs in the State, and is a 
member of the A. 0. U. W., and the Knights of the Maccabees. He married in 1875, 
and has two children, Allen T. and Mable D. 

Langden, Alonzo, was born in Palmyra in 1822, where he resided till the age of 
twenty six years, when he went to Chicago, III, for a year, returning to Palmyra in 
1851. He remained here until 1868, then spent another two years in Chicago, a year 
in New York, Buffalo, and then returned home. In 1872 he engaged in the rectifying 
business, which he followed six years, and then worked at the grocery trade. He sold 
his stock in the latter in 1884, but after a year took it back, and has since been engaged 
in the grocery business. Benjamin, father of Alonzo, came from the East to Onondaga 
county and married Nancy Burden, of New Jersey, whose father, Abraham Burden, 
was a soldier in the war of 1812. He died in Chautauqua county. Benjamin Langden 
and wife both died in Palmyra. They were the parents of six children, of whom our 
subject was the oldest. The latter has been engaged at different times in the distilling 
business, but has now abandoned it. In 1862 he bought a farm near Palmyra, and in 
1872 purchased a storehouse. In 1846 he married Mary Page, by whom he has two 
children, William and George. 

Lockwood, B. F., proprietor of the Lyons Sewer Pipe Works, was born in Victory, 
June 6, 1850, came to Lyons in 1883, and engaged in the manufacture of sewer pipe, 
having the largest and most complete plant in Wayne connty. In 1892 he added a 
barrel manufactory to his business, producing from 10 to 25,000 barrels per year, and 
10,000 feet of different sizes of cement pipe, 500 yards of sand and gravel and handling 
4 to 500 tons of cement per year. At the age of twenty-two he married Jennie 
daughter of Alfred Brooks, of Wolcott, and they have two daughters, Mary L., and 
Florence E. Our subject is one of the most enterprising men in his town, taking an 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 217 

active interest in educational and religious matters, and is identified in the leading events 
of the day. 

Lapham, 0. C, was born in the town of Macedon in August, 1837. His father, 0. 
Lapham, was born within half a mile of the farm now owned by bis son, in 1807. He 
has always been engaged in farming. His education was acquired in the district schools 
of the town. He married Elizabeth Reed, of Macedon. daughter of Paul Reed, and they 
were the parents of six children, including 0. C. Lapham. 0. C. Lapham, the son, was 
brought up on the farm and has always been occupied in farm work. He was educated 
in the district schools of Macedon. In 1867 he married Mary White, daughter of Paul 
White, of Walworth. They are the parents of one child, Emery D., who is at present 
postal clerk between Cleveland and Syracuse. He has been in the service one and one- 
half years. He received his education from the Macedon Academy and Rochester Busi- 
ness College. Mr. 0. C. Lapham is a Republican and has served as assessor nine years 
and commissioner five years. He is a member of the G. A. R., Post 450 of Macedon, 
having served in the war from 1862 to 1865, and was in thirteen battles. Mrs. Lapham 
is a member of the Baptist church. 

Lotze, John, was born in Germany, August 12, 1837, son of Anthony and Catharine 
(Pauline) Lotze, natives of Germany, where they died. He was a wagonmaker by 
trade, and died in 1874, and his wife in 1864. Subject was educated in Germany and 
at the age of fifteen came to America, located in East Walworth and worked in Marion 
on a farm. He then learned the wagonmaker's trade, which he followed thirty years in 
West Walworth, where he came in 1856. In 1890 he engaged in the mercantile busi- 
ness, which he has since followed. He also handles phosphates and is an insurance 
agent, representing various companies. He has been constable, town clerk, poormaster, 
has been justice of the peace five years, which office he still holds, and has also been 
postmaster four years. He is a member of the Evangelical Association of West Wal- 
worth, has been class leader, exhorter, superintendent of Sunday school, and is now 
assistant superintendent in the Evangelical Association of the New York Conference. 
He is one of the well to do men of Walworfh. He married in 1861 Emma Baehler, a 
native of Germany, who came to the United States with her mother, her father having 
died in Germany. Mr. Lotze and wife have had one son, Henry J., who was educated 
in Walworth, learned the jeweler's trade in Lyons, and is now employed by his father 

in the store. His wife is Ettie , by whom he has three children, Carl, Elma, and 

Blanche. 

Lux, Charles A., was born in Clyde, October 30, 1858. His father, Ernest Lux, was 
a native of Wurtemberg, Germany, and came to the United States in 1840, settling in 
Savannah. Charles A. Lux was educated at Fort Edward Institute and was graduated 
from Cornell University in 1881, after which he came to Clyde and went into business 
with his father. Mr. Lux is now doing a large cooperage and coal business and is one 
of the leading business men of the town. He married Anna Myers, daughter of DeWitt 
C. Myers, and have one daughter, Margaret M. 

Lundy, Levi, was born in Eden, Erie county, February 22, 1822. His father, Jacob, 
who was a native of New Jersey, settled first in Erie county and afterwards came to 
Wayne county. He died in 1871, aged eighty -six years. Levi was educated in the 
common schools, after which he worked out for several years, and in 1873 purchased 
part of the Nathan Rogers farm of seventy-nine acres. At the age of thirty-one he 
married Mrs. Julia Rogers, who died in 1862, and in 1870 he married second, Mrs. 
Phoebe Lynch, daughter of Charles Bonnell, and they have one daughter, Mrs. Julia 
Sloan. Our subject has been assessor twelve years, commissioner of highways nine 
years, and is a member of the Society of Friends. 

Laing, Captain John A., born in Boston, Erie county, July 5, 1820, was a son of 

bb 



218 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Elijah and Elizabeth Laing, natives of New Jersey. They went to Boston, Erie county, 
in 1815, where Mr. Laing died in 1822, and his widow married David Pound and went 
to Canada, where she reared three children by her second husband. She also died in 
Canada. Our subject was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools in 
Boston, Erie county, and Waterloo Academy. He learned the carriage painters' trade, 
and followed it many years, doing mostly ornamental work. He enlisted in August, 
1862, in Company E, 111th N. Y. Volunteer Infantiy, and was mustered out in 1866, 
serving one year after the close of the war. He was mustered in as second lieutenant, 
promoted to lieutenant, and finally promoted to captain. Captain Laing was at Harp- 
er's Ferry, Alexandria Railroad, Bristol Station, was wounded in the leg and sent home, 
but soon returned and was again wounded at Morton's Ford. He was then at Mine 
Run and the Wilderness, where he was twice wounded while in command of the regi- 
ment. He was then taken to Washington, where he was in the hospital. He was 
afterward sent to Annapolis, examined, mustered into the service, and was in command 
of the Finley Hospital, and was there when the war closed. He remained until the 
soldiers were mustered out and was then transferred to Elmira, N. Y., and was mustered 
out in December, 1866. He married in 1846 Julia A. Marshall, a native of Fayette, 
Seneca county, by whom he has had three children: Charlie, deceased; Lucy A. and 
Charlie. Captain Laing has been inspector of election, town clerk, a member of the 
Assembly in 1859, and has been justice of peace sixteen years. He was also justice of 
peace four years in Marion. Our subject came to Marion in 1856 and removed to Will- 
iamson in 1873, where he has since resided. He spent three years in Auburn, N. Y., 
as a keeper of the prison. 

Loveless, Elnather, son of Ransom Loveless of Butler, was born here May 16, 1853. 
Educated within the town of his own and his father's birth, he has shut himself with- 
in its borders, chiefly engaged in farming. July 22, 1872, he married Ida M., daughter 
of J. Adams Lowell of Savannah, of whom he was bereft, June 17, 1894. She was 
thirty-nine years of age, and the mother of three children : Winifred, born February 13, 
1879, Grace, born March 10, 1881, and Maud, born May 12, 1883. 

Loomis, F. M., was born in Rome, Oneida county, April 12, 1841, son of Oscar and 
Lucy Loomis, he a native of Onondaga county, and she of Oneida county. They came 
to Marion in 1843 and settled on a farm, and finally came to Walworth and settled on 
the farm owned by subject, where he died in 1890, aged eighty-two, and his wife in 
1891, aged seventy-two. Subject was educated in Walworth Academy and Rochester 
Business University. He enlisted in 1863 in Company B, 9th N". Y. Heavy Artillery 
and served until the close of the war. He was at Cold Harbor, Winchester, Cedar 
Creek, Monocacy, Petersburg, Five Forks and at Lee's Surrender. He was wounded 
at Cold Harbor, Monocacy and Petersburg. Mr. Loomis married twice, first Novem- 
ber 30, 1864, Alvira M., daughter of Isaac Freer, by whom he had two children : 
Arthur D., who married Earna, daughter of Dr. Russell, of Marion, and they have a 
son, Russell ; Adella M., at home. Mrs. Loomis died May 22, 1892, and he married 
second Margaret T. Clum, a daughter of Ferdinand Clum, who came from Dutchess 
county about 1844, and has since lived in the town. His wife is Maria Clum, by whom 
he has had four children. Subject is a member of Dwight Post of Sodus G. A. R. Mr. 
Loomis was a contractor and builder for fifteen years, and in Marion and Newark was 
engaged in the meat business three years. He owns the old homestead of forty-two 
acres. 

Jordan, W. T., the oldest of twelve children, was born in Lyons November 26, 1852. 
His father was a native of England, who came to the United States in 1848 and settled 
in M'ayne county ; his trade was tailor, and after that he did a good business as butcher, 
exchanging his village accumulations for a farm. He lived the later part of his life as 
a farmer. His wife was Mary Jane, daughter of William Jones, a native of Wales, who 
came to Wayne county in 1831. W. T. Jordan was educated in common schools. At 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 2l«.) 

the age of twenty-six married to Josephine, daughter of Benjamin Bishop, of South 
Butler, by whom he has three children: William W., Jay B. and Maud. Me was a 
farmer until 1892; he then purchased the property near the Lock Berlin Lock, known 
as the Morgan Cookingham property, erected a large fruit evaporator and established 
his present business of dealer in provisions, general merchandise, hay, grain and pota- 
toes, and evaporating fruit. Our subject is one of the representative men of the town, 
taking an active interest in school and the M. E. Church of Lock Berlin. 

Briggs, John, was born in Cortland county, August 8, 1834, son of Jonathan and 
Emaline (Baker) Briggs, he a native of Rhode Island, born October 3, 1811, and she of 
Connecticut, born May 12, 1811, Their children are: John, Caroline, George, Birney, 
Luman, Lyman, Elbert, and Sophia, human married Ellen Doremus, and Lyman mar- 
ried Helen Doremus, twin brothers marrying twin sisters. The paternal grandfather of 
subject was John Briggs, a native of Rhode Island, who in 1814 came to Cortland 
county, where he died. His wife was Margaret Jones, a native of Rhode Island, who 
died in Cortland. Father of subject came to Rose and settled on the farm owned by 
our subject, where he died. He was one of the leading farmers of the town, and at his 
death owned 150 acres.. He died July 18, 1881, and his wife August 1, 1891. Their 
children were: Birney, a carpenter of Rochester. His wife is Anna Terry, and they 
have three sons and two daughters; Caroline, wife of William Niles, of Rose Valley, 
by whom she has two children ; Elbert, resides in the town of Lyons; and George, who 
died aged twenty-five years. Subject was ten years old when he came to Rose, and 
except twenty-three years in Huron, has always resided here. He now owns about 300 
acres in the towns of Huron and Rose, and follows general farming. He was assessor 
two terms in Huron, and is a member of the Huron Grange No. 124. He married in 
1861 Sarah J. Otto, a native of Huron, born October 4, 1841, daughter of Samuel and 
Eliza (Miller) Otto. Mr. Briggs and wife have three children : Eliza L., wife of Nathan 
Turner, of Sodus, by whom she has three children: Benjamin B., Hazel A., and Bessie 
0. ; M. Olive, wife of Thomas B. Welch, a hardware merchant of North Rose, and they 
have one child, Harold J. ; and Jonathan F., at home. 

Scott, William W., was born a slave in Sullivan county, Tenn., about 1842, and is 
one of twelve children of Frank Scott, who died a slave. He was owned by four 
different masters, and at one time was sold for $1,100. He did many heroic acts during 
the war, and many a Union soldier he fed from his master's larder in 1863. He led a 
large number of slaves in an escape to the Union lines. He was a soldier for eleven 
months, captured and re-captured several times. In 1864 he came to Sheffield, Mass., 
and engaged as laborer in a marble quarry, being unusually intelligent was made second 
foreman and timekeeper, and two years later engaged as charcoal burner in Mount 
Washington. He was there told of a State farther North called York, where he decided 
to go and wended his way north to Hudson. Later he went to Lyons, where he was 
employed by Dr. Bottom, thence to Sodus, and in 1871 came to Huron, where he mar- 
ried Nancy, daughter of Lewis Samson, a farmer in Huron, who was a slave in his 
early days. His wife was Elizabeth Brigg, whom he married in 1842. Mrs. Scott was 
born in the town of Galen. Mr. and Mrs. Scott have three children : Lewis, born 
February, 1872 ; Finley, born in 1879, and Fred, born in 1886. Subject and wife are 
members of the Royal Templars of Temperance of Huron. They own the farm of 
fifty-six acres formerly owned by Mrs. Scott's father. 

Wilson, Gorham J., born in Savannah, March 7, 1856, is the eldest son of George R, 
and Mary (Gorham) Wilson, now residents of South Butler. After leaving school he 
engaged in farming and teaching five years, and in January, 1881, established with 
Yiele Mead a general store business at South Butler, the co-partnership now being 
Wilson & Mitchell. December 29, 1881, he married Carrie A., daughter of Mrs. Harriett 
Newton, of Savannah, and their children are: Florence E., born May 25, 1883; Hattie 
A., born October 16, 1885; and Newton G., born March 5, 1891. Mr. Wilson is an 



220 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

unassuming gentleman of genial manners, whom to know is to admire. From 1890 to 
1893 inclusive he represented his town on the Board of Supervisors as an exponent of 
Republican principles. 

Hale, J. A., was born in Wolcott, N. Y., August 13, 1842, and was the son of 0. H. 
and Lamira Hale, who reared a family of four sons and seven daughters. Our subject 
is not only a builder by trade but the architect of his own destinies, and a citizen who 
commands the respect of all who know him. For several years past he has been con- 
nected with a Rochester milling company, building flouring mills. He is a staunch 
Republican, having cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln for president. He was for 
several years a member of the Board of Education of Leavenworth Institute, located in 
Wolcott village, where all his children were educated. On March 2, 1865, he married 
Esther M., daughter of Patrick and Emeline Casey, who is the mother of four children. 
Fred. G. Hale was born in Wolcott, Ojtober 20, 1866, who after completing his educa- 
tion learned the millwright's trade and traveled through the western States, building 
flouring mills. In November, 1891, he went to Campeachey, Mexico, and built a large 
mill for cutting Spanish cedar and mahogany. Returning to the United States in July, 
1892, took up his residence in Jersey city, N. J., where he now has the supervision of a 
flouring mill. Frank A. Hale was born September 3, 1867, who after completing his 
education learned the tinner's trade. In 1891 he with a party of six young men went 
to the State of Washington to find for themselves homes on the Pacific coast, but soon 
made up their minds that Wayne county, N. Y., had a more healthful climate and re- 
turned thither in 1892, and is now connected with the firm of Kelley <fe Son, hardware 
merchants in Wolcott, N. Y. Ida B. Hale was born in Wolcott, June )8, 1870, and 
died September 13, 1887. Nellie M. Hale was born October 17, 1876, and died June 4, 
1886. 

Garratt, Richard, was born in Westchester county May 1, 1824, son of Richard and 
Annie (Hallack) Garratt, natives of Long Island, who came to Galen in 1838, and died 
in Long Island. The paternal grandfather of subject was in the Revolutionary War, as 
was also the maternal grandfather. The father of subject was in the war of 1812. Sub- 
ject was reared on Long Island and educated in the common schools- He has always 
been a farmer and has cleared the land he owns, and about 200 acres of other land in 
the county. He owns twenty-eight acres. Mr. Garratt enlisted in 1862 in the 9th Ar- 
tillery and served seven months. He married in 184"6 Frances L., daughter of Solomon 
and Sarah R (Ryan) Smith, in Huron, by whom he has had two daughters : Sarah, wife 
of Frank Jones, and has three sons and one daughter, who is now a widow and resides 
in Rose ; and Mary E., wife of Michael Fisher, of Clyde. She died in 1887, leaving one 
son and three daughters. The family is of English descent, and date their ancestry to 
three brothers, who came to America during the Revolutionary War. The Hallacks are 
of Welsh descent, and settled at Stony Brook, L. I. 

Tinckelpaugh, William H., was born in Sodus, May 27, 1827, a son of Adam, a native 
of Columbia county, who came in 1811 to Wayne county and located in Marion, being 
at this time in early youth. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, and on arriving at 
manhood he bought a tract of land west of Sodus village and south of the " rtdge," the 
whole of it being dense forest. Building a log cabin he began clearing up the land, 
which he sold four years later. He was a man of push and enterprise, and became -a 
prominent and prosperous farmer, taking an active part in political affairs. He was an 
influential member of the Presbyterian church of Sodus, was colonel of the old Rifle 
Regiment, and took great interest in military affairs. He married Harriet Ailing, of 
Sodus, and their children were : Amanda, Charles, William H., Harriet J., Myron Oscar, 
Manha, and Delia. Adam Tinckelpaugh died April 4, 1863. William H., with the ex- 
ception of six years, which were spent in Williamson, has always lived in Sodus. From 
1857 to 1877 he was in the mercantile trade at Joy, with which exception he has fol- 
lowed farming. " He is a leading member of the Presbyterian church of Joy, a member 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 221 

of the Masonic Lodge at Sodus, and Zenobia Commandery No. 41 of Palmyra. He 
married Sarah M. Nash, of Williamson, and they have had these children : Martha J., 
now Mrs. Samuel E. Allen, of Sodus ; Mettie D., now Mrs. Leslie M. Snyder, of Sodus ; 
and Adella M., who died unmarried. 

Trowbridge, Theodore B., was born in Susquehanna county, Pa,, December 23, 1837, 
came to Wayne county in 1860, and settled in Sodus, southeast of Sodus Centre, where 
he engaged in farming. He was commissioner of highways from 1876 to 1888, and was 
under sheriff in 1892, and in 1893 under Sheriff Thornton. He is a member of Sodus 
Lodge No. 392, F. & A. M., and is a charter member of Wallington Grange. He mar- 
ried in 1862 Emily, daughter of Durfee Wilcox, of Sodus, and their children are Melvin 
C. and Maud Emma (Mrs. William Sherman, of Allegan, Mich.) Durfee Wilcox was 
born in Palmyra in 1809, and died in Sodus in 1893. He was a son of Captain William 
Wilcox, who came from Rhode Island about 1790 and settled in Palmyra. He was cap- 
tain of a cavalry company in the days of the old militia. He married Ruth Durfee and 
they had twelve children. Durfee Wilcox, their son, came to Sodus in 1828, and set- 
tled north of Alton. Later he settled on the large farm south of Sodus Centre, where 
he resided until his death. He held numerous positions of trust and honor, among which 
were supervisor two years during the war, assessor several years, and for twelve years 
county superintendent of the poor. He married Samantha Wells, and they had five 
children: Louisa M., who died at the age of seventeen ; John M. and Stephen D., who 
are farmers in Sodus ; Emity J. (Mrs. Theodore B. Trowbridge, of Sodus) ; and William 
J., of California. 

Espenscheid, Nicholas, was born in Sodus, May 31, 1851, and is a son of Adam H. 
Espenscheid, who, with his brothers Philip and Frederick, came from Germany in 1835. 
Philip and Frederick settled in Williamsport, Pa., Adam H. settled in Sodus and was a 
farmer. He married Barbara, daughter of John Espenscheid, of Sodus. He came from 
Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, in 1834, and settled in Sodus, purchasing a farm one-half 
mile north of Alton, and was a prosperous farmer. He was a distiller in the old coun- 
try, and carried on the business to some extent after coming to this country. His chil- 
dren were John, Carl, Lawrence, Andrew, Nicholas, Philip, Louis, and Barbara. John 
settled in Galen and was a farmer; he married Mary Eicb. Carl settled in Peoria, 111., 
where he died; he married Sally Rumage. Lawrence settled on the homestead and is 
a farmer; he married Diantha Van Etten. Andrew settled at' Alton, is a harnessmaker 
and married Catherine Roy. Nicholas settled in New York city, and is engaged in the 
hatting business. Philip settled in California, where he died young. Barbara married 
Adam H. Espenscheid, and their children were Nicholas and Frederick. 

Jeffers, Henry, was born in Rose April 26, 1850, son of Robert N., a son of Nathan 
Jeffers. Robert N. was born April 26, 1820, in Rose, was always a farmer and stock 
dealer, owned 341 acres at his death and was one of the wealthiest men in Rose. He 
married twice, first Maria Winchell, by whom he had four children : Henry and Hen- 
rietta (twins). Lana and Robert, who died, aged four years. Mrs. Jeffers died in 1863, 
and Mr. Jeffers married Sarah Holbrook, who resides \\n Rose Valley. Mr. Jeffers died 
June 11, 1893. Subject was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools, has 
always followed farming, and except six years in Butler has lived in Rose, and owns 
the old homestead of 160 acres. He married in 1876 Mary J. Haviland, a native of 
Rose, by whom he has had two children : Robert, who died in infancy, and Burton H., 
born November 2, 1883. 

Jeffers, George, was born in Lyons August 22, 1846, a son of Nathan and Sallie 

Dunmore) Jeffers, he a native of Johnstown and she of Pleasant Valley, born in April, 

1808. They came to Lyons in 1816 and finally came to Rose and settled on the farm 

owned by our subject, where he died in 1853, and his wife resides in Rose Valley. Mr. 

Jeffers was in the war of 1812. By a previous marriage to Eleanor Vandercook he had 



222 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY 

ten children. Subject was reared on a farm, educated in the common schools, and has 
always been engaged in farming, except one year in Pennsylvania in the oil regions. 
He added to the old homestead forty acres, and now owns 100 acres and follows gen- 
eral farming. Mr. Jeffers has been collector four terms, constable twelve terms and 
deputy sheriff twelve years. He married in 1874 Eliza Mitchell, whose father was one 
of the first settlers. Subject and wife have three children : Willard G., Frank W. and 
May L. 

Rogers, Erastus, was born March 14, 1815, and died December 5, 1881, in Sodus. 
His father was Gabriel Rogers, born in 1776, who settled in South Sodus at an early 
day, and married Hannah Clark; their children were: Bartlett, James, Jerry and Eras- 
tus. The latter settled in South Sodus in early life and moved to Sodus Point in 1852, 
where he held the office of collector through two administrations ; he moved to Sodus 
in 1862, where he resided until his death. He was a leading man in the affairs of his 
town, where he filled' many local offices, and was prominent in his business pursuits. 
He married Cornelia A. Gardiner, of Sag Harbor, L. I., in 1855, and they had four 
children : J. Franklin and Harry G., who settled in Aurora, 111., in 1892, engaged in 
mercantile pursuits, Kate S. (Mrs. Carlton L. Gaylord), of Sodus, and Bertie, who died 
in childhood. 

Bates, Lewis (deceased), was born August 13, 1819, in Saratoga county, and was a 
son of Daniel P. Bates, who settled near Sodus Center about 1826 and later near Sodus 
Point. He married Jane Van Cott, and their children were: Esther, who married Ira 
Powers and settled at Geneva, N. Y.; Ann, who married George Sergeant and settled 
in Sodus; Almira, who married Francis Doville, of Sodus; John, who settled in Sodus 
and is a wealthy farmer, and Lewis, who early in life was a sailor on the lakes, was a 
captain and owner of various vessels, later engaging in the mercantile trade at Sodus 
Point, which he carried on for ten or twelve years. About 1863 he purchased a farm 
on the lake road, west of the Point, where he lived until his death in 1893. He took 
an active part in political affairs, and was supervisor of Sodus several years. He mar- 
ried in 1851 Martha A., daughter of Henry Finch, of Sodus, and their children were : 
Danipl P., who is a farmer in Sodus, and married Jane Knapp ; Frances A., who is un- 
married and resides on the homestead; Lawrence A., who lives in Pine Valley, 
Chemung county, and married Kate Farrell; A. Bonaparte, who is a farmer in Sodus, 
and married Mary Comstock ; Edward L., unmarried, who resides on the homestead ; 
Anna M., who married Franklin A. Palmer, resides in Erie, Pa; David R., unmarried, 
who resides on the homestead, and De Grape, unmarried, who resides on the home- 
stead. 

Fish, Harry S., son of Isaac and Polly Rice Fish, was born in Williamson, N. Y., No- 
vember 24, 1811. Isaac Fish and wife came from Massachusetts and resided in Will- 
iamson until their decease. Harry S. Fish was brought up on a farm and educated in 
the common schools. He has always been engaged in farming, and is recognized as one 
of the most successful farmers in his town. He was always fond of fine horses and 
raised many. He has been highway commissioner of his town. He is a member of the 
W. M. church, and is a Republican in politics. He married Polly Maria Russell, January 
29, 1835, from which marriage he had five children: Isaac N., Daniel R., Julia M., Selby 
S., and Carlton B. Mrs. Fish was a member of the W. M church, was born June 3, 1816, 
and died December 2, 1845. Mr. Fish subsequently married Fanny Maria Stewart, Oc- 
tober 15, 1846, who was a member of the W. M. church, and was born January 9, 1817, 
and died January 13, 1893. From this marriage there were four children: Harriet A., 
Timothy S., William G, and Sarah L. Selby S.. Carlton B.. and Timothy S. Fish en- 
listed in the United States service early in the Rebellion of 1861-65, and served until 
honorably discharged therefrom. William Stewart, father of Fanny Maria Stewart Fish, 
was a Scotchman by birth. Soon after his arrival in America war was declared against 
England. Young Stewart entered the Continental army and served seven years in the 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 323 

war. Harriet A. is the only child who remains at home to care for her invalid father 
and aid him in his business transactions. 

Ellinwood, E. Chester, was born in Rose, July 6, 1838, son of Chester and Sophronia 
(Allen) Ellinwood. The father was a native of Brookline, Vt, and she a native of Mas- 
sachusetts. The paternal grandparents were Jonathan and Naomi (Weeks) EllinAvood, 
and Ezra Allen and Lucy (Kellogg) Allen. The former were natives of Vermont, and 
the latter of Massa n husetts. Chester Ellinwood was a soldier of the war of 1812. He 
and his wife, Sophronia, were married in 1816, and settled upon a large farm one mile 
east of Rose Valley, and here they reared a family of six children : Ensign W., Charlotte 
M., Lucy, Lemira, Mary A., Charles J., and E. Chester. He was a successful and well- 
to-do farmer of his time, and lived to be eighty- five years old. E. Chester, the young- 
est of the family, and the subject of this sketch, received a liberal education at the Rose 
Valley School, the Clyde High School, and Fort Plain Seminary. He studied law in the 
office of Judge Norton at Newark, and here he sought and won the heart and hand of 
Mary E., who was the accomplished daughter of Clark and Irene Phillips, of Arcadia. 
They were married September 3, 1867. Among the important results of this union five 
children were added : Irene P. (who died at the age of fourteen years), Mary, Louise, 
John C, Chester, and Robert E. Louisa is now a teacher in the Clyde High School, 
John a teacher in his home district, and Chester and Robert are among his pupils. Mr. 
Ellinwood owns and resides upon a large farm situated midway between Rose and Wol- 
cott, and a very pleasant home it is with its surroundings and attractions. He enjoys 
the charms around his fireside of a devoted wife and happy children. In politics he is a 
Democrat, attends with his family the Baptist church, and is a member of the Wolcott 
Grange. He has been supervisor of his town two terms. 

Graham, Archibald M., was born in the town of Rose, December 15, 1856, son of 
Henry Graham, a prominent man in his town. He was a farmer and blacksmith, buy- 
ing a tract of land a mile square of the original purchasers of the tract. He died in 1878 
aged seventy-seven years. Our subject was educated in the common schools, Clyde 
High School, and Red Creek Seminary, and took a business course at Bryant &Stratton 
College at Syracuse, after which he entered the employ of Gurney, Streeter & Co. In 
1877 he established a drug store with J. H. Childs, which he sold out in 1879. and then 
engaged in the boot and shoe business. In 1888 he purchased the W. H. & C. F. Groes- 
beck's warehouse and flouring plant, making a specialty of fine grades of flour, having 
an output of 150 barrels per day. At the age of twenty-one he married Rose E. Case, 
daughter of Harvey Case, by whom he has one daughter, Louise R. Our subject is one 
of the conservative men of the town, filling the office of trustee, also trustee of the 
school for eight years, president of the village in 1893, and is identified in advancing the 
best interests of the day. 

Redman, Abraham, was born in Camillus in 1822, and is a son of Isaac and grandson 
of Abraham. Isaac Redman came to Wayne county about 1834, and settled in the east 
part of the town of Sodus, south of the ridge, and took up eighty acres, where he spent 
the remainder of his life. He married Rebecca Pitts, and their children were : Abram, 
Betsey, Michael, Mary, and Sarah J. Abram settled in Sodus. He is a carpenter by 
trade, and during the earlier years of his life followed that business. He afterward set- 
tled on the Ridge road, near the west line of the town, and is engaged in farming. He 
married Sarah E. White, and their children are: Virginia Amelia (deceased), who mar- 
ried Charles Kelly ; Alice, who died unmarried ; Harvey, who married Frances Miller 
and resides in Williamson ; and Warner D., is a farmer on the homestead. He married 
Lillian B. Whaling, of Sodus. 

Greene, Samuel B., was born in Albany county, February 9, 1827, and died in Sodus 
in October, 1887. His father, Joseph, came to Wayne county in 1837, and settled near 
Joy in the town of Sodus. He took an active part in political affairs, and was highway 



224 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

commissioner and assessor. He was a prominent member of the Christian church of 
Marion. He married Abigail Baker, and their children were : Samuel B., Jeremiah, 
Benjamin B., and Joseph A. Joseph Greene, sr., died in 1875; Jeremiah settled in 
Clyde, where he died in 1888. For many years he carried on a drug business there; 
Benjamin B. settled in Newark and is a carpenter and builder ; Joseph A. settled in 
Indiana, where he died. He was for many years engaged in the hardware trade there; 
Samuel B. settled on a farm south of Joy, where he spent his life. He was highway 
commissioner and assessor for several years, also collector. He was a liberal supportor 
of the Presbyterian church of Joy, and for many years was superintendent of the Sab- 
bath school. He married in 1852 Harriet J., daughter of Adam Tinkelpaugh, of Sodus, 
and their children were: Louise A. (Mrs. Lynn D. Wake, of Sodus) ; Harriet A. (Mrs. 
Franklin L. Butts, of Sodus) ; and Martha M. (deceased). 

Knapp, Walter, the' pioneer of the family in Wayne county, came from Columbia 
county in 1833, and settled two miles south south of Sodus village. Soon after he pur- 
chased what is now the Stickney farm, a mile south of the village, where he spent the 
remainder of his life. He was a prominent member of the Sodus Presbyterian church, 
and for many years one of its deacons. He married Annis Richmond, and they had five 
children: Simeon, who settled in New York city and engaged in mercantile pursuits; 
George, who settled in Allegan, Mich. ; Phineas, who engaged in railroading, and died 
in New Orleans; Helen (Mrs. E. A. Greene); and James P., who settled in Sodus on 
the Flarel Kingsley farm. He is a leading member of the Sodus Presbyterian church, 
and for many years was trustee and elder. The latter office he still holds. He married 
Nancy, daughter of Flarel Kingsley, of Sodus, and they had two sons : George, who 
died in 1874, and Charles K., of Sodus village. 

Kelley, William H., was born in Arcadia, June 12, 1856, educated in the district 
school and the academy, and spent his boyhood on his father's farm until the age of 
thirteen. In 1884 he began business as a druggist and stationer, which he has followed 
successfully ever since. August 30, 1874, he married Ella R. Van Auken, of this town, 
and they have had three children : C. Fred, Gertrude E., and Alice M. ; the son is a 
student in the Wesleyan College at Bloomington, 111., and the daughters students at the 
academy. Mr. Kelley's father, Ebenezer, was born in Kinderhook, Columbia county, 
and removed here with his parents in 1830. He married Anna M. Phillips, of Arcadia, 
and they had 'nine children : Clarence M., John P., William II., Ellen L., H. Madge, 
Charles E., Frank A., James E., and a son, Henry, who died young. Both parents are 
now living (1894). Mrs. Kelley's father, Martin C. Van Auken, was born in Westfali, 
Pa., November 18, 1832, and came here with his parents in 1833. Mr. Kelley is a 
member of the Masonic and Maccabee Orders, also Newark Grange, has served as town 
clerk two years, is a member of the Village Board, and is president of the Board of 
Education. 

Delano, Edward Chandler, was born in Sodus Centre, N. Y., November 30, 1854, and 
traces his ancestry back to Jean and Marie (Mahien) Delano, natives of France, whose 
son, Philip, came to Plymouth witli the second detachment of Pilgrims in "ye good 
ship Fortune" in 1621. The oldest son of Philip, the Pilgrim, was Dr. Thomas Delano, 
who married Mary, daughter of John and Priscilla (Molines) Alden, from which this 
branch of the family is descended. William, the pioneer in Wayne county, was a son 
of Amaziah, a Revolutionary soldier, who was a great-great-grandson of Dr. Thomas 
above. William came to this locality in 1811 from North Yarmouth, Me., where the 
family had settled two generations previously. He took up a farm near the present 
village of Sodus Centre, and carried on farming and blacksmithing. His wife was 
Hannah Hayden. who with her brothers came from Maine in 1812. The children of 
William and Hannah were : William II. H, Lucy E. A., Elbridge G., Elvina A., 
Gardiner W., and Rufus Chandler, who all lived to maturity. Rufus C. has always 
resided in the town of Sodus ; he married Almeda Matilda, daughter of Edward and 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 225 

Mary Ann (Jacobs) Taylor, March 4, 1847, by whom he had one child, Edward C. as 
above. The latter was educated in the public schools and at Sodus Academy, and from 
1874 to 1881 was engaged in teaching, being principal of the Sodus Centre Graded 
School. In the fall of 1881 he was elected school commissioner of Wayne county, which 
office he filled for six consecutive years, and was then appointed chief examiner in the 
State Department of Public Instruction, holding the office for five years, or until his 
resignation in 1893. Here he organized and perfected the present State system of 
uniform examinations for teachers' certificates. He was also the pioneer in the move- 
ment for establishing Arbor Day in the State of New York, and many other salutary 
school laws have been enacted largely through his efforts. In 1878, '79 and '80 he was 
president of the Wayne County Teachers' Association, and in 1885 and '86 he was pres- 
ident of the New York State Association of School Commissioners and Superindendents. 
He is an attendant at the Presbyterian church in Sodus Centre, of which he is a trustee. 
January 25, 1888, he married Emma Jane, onlv daughter of Albert G-. and Eliza 
(Smith) Graham, of Clyde, N. Y. 

Robinson, Hon. Rowland, one of the prominent citizens of Sodus, was born in Cam- 
bridge, Washington county. November 7, 1820, his ancestors being Rhode Island 
Quakers. In 1865 he came and settled in the town of Sodus, buying a farm south of 
the village, and at once began to identify himself with the best interests of the town. 
He was supervisor of Sodus from 1877 to 1880, when he was elected to the Assembly 
of 1881. He held for several years the appointment of town commissioner of the Sodus 
Point and Southern Railroad, and was director for a time of the Lake Ontario Shore" 
Railroad ; is president of the Wayne County Fire Relief Association, having insurance 
on farm property amounting to about $3,200,000, with an average increase of $200,- 
000 per year. 

Redgrave, Samuel C, leading hardware dealer of Lyons, was born in Baltimore, Md., 
April 17, 1836, is a son of John Redgrave, who died in 1840. Samuel was taught in 
the schools of Wayne, whither his mother came after her husband's death, to be near 
her brother, William N. Cole, the editor of one of the local papers. He worked on a 
farm in early life, and then served as clerk in the hardware store of William H. Hulelt, 
of Lyons. He next worked a year in Palmyra, and on April 1, 1855, returned to 
■ Lyons in the employ of P. P. Bradish, who then carried on hardware trade. Mr. 
Bradish sold out a year later to R. H. Murdock, for whom Mr. Redgrave worked until 
1860. After a short time spent in Baltimore he came back to Lyons and began work 
in the hardware store of Aaron Remsen. In 1862 he enlisted in the 9th N. Y. Heavy 
Artillery, and was discharged for disability in 1864, returning to his former position. 
In 1865 he married his employer's daughter, Melvena Remsen. The firm of Remsen & 
Redgrave was formed January 1, 1866. Mr. Remsen died in February, 1886, Mr. Red- 
grave has since carried on the business alone. Mr. Remsen was for many years one of 
the most respected citizens of the town, and Mr. Redgrave enjoys the confidence and 
esteem of his fellow citizens. He is father of three daughters. 

Cheetham, William J., was born in London, England, in 1842, and is a son of John 
Cheetham, who came from England in 1853 and settled in the northwest part of Sodus 
on the lake shore, where he engaged in farming. He married Mary Welburn, and their 
children are : William J., Richard M., George F., Anna R., Emily M., and Caroline M. 
Richard M. and George F. reside in Williamson, and are engaged in the hardware and 
banking business ; Anna R. is unmarried ; Emily M. married William Horn ; Caroline 
M. married Christopher Ewer. William J. Cheetham settted at Joy, carries on a saw 
mill, and is also engaged in farming. He has been a member of the Board of Assessors 
of the town, is a member and warden of St. John's Episcopal church of Sodus. In 1863 
he enlisted in the 97th N. Y. Infantry, and served until the close of the war. He held the 
rank of corporal and acting sergeant. He is a member of Dwight Post. G. A. R., of 



226 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Sodus, has been commander one year, chaplain two years, and quartermaster several 
years. He has also been a delegate to the State Encampment. He married first Sarah 
E., daughter of Eev. Edmund Burke, and their children were : John H., Charles W., 
Francis E. (deceased), Frederick G., and Maria Isabel!. His second wife was Mary L., 
daughter of Philip Miihl, of Sodus, and they have one son, Richard M. Cheetham. 

Younglove, R. W., a resident for fifty years north of Wolcott, was born in Mas- 
sachusetts May 15, 1824. He is a man of much force of character and moral worth, 
with all the sterling qualities that cling to the pioneer who has achieved success. De- 
cember 30, 1847, he married Sarah, daughter of John Washburn, of Victory, Cayuga 
county, N. Y. They have four children : Willis, Frances, Mary and Nettie. Frances is 
the wife of Daniel Robertson, and Mary of Arthur Easton. 

York, Benjamin S., was born in Huron, November 13, 1825, on the farm he now 
owns. He was the son of Benjamin York, born in Maine in 1785, who came to 
Huron in 1812, and was a staunch Whig. His wife was Martha Churchill, and their 
children were John, Irena, Lovilla, Lavina, Benjamin, and Emeline. Our subject re- 
mained with his father until the latter died, and in 1850 married Minerva, daughter 
of John and Eliza De Witt Miller, of Schuyler county, and their children are : Imo- 
gene, wife of Robert J. Kelly, of Huron ; Eliza, widow of William Mitchell, of Rose ; 
Josephine and Christina. As his children have left home he has placed them each 
on a good farm. 

Zimmerlin Bros. — This firm is composed of H. F. and C. G. Zimmerlin, sons of F. C. 
Zimmerlin, and who are one of the leading firms in hardware and agricultural imple- 
ments in Lyons. The business was established in 1885 in the same location now occu- 
pied by them. The brothers are recognized in this town as business men of ability and 
strict integrity, and have met with success from the inception of the business up to the 
present time. H. F. Zimmerlin married Sarah L. Warner, and they have three children : 
Grace, Mez, and May. C. G. Zimmerlin married Mary L., daughter of Nelson R. Mirick, 
of Lyons, and while both brothers have had an active business life they have found 
time to take an intelligent interest in the leading events of the day, in educational and 
religious matters, and are identified in advancing the best interests of their town. 

Wood, Noah, was born April 23, 1832, the son of Horatio Wood, a farmer of Butler, 
who was also a man of local prominence, being a justice for twenty years, and who died 
in 1860. His wife, Angeline, the mother of seven children, died in 1886. Noah's edu- 
cation at Levina, N. Y., was of a theological tendency, but his principal occupation has 
been farming, and he now owns and operates a dairy farm in the suburbs of Wolcott. 
September 10, 1861, he married Hattie, daughter of John Hall, of Cicero, N. Y., and 
both are prominent in the M. E. church of Wolcott. Mr. Wood is a man of much char- 
acter, and has filled many positions of trust and responsibility, such as the president of 
the village, trustee of the Leavenworth Institute, and justice of the peace, holding the 
latter position twelve years. 

Whitcomb, Flynn, was born in Washington county, December 20, 1833, one of seven 
children of Selinda and Samuel (Smith) Whitcomb, of Washington and Chautauqua coun- 
ties, respectively. They came to Walworth when our subject was an infant, and thence 
to Ontario in 1838, where they lived and died. He and wife were members of the M. E. 
church, of which he was a local preacher. Flynn was reared on the farm, educated in 
the common schools, and is a carpenter by trade, though he has followed farming most 
of his life, having a farm of eighty-seven acres. He also gives some attention to fruit 
raising. In 1892 he was elected to represent the western district of Wayne county in 
the Assembly. Mr. Whitcomb married in 1854 Mary A. Clark, a native of Williamson, 
and a daughter of John and Elizabeth Clark, who were born in England, and came to 
America, locating in Williamson first, then in Ontario, where they spent their last days. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 227 

Woodhams, Owen, was born in Sussex, England, December 22, 1833. He is the 
third child of a family of eleven children of James and Edith (Wren) Woodhams, 
natives of England, and in 1850 came to Greece, where the father died in 1890, and the 
mother now resides there at the age at eighty-six. Subject of this sketch was reared 
on a farm, and in 1855 enlisted in Company A, 96th N. Y. Yol. Inf., and served until 
the close of war. He owns a farm of eighty-seven acres and follows general farming. 
Mr. Woodhams married in 1825 Ann Woodhams, a native of England and daughter of 
Henry and Martha (Jenner) Woodhams, who came to America when Mrs. Woodhams 
was a mere child. Henry Woodhams died in April, 1891, in Ontario, and his wife now 
lives in the town at eighty years of age. Subject and wife have had ten children, of 
whom five are now living : Albert E., Nettie, Elizabeth, William, and Thomas. The 
family are members of, the Wesleyan Methodist church. 

Waldorf, Reuben, was born in Columbia county, N. Y., in 1840. His father, Peter 
Waldorf, now eighty-two years of age, is a resident of Clyde. His mother, Hannah, 
died in 1884, leaving a family of ten children, of whom our subject is the sole represent- 
ative in Wolcott. Until 1870 he remained at Clyde with his parents, purchasing at that 
time the farm where he has since resided. February 16, 1869, he married Lottie, 
daughter of Henry Sheldon, and of their four children two are now living, Henry, born 
March 11, 1872, and Frank, born February 11, 1877. Lena, born June 26, 1873, died in 
infancy, and May, born November 4, 1873, died when ten years old. The eldest son, 
Harry, is a graduate of the 0. C. Seminary at Cazenovia, N. Y., and now occupies a 
position as teacher at Leavenworth Institute, Wolcott, N. Y. 

Wise, A. M., was born near Clyde, March 4, 1830, the eldest son of Amanzo and 
Betsey Wise, who were among the earliest settlers in Galen. His wife is Julia, daughter 
of David Waldruff, a prominent farmer and builder of Clyde. They were married De- 
cember 19, 1854, and have four children : T. Jefferson, Alice, Frank, and Belle. In 1862 
Mr. Wise purchased the blast furnace near Wolcott and operated it for eight years, after 
which as senior member of Wise & Waldruff four years were spent in the manufacture 
of lumber. With his eldest son, Jefferson, he is now engaged in farming and the 
choicest portion of the 220 acres is devoted to the culture of grapes, berries and smaller 
fruits. Jefferson married Susan Wadsworth, of Wolcott, who died August 8, 1889, 
leaving no children. 

Wilson, Emily J., the leading milliner of Wolcott, has been in business here for thirty 
years, and for the latter half of that time at the present location, where by unremitting 
personal attention accompanied with unusual sagacity, she has built up a large trade 
in fashionable millinery and those accessories so dear to the feminine heart. 

Waldorf. Jefferson, was born in the town of Galen, May 15, 1839. His parents, 
David T. and Polly A. (Miller) Waldorf, reared a family of five sons and five daughters, 
of whom but two sons and two daughters are now living. David Waldorf was engaged 
in the custom milling business at Penn Yan, N. Y., and for some years a dealer in grain 
and produce at Clyde, a prominent Democrat and a deputy sheriff. He died in 1888 
when eighty-one years of age. Subject's wife was Mary A. Dillow, of Clinton, Oneida 
county, whom he married February 22, 1865, and they have two children, Gisella, born 
May 5, 1871, now a teacher in Leavenworth Institute at Wolcott, where she was grad- 
uated in 1892 ; and Guy, born May 6, 1877. Mr. Waldorf has filled many positions of 
trust and honor, and is very highly esteemed by all who know him. 

Whitbourn, Joseph, was born in Ontario, October 19, 1862, the fifth child of seven 
children born to Richard and Catharine (Guy) Whitbourn, natives of England, and came 
to Canada about 1839, in 1860 to Ontario, and here lived and died. Mr. Whitbourn 
was a carpenter by trade, but also followed farming and owned sixty- three acres of 
land. He was killed by falling from a barn, and his wife resides with subject of sketch. 



328 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY 

Joseph was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools, has always been a 
farmer, and now has charge of the old homestead. He is a Democrat, and is a member 
of the K. 0. T. M. Cyrene Tent No. 203. He married, June 3, 1891, Mary A. Hennessey, 
a native of Walworth and daughter of Thomas and Catharine Hennessey, who were 
early settlers of Walworth, where he died in 1892. Mr. Whitbourn and wife have had 
one child, Elizabeth, born October 6, 1893. 

Waldo Horace, was born in Oneida county November 20, 1832, the fifth of a family 
of six children born to Thomas and Esther (Beckwith) Waldo, natives of Oneida county, 
and the grandparents on both sides were among the first settlers. The father of Thomas 
Waldo was a captain in the French and Indian war. The father of Esther Beckwith 
was Lemuel Beckwith, who with three brothers came to Oneida in a very early day. 
Mr. Waldo died in June, 1836, and his wife September 6, 1880, aged eighty-three years. 
Horace was educated in the Western University, followed farming; until he came to 
Ontario in 1871, and was foreman in the Wayne County Mining Company eleven years, 
since which time he has been farming, owns thirty acres of land, also property in Web- 
ster. Mr. Waldo has always been a Democrat, and has been justice of the peace five 
years, and has been excise commissioner three terms. Mr. Waldo married in 187G 
Sallie H., widow of Richard Richmond, and daughter of Horace Hill. Horace Hill was 
born in Macedon in 1799, and was a farmer and miller, and he and Ira Hill built the 
Hill grist mill, now owned by Mr. Durfee. He was twice married, first Sallie Beach, 
and had four children. His second wife was Clarissa Kingman, whom he married June 
14, 1825, by whom he had three children, two daughters are living. Mr. Hill was a 
Whig and Republican, and was highway commissioner and assessor. He settled in 
Ontario in 1827, coming from Macedon. He first settled on the Hodge farm and then 
on the Whitney farm. He came on the farm where Mr. Waldo now resides in 1854, 
and died here March 10, 1883, and his wife died August 25, 1873, aged seventy-one 
years. Mr. Waldo and wife are members of the Baptist Church, of which Mr. Waldo 
has been deacon nine years. He had two children by his first wife, Louisa and Marie 
Robinson. The only child by the second wife now living is Susan A. Mason of Albion. 

Wager, D. M., son of the late Alfred and Gertrude E. Wager, was born at Amster- 
dam September 1, 1847. At that time Alfred Wager was a grocer at Amsterdam, but 
in 1653 purchased a farm in Galen. His success in life, which was marked, was with- 
out doubt largely due to his unsullied personal integrity, and to th6 honest and straight- 
forward character of his business methods ; qualities almost widely ascribed also to the 
subject of the sketch. His death occurred September 8, 1893, at the age of seventy- 
eight, and that of Gertrude his wife, a few months preceding. D. M. Wager married 
March 4, 1872, Ella, daughter of William Sheldon, of Huron, widely known as an 
inventor of several patent mechanical appliances for farm use. Widely known and 
esteemed throughout eastern Wayne, his name a synonym for good fellowship and 
unassuming integrity, such is D. M. Wager, of Wolcott. 

Wilkinson, Joseph, of Macedon, was born in this town on the farm he now owns 
August 13, 1833, a son of Joseph, a native of Dutchess county, who came to Wayne 
county in 1830. In early life the latter was captain of a sloop, then became a general 
merchant in Steuben county for ten years. Returning to this county he followed 
farming until his death in 1857, aged seventy-three, fie married Mary, daughter of 
William Smith, of Dutchess county, and they had twelve children, five now living. 
Joseph has followed farming, and keeps a dairy of twenty head of cattle, selling milk 
in the city of Rochester, and is also a stockholder in the Producer's Milk Company of 
Rochester. His farm comprises 150 acres, mostly under cultivation. In 1855 he mar- 
ried Elizabeth, daughter of William Lapham, and a descendant of the old pioneer family 
so well known throughout this part of the county. Mr. and Mrs. Wilkinson have had 
these childien: Gilbert R., William L., John C. and Minnie E. Mr. Wilkinson and 
family aremembeis of the M. E. Church. He was assessor two years, and is a Granger. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 229 

White, John T., a native of Schenectady county, was born May 2, 1810, the oldest of 
fourteen children of Ichabod and Sarah (Tallman) White, natives of Dutchess county. 
The paternal grandfather of subject was Ichabod White, a son of Ichabod, who died in 
Duanesburgh, where the grandfather of subject also died. Father of subject died in 
Schoharie county in 1856, and his wife in 1873. Subject started in life by farming, 
and in 1851 came on the farm he owns of 113 acres, where he has since resided. He 
was assessor fifteen years. He married December 29, 1861, Sallie B. Wilber, a native 
of Schoharie county, by whom he has had seven children : Ruth, wife of Henry C. 
King; William B., who married Mary Richmond ; John J., who married Augusta Wy- 
man ; Artemus T., of Macedon, who married Abbie Smith; Mary S., wife of George 
Gilbert, of South Dakota ; Edna, wife of Jerome Parker, of Walworth, and Elias R., 
who died in infancy. Mrs. White died July 27, 1894. 

Williams, M. E., was born in Penfield, Monroe county, August 14, 1846, the oldest 
son of eight children of Thomas and Sarah Heath, he a native of England and she of 
Penfield. In 1828 he came to Penfield and in 1851 to West Walworth, where he has 
since resided. Mrs. Williams died in November, 1893. Subject was reared a black- 
smith, and learned the trade with his father. He has lived in West Walworth forty- 
three years, and in 1890 bought a farm of sixty-five acres and follows general farming 
and blacksmithing. He married in 1869 Frank, daughter of Avery Maine, and their 
children are : Millie, Irvin and Cora. Millie is the wife of Albert Echler, by whom she 
has two children, Ella and Albert. Mr. Williams was overseer of the poor three years. 

Ward, Reuben, born at Wolcott, August 2, 1835, is the son of the late Joseph Ward, 
a pioneer settler, who died in 1882 at the age of seventy-seven. Reuben spent nine 
years of his earlier manhood farming in Michigan, and has since then been engaged in 
the same business near North Wolcott. His first wife, by whom he had two children, 
Benjamin and Emma, both now deceased, was Frances Burr, of Wolcott, who died in 
1877. The second wife, who had no children, was Maria Raynor, who died January 
23, 1884. The present mistress of his pleasant home, which commands a fine view of 
Lake Ontario, and to whom he was united March 11, 1885, was Mrs. N Viele, a sister 
of J. E. Dow, and they have one son, Reuben S., born December 29, 1885. 

Wilson, George R., was born at Elbridge, Onondaga county, January 6, 1836. His 
father, Riley Wilson, a builder and millwright, died in 1854 at the age of seventy, and his 
mother, Belinda, died during his infancy. Mr. WiLon's residence in Wayne county 
dates from 1844. Until 1881 his home was in Savannah, and since that time in South 
Butler. His wife was Mary Gotham, of Elbridge, and their children are: Gorham J., 
Riley A., Addie A., and George W. Riley is a superintendent for the Wagner Car 
Company, and George is an expert mechanic in the employ of the Hibbard Basket 
Works. Addie was the wife of James L. Cox, and died in 1890. 

Wells, Edward B., is an enterprising young man, born in Huron, June 25, 1861, son 
of Samuel S. Wells, a native of Rose, whose father was Rufus Wells, a shoemaker by 
trade. Subject's father was a farmer, and served as superintendent of schools several 
terms. His wife was Flavia Wells, and their children were: Helen, William H, 
Irving S., Preston S., Edward B., Cornelia L., wife of Bracket K. Reed, of Colorado. 
Subject was educated in Leavenworth Institute in Wolcott, and has always given his 
attention to farming. He is now conducting his father's farm, consisting of 118 acres, 
making a specialty of tobacco and fruit. He served as inspector of elections two 
terms. 

Wamesfelder, Daniel, born in Williamson, February 21, 1861, is the sixth of sixteen 
children of Philip and Dinah (Enesse) Wamesfelder, natives of Holland, born in 1822 
and 1825 respectively. They came to America about 1847, bringing one son, Isaac, who 
was born in Holland in 1846. He has always followed the mason trade and farming. 



230 LANDMARKS OP WAYNE COUNTY. 

He now has a farm in the town of Williamson, which is carried on by his son Daniel. 
His father was Jacob Wamesfelder, who lived and died in Holland. He was the father 
of fifteen children, of whom five came to America. Jacob was a farmer and garden 
seed grower. Daniel has always followed farming. In 1885 he married Libbie, daughter 
of Fred and Sarah Mentz, natives of Germany. Our subject and wife have had three 
sons: Philip, Fred and Frank. They attend and support the M. B. church. 

Watson, Harvey O, was born on the old homestead, November 4, 1860. His father, 
Levi, was also born on the Watson homestead, February 28, 1835. The grandfather, 
Stephen G., was a native of Bucks county. Pa. The family were of English and Dutch 
extraction, came to the town of Galen and purchased a farm in 1824, and which is still 
in the family. Levi Watson married at the age of twenty-two Mary, daughter of 
Daniel Chase, and they have two children : our subject and Sarah Watson. He was a 
prominent farmer, and died in 1890, aged fifty years, leaving a wife and children to take 
up his many plans and carry them to completion. Harvey C. married at twenty-five 
years of age Julia E., daughter of Henry Backman, and they have three children : 
Raymond, Ella and Ruth. The family is one of the oldest in the county, and for the 
past seventy-five years have been identified in advancing its best interests. 

Weed, Benjamin, was born in the town of Galen, August 23, 1828. His father, 
Selleck, was a native of New Canaan, Conn. He came to Galen in 1811, and purchased 
one hundred acres of land. He died in 1853, aged sixty-six years. Benjamin was 
educated at the Clyde High School and the Lyons Union School after which he taught 
school seven winters, working on his father's farm during the summer. At the age of 
twenty-five years he married Sarah, daughter of Joseph Watson, and they have four 
children : Mrs. Elizabeth Hunt, Mrs. Alice Wendell, and Lucy C, and Mabel E. In 
1854 subject purchased pait of his father's farm of eighty acres, on which he has erected 
new buildings and the handsome residence. In 1863 he bought part of the Stephen 
Waterbury property, and in 1870 bought another portion of the same property, having 
164 acres, and raising fruit hay, grain and stock. Our subject is identified in educational 
and religious matters. 

Welch, P. J., was born in Clyde May 18, 1861. His father, Patrick, came to the 
United States from Ireland and settled in Clyde. P. J. Welch was educated in Clyde, 
after leaving school entered the employ of Charles A. Howe, remaining fourteen years. 
In 1884 he established his present business in the center of Maine street, and is now 
carrying one of the finest and best selected stocks of mercantile tailoring, gents' fur- 
nishing goods, hats, caps and ready-made clothing in Wayne county. At the age of 
twenty-seven he married Mary L. Moriarity, and they are the parents of one daughter, 
Irene. Subject is collector and treasurer of Clyde No. 132 Catholic Benevolent Legion. 

Williamson Brothers. — This firm began the manufacture of cigars at Palmyra in 1870, 
at first with but two or three workmen, but now employing a force of eighteen or 
more, having an exclusively wholesale trade in cigars of their own manufacture, and 
also in cut goods in tobacco. Their special brands are ■' J. K. W." and " Fine Stock." 
Their factory was built in 1887, a three-story frame structure, twenty by fifty feet, the 
top story being added in 1892. Both the brothers are natives of Palmyra, their father, 
John, a native of New Jersey, having located here in an early day, and died in 1892. 
His wife was Marcia Haver, who died in this town. John K. Williamson was born in 
1850, educated at the Hudson River Institute, and graduated in the commercial course 
in 1866. He married in 1874 a daughter of David P. Sanford, one of Palmyra's oldest 
dry goods merchants. W. W. Williamson served three years in the 111th N. Y. Regi- 
ment during the late war. He has served as collector of the town one year, assessor 
three years, trustee four years, and president of the village in 1891. In 1871 he mar- 
ried Margaret Young, a native of Buffalo, by whom he has had three sons and three 
daughters, of whom two sons and one daughter survive. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 231 

Whitney, 0. F, born in Ontario July 19, 1823, the only child of Cornelius and Mil- 
licent (Gould) Whitney, the former a native of Connecticut, born April 30, 1790, and 
the latter of Granville, Washington county, born April 25, 1790. They came to On- 
tario from Aurelius, Cayuga county, where they had lived two years, in 1816. He was 
a farmer and wa« school commissioner in Ontario. He died September 29, 1875, and 
his wife August 21, 1872. 0. F. was reared on a farm, educated in the common school 
and Walworth select schools, also Ontario select schools. He has always been a farmer 
and located on the farm he now owns April 14, 1837. He has ninety-three acres of 
land, and follows general farming and sheep raising. Mr. Whitney was a Republican 
until 1882, since which time he has been a Prohibitionist. He and family are members 
of the Presbyterian Church. He married September 30, 1846, Laura, daughter of Dr. 
Loami Whitcomb, a native of Washington county and an early settler of Ontario, where 
he lived and died. Mrs. Whitney died February 7, 1882, and Mr. Whitney married 
February 24, 1885, the widow of Dr. E. J. Whitcomb and daughter of Cyrus Thatcher 
of Ontario. She had one daughter by her first husband, who is now Mrs. O. F. Nash, 
of Williamson, N. Y. The father of Cyrus Thatcher was Peter, a native of Rhode 
Island, who came to Ontario in 1809, and died in 1846. The wife of Cyrus was Mercy 
Gage. Cyrus Thatcher died in Ontario in 1890, where his wife now resides. 

Wells, Albert, born at Boyleston August 1, 1854. His father, John, established the 
business in Wolcott. Albert took charge of the market, now located on Maine street, 
in 1875, and since the death of his father in 1891, has also operated a farm of 175 acres 
in Butler, which forms a valuable adjuncts to his retail business in meats, etc. He mar- 
ried in 1884 Emma, daughter of Peter Waldorf, of Wolcott, by whom he has four chil- 
dren : Lillian, Wilber. Mary and Laura. 

Wright, Warren H., was born May 24, 1828, at Vernon, Oneida county. His parents 
Thomas and Sally (Mills) Wright, came there in 1815, the earliest settlers in this im- 
mediate locality, reclaiming from the virgin forest one-third of the one hundred and 
fifty acres now comprised in the homestead. January 1, 1860, Warren married Eliza 
daughter of Ezra and Electa K. Stone of Cato, Cayuga county. They have two chil- 
dren : Elizabeth, born July 4, 1861, the wife of John Waldron, of Sterling, and the 
mother of three children : Bertha, Elmer and Bessie Waldron ; and Burton born 
February 11, 1867. Mrs. Burton Wright was Bessie Acker, of Fairhaven, and their 
daughter is named Estelle. 

Westcott, John H., son of John Forbes and Abigail Easton Westcott.. J. F. West- 
cott moved into Butler from Vermont in 1828, and was until his death, which 
occurred January 1, 1894, a prime mover in the various business interests of the locality. 
At Butler Centre and at South Butler he had for a long period of time a blacksmith 
shop, besides operating cooper shops with an annual capacity of 15,000 barrels. John 
Westcott went from his desk as a school boy at South Butler into the thick of the Civil 
War in 1864 with the 98th N. Y. S. Vols., but found himself physically unable to with- 
stand the privations of a soldier's life, and was honorably discharged February 18 
1865. He married Charlotte, daughter of Harlow Demmon, of Huron, by whom he 
had five children : Charles L, Eugene, a traveling salesman with business headquarters 
at Auburn; Demmon, in partnership with Eugene; and Howard. September 12, 1893, 
Mr. Westcott was bereft of his faithful wife, and before half a year had elapsed, of his 
only daughter, Emma. 

Wilson, John, a native of Ireland, where he was born in 1830, emigrated to America 
at thirteen years of age. His father, the late Hugh Wilson, was a mason by trade. 
John Wilson is a farmer, residing in the southern part of Wolcott, near the point where 
the four towns of Wolcott, Huron, Rose, and Butler meet. He is a member of the 
Order of Patrons of Husbandry. 



232 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Wetherel, Darius, became a resident of Wayne county nearly sixty years ago, remov- 
ing from Richmand, Ontario county, where he was born September 11, 1816. Of a 
retiring disposition his whole life since 1840 has been spent upon the farm, now his 
home, and where his wife, Jeannette died in 1890 at the age of seventy-eight years. 
Of the four children born they all died in infancy but one daughter, Narcissa W. Burnett, 
who is again an inmate of her father's home, the prop of his declining years. 

Wiggins, William H., of Red Creek, is a veteran of the late war, having served three 
years in the famous 9th Heavy Artillery, enlisting in 1802. He was born in Wolcott in 
1840, son of the late Richard Wiggins, a physician, of whose five children William is 
sole representative. In 1808 he married Aurilla Garnor, of Wolcott, and they have two 
children, Mary C, born May 18, 1870, now engaged in school teaching, and George, 
born August 28, 1873. Mr. Wiggins is now engaged in farming on the farm where he 
located in 1870. 

Watson, Garhardus L., was born in the town of Galen, March 3, 1831. His father, 
Joseph C, was a native of Bucks county and came to Galen in 1824. He died in 1872, 
aged seventy years. G. L. Watson was educated in the common schools, to which he 
has added through life by reading and close observation. He returned to his father's 
farm, teaching several winters and working on the farm during the summer. At the age 
of twenty-four he married Ellen, daughter of Robert Catchpole, by whom he has two 
children, George C, and Mrs. Lillian Wing. In 1873 inherited and purchased the old 
homestead of 104 acres, which has been in the family since 1825. In 1855 he bought 
the James Rogers estate, in 1859 bought part of the Weed estate, having 200 acres, 
and raising fruit, hay, grain and stock. Our subject is one of the leading farmers in his 
town. 

Wilcox, H. H., was born in Manchester, Ontario county, November 20, 1823, a son 
of Earl and Jane (Stewart) Wilcox, he a native of Palmyra, born March 30, 1794, and 
she of Massachusetts. The grandfather, William Wilcox, was born in Rhode Island, 
April 24, 1770, and at the age of eighteen (1788) came to .Palmyra. March 7, 1793, he 
married Ruth Durfee, they being the first couple married in Palmyra. They prospered 
and became possessed of 500 acres of land, their residence being three-quarters of a mile 
east of Palmyra Station. They had five sons and five daughters. The grandfather was 
a farmer and for many years captain of the Light Horse Military Company, with whom 
he was very popular. Earl, the eldest of the family of William, was born March 29, 
1794, and at the age of eighteen was drafted as a soldier, being the only one drafted in 
that town. He married Jane Stewart, September 24, 1815, and became a farmer. He 
was a well informed man, but never cared for public office. He had six sons and one 
daughter, of whom our subject was the fourth. He was born November 20, 1823, at 
Manchester, Wayne county, and came to Marion in 1S26, where he has lived ever since, 
engaged in farming. He owns 142 acres of the old homestead, and is a member of 
Williamson Grange No. 338. January 22, 1850, he married Mary E. Button, of England, 
born in July, 1831, a daughter of William and Mary Button. Mr. Wilcox has one son, 
Francis, born October 21, 1854. He was educated in Marion Collegiate Institute, and 
has always resided at home. December 12, 1877, he married Eliza A., daughter of 
Augustus and Amanda Beach, and they have one daughter, Mildred M., born October 
25, 1891. Francis is a member of Williamson Grange, and also of the K. O. T. M. 

West, Solomon B., was born in Oneida county December 11, 1799. His father was 
James, a native of New York, in which State he lived and died at Verona. The wife 
of Solomon West was Relief Pierce, born in Grafton, Mass., December 12, 1801. Her 
father, Amos Pierce, a native of England, came to the United States with two brothers. 
He settled in Watertown, Jefferson county, and then went to Grafton, Mass., where he 
died, aged eighty-three. His wife was Mollie Weston, of native of Vermont, by whom 
he had nine children. Solomon West and wife came to Marion in 1836. He was a 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 233 

carpenter by trade and died in 1872, aged seventy-two years, and his wife now resides 
in Marion at the age of ninety-three. They had six children, of whom three are now 
living : Albert A., born in Verona, Oneida county, February 12, 1836, educated in 
Marion Collegiate Institute, and at the age of sixteen went to Palmyra, where he 
learned the tanners' trade. He has worked at his trade in Boston, Springfield, Mass., 
Worcester, and spent four and one-half years in California, going there in 1864. He is 
at present engaged in the hardware trade in the village of Marion, where he has been 
sixteen years. He served nine months in Company H, 9th Mass. Volunteer Infantry, 
enlisting in 1862. In 1862 he married Katie Winslow, of Buffalo. Mr. West is a mem- 
ber of John B. Burred Post, No. 444, G. A. E. A. G. West born October 4, 1832, is a 
tinsmith in Canandaigua. His wife is Delia Landon, and they have one son, Roswell. 
He served one year in 160th N. Y. Volunteer Infantry, enlisting 1864. James was 
born September 4, 1841, educated in Marion Collegiate Institute. He clerked in a drug 
store in Marion and in 1872 went to Detroit, where he has since been engaged with the 
Detroit Stove Works, and at present is shipping clerk. He is a Free Mason, and has 
served one year in the 111th N. Y. Volunteer Infantry, enlisting in 1862. 

Van Fleet, B. D., was born in Phelps, Ontario county, June 27, 1857. His father, 
Cornelius, is a prominent farmer in that town. B. D. Van Fleet was educated in the 
common schools and finished at the Geneva High School, after which he taught school 
three years and then established the grocery business at Mitchell's Station and at Dub- 
lin ; and in 1892 came to Alloway and established the same business. In 1893 he 
bought the David Trimmer property, and is now the largest dealer in general merchan- 
dise in the town of Alloway. At the age of thirty-one he married Nettie, daughter of 
William Thorn, of Junius, Seneca county, and they are the parents of one daughter. 
Our subject is one of the active business men in his town, identified in educational and 
religious matters. 

Meade, M. W., was born in the town of New Lisbon, Otsego county, N. Y., April 
17, 1838. His father, George W. Meade, was a native of New Lisbon, and a Baptist 
minister, and was engaged in active service for more than twenty years. He died at 
Parma, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. M. W. Meade was educated in the com- 
mon schools, finishing at Phelps Academy. In 1855 he came to Clyde, and engaged in 
farming on his father's farm, which he purchased in 1870. He has also made the sell- 
ing of agricultural implements a part of his business for twenty years. In 1850 he mar- 
ried Emily, daughter of John W. Millius, and they have four children : James H., Will- 
iam E., G. L. Meade, and M. B. Meade. Our subject has been steward of the M. E. 
Church for twenty-five years, and his wife has had charge of the infant class for more 
than thirty years. 

Mather, Elisha B., was born in Rochester in 1851. His father was Elisha, the son of 
Dr. Elisha Mather, a native of Connecticut, and the pioneer of the family in Wayne 
county. The family is of English descent, and traces its ancestry back to Increase 
Mather, the father of Cotton Mather. Dr. Elisha Mather settled in Wayne county 
about 1825, being a man of affairs, enterprising and interested in all that concerned the 
good of his adopted town and county. He was one of the founders of Hobart College, 
Geneva, and a prominent member of the Episcopal Church. He had two sons : Robert 
and Elisha, jr. The latter was for many years a successful attorney in Rochester, and 
later in life came to Sodus Center and engaged in the milling business and farming. 
He married Catharine Barker, and they had three children : Elisha B., Susan P. and 
Elizabeth S. Elisha B. on reaching manhood engaged in 1871 in the mercantile trade 
in Sodus, which business he has carried on ever since. He is engaged in the manufac- 
ture of quick lime and is extensively engaged in fruit evaporating also. He is a mem- 
ber of Sodus Center Episcopal Church, and his wife was Anna, daughter of John 
Preston, of this town. 
<ld 



234 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Main, Marquis S., was born in North Stonington, New London county, Conn., 
September 15, 1834, son of Avery and Laura Baldwin, he a native of Stonington, 
Conn., born in 1806, and she a native of Fenner, Madison county, born in 1816. He 
and wife came to West Walworth in 1863, where he died April 17, 1892, and his wife 
resides with her children. He was a mason by trade and a farmer. Subject was edu- 
cated in the common schools and Oneida Castle and Cazenovia Academies. He taught 
school one term, and then engaged in farming, which has been his principal occupation, 
was also agent for Lester Bros., selling phosphate and sold first of that brand in the 
town. He owns 229 acres in Walworth and follows general farming and fruit raising, 
last year evaporating 22,000 quarts of black caps. He was assessor. He married, 
September 21, 1858, Mary J. Ten Eyck, a native of Chenango county, and daughter of 
Jacob and Sarah (Duncan) Ten Eyck, natives of Dutchess county, who settled in Chenango 
county, and he died in Madison county in 1882, and she in 1835. Subject and wife had 
seven children: Florence, Luella, Edith, who died aged eighteen; Jennie, Marcus A., 
Willis J., and Edward E. Mr. Main is also engaged in evaporating apples and does an 
extensive business. He is one of the wealthiest men of the town. • 

Mestler, Nicholas A., was born in Alsace, Germany, March 14, 1857, and in 1870 
came to the town of Lyons. He was educated in Germany and at the Lyons High 
School, after which he taught school eleven years. At the age of twenty-five he mar- 
ried Rosa Kriess, and they have three children : Grover, Bertha and Florence. In 1890 
he established his present business, and is now carrying one of the largest and best 
selected stocks of general merchandise in Lock Berlin and its vicinity, keeping a wagon 
for distribution. Our subject is recognized as one of the self-made men of the town of 
Galen, buying and handling a large part of the produce of his town. 

Mason, D., was born April 6, 1849, and is the only son of Charles and Iantha Mason, 
mentioned elsewhere in this book. He was educated at the Sodus Academy, and en- 
gaged in farming and coopering, and makes 5,000 barrels yearly. He also owns ninety 
acres of land and follows general farming, He is a Democrat. In 1880 he married 
Lillian Kelsey, and they have two children, Charles J., and Elsie. Mrs. Mason died in 
1885, and Mr. Mason married Mary Roby in 1889, and they had one daughter, Jessie, 
who died in April, 1893. 

Lawrence, Walter, was born in New Jersey, November 21, 1825. Walter Lawrence, 
his father, was a native of New Jersey, coming to New York State at an early age. He 
settled at Farmington, Ontario county, and from there came to Macedon, where he 
worked at the carpenter's trade and then engaged in farming. He married Susan 
Johnson, of New Jersey, and they were the parents of nine children, Walter being the 
sixth child. Walter Lawrence, jr., is a farmer, having been engaged in farming all his 
life, and at present owns a farm of 89 acres of fine land. He married Phebe F. Fritts 
of Onondaga county, and to them nine children were born. In politics he is a Re- 
publican. 

Lane, John D., was born in Canada, May 22, 1805. His father, Thomas Lane, was a 
native of Charleston, N. Y., but moved to Canada during the time of the late war, re- 
turning to Victor in this State at the close of the war. He married Luthelia Dickson, 
and they were the parents of ten childreu, John D. being the seventh child. John D. 
Lane is now eighty-nine years old. He has always followed farming as an occupation, 
and now owns a farm of 253 acres, which is worked by his son. He married Hannah 
Hodes, and to them thirteen children were born. Mr. Lane has always been a Democrat. 

Knowles, George H., was born in Lyons July, 1836. His father, John, came from 
Newburg to Lyons in 1811, and then moved to Butler and was a farmer. George W. 
was educated in the Lyons Union School, to which he has added through life by read- 
ing and close observation. After leaving school he entered the employ of his 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 235 

brother in the drygoods business, then succeeded his brother, continuing the business 
four years. He established the produce and forwarding business in 1860, and in which 
he is still engaged. Mr. Knowles is a Democrat, and in 1874 was president of the'vil- 
lage, also was appointed sheriff of his county in 1890 to succeed Charles Reed deceased. 
Subject is one of the largest buyers and shippers of produce in the town, where he is 
identified in advancing its best interests and the leading events of the day, and is recog- 
nized as a man of sterling worth and character. 

Keller, Dwight, was born in Newark September 5, 1835. His father, Jacob, came 
from Columbia county when he was a boy about 1810 to Newark, learning the hatter's 
trade. He continued the business for some years, and then purchased a farm. Dwight 
was educated in the schools of Newark, and at the age of twenty-five married Sarah C, 
daughter of Reuben Richmond. In 1866 he bought the Daniel Cole property of sixty 
acres, in 1867 bought part of the Richmond estate, also part of the Allen estate, having 
140 acres and raising grain, fruit, hay and stock. Our subject is one of the substantial 
farmers of his town, taking an active interest in educational and religious matters. 

Kellogg, Ethan B., is one of Huron's representatives, born in Butler, Wayne county, 
in October, 1841, son of Charles B. Kellogg. His wife was Marietta McKoon, born in 
July, 1819, daughter of Rev. William and Lucy Ann (Cole) McKoon. They had four 
children : William B , Ethan B., John C. and Lucy Ann, wife of J. Byron Smith, of 
Wolcott. Mr. Kellogg died in 1854, and his wife in 1879. The grandfather of Mr. 
Kellogg was Benjamin Kellogg. In 1862 subject enlisted in Company H, 9th N. Y. 
Heavy Artillery, under Col. Joseph Willing. He was stationed at Fort Mansfield, Md., 
in defense of Washington, and in March, 1864, was discharged on account of physical 
disability, from which he has never recovered. In 1883 subject moved to Huron and 
purchased land near Rice's Mills, where he has since resided. He was appointed town 
clerk in 1889, and served as collector one term in the town of Wolcott. In January, 
1869, he married Harriet, daughter of Jonathan C, and Levinne H. (Doolittle) Rice, and 
they have had these children : Charles J., born December 25, 1873, and Yinnie Mae, 
born October 17, 1876. Subject is a member of the G-. A. R., Keeslar Post, No. 55, of 
Wolcott, also a member of the A. 0. TJ. W. Charles J., his son, married November 4, 
1893, Ada C. Lock wood, of the town of Butler, and they reside with subject of sketch. 

Kellogg, Henry', was born in Galen July 20, 1847. His father, Ethan B. was a 
native of Franklin county, Mass., born October 24, 1808, a son of Benjamin, who came 
to Wayne in 1812. The next day after their arrival the neighbors turned out and built 
him a log cabin, and furnished bear meat for the family supper. Ethan B. Kellogg fol- 
lowed farming through life and was a prominent man, holding the office of school com- 
missioner and other offices. He died in 1880 in his seventy-third year. Henry Kel- 
logg was educated in the Clyde High School, to which he has added through life by 
reading and close observation. At the age of thirty-two he married Jennie, daughter 
of Flavius B. Pomeroy, and they have one son, Lewis P. In 1879 he purchased his 
father's estate, known as the Deacon Tunis I. Smith property of eighty acres, raising 
fruit, hay, grain and stock. Our subject is identified in educational and religious mat- 
ters. 

Knapp, Allen, born in Walworth January 29, 1826, is the son of Charles and Mary 
Knapp. The grandfather was Caleb Knapp, a native of Connecticut, who came to 
Marion in a very early day and died on the farm he settled. He was a weaver by 
trade. Charles Knapp was born in Marion in 1800, and educated in the common 
schools. He followed farming, resided in Chautauqua county seven years, and finally 
settled in Walworth, where he died in 1870. Subject was reared on a farm, and has 
always followed farming. He owns seventy-five acres of land in Marion, having sold 
a part of the farm he owned. He came to Marion in 1886, and has since lived a re- 
tired life. Mr. Knapp married September 6, 1848, Caroline Shaw, a native of Marion, 



236 LANDMARKS OP WAYNE COUNTY 

born April 10, 1831, by whom he has had one son, Miles Knapp, a farmer of Palmyra. 
He married Mahssa Bristol, of Lansing, Mich. Mrs. Knapp died March 10, 1894. 

Kyle, David J., postmaster at North Wolcott, was born at Picton, Ont., September 
24, 1846, and became a citizen of Wayne in 1862. His father, Joseph Kyle, is a 
wealthy land owner in Ontario, but our subject was of too adventurous a disposition to 
be content at home. He established a grocery and general store at North Wolcott in 

1880, and received his appointment as postmaster October 1, 1893. January 23, 1870, 
he married Genevieve, daughter of Timothy Isham, of Wolcott, who is still living at 
the age of ninety-five. Of their eight children, five are now living. 

Klumpp, Daniel, was born in Elsatz, France, in 1835, son of Philip and Sally Klumpp. 
When fifteen years of age he came alone to America, coming direct to Clyde where he 
learned the blacksmith trade. Five years later he moved to Sodus, where he conducted 
a blacksmith shop until 1885. He then came to Lake Bluff, the popular pleasure summer 
resort, and pnrchased a small piece of land, on which he erected a three-story hotel, 
known as the Lakeview House, which he now conducts and where friends and strangers 
are always welcomed by the genial landlord. In 1874 he married Lena Yaeckel, born 
in Elsatz, France, and their children were: Mrs. Eva McMullen, of Sodus Centre; 
Helen, Mrs. Lizzie Hendricks, of Sodus; Charles, E., Emma E., Mrs. Hattie Smith, of 
Sodus; Edward E., and Frederick. His wife died in 1878, and in 1882 he married 
Millie, daughter of Barrett Clary, of Sodus. 

Kimball, S. F., the only son of George Kimball, of Sterling, Cayuga county, N. Y., 
was born March 1, 1838. George Kimball came here from Manlius in 1829. He and 
his wife, Louise (Pulsifer), where shining lights in the M. E. church. He died May 14, 

1881, at the age of eighty-two, and his wife two years later at an advanced age. Our 
subject received but limited educational opportunities, and has always been a reader and 
close observer. He has been honored with positions of local trust, attesting the esteem 
and confidence of his friends. He is a staunch Democrat and has served as overseer of 
the poor, assessor, and justice of the peace, etc. He began business life as a farmer in 
Sterling, and came to Red Creek in 1865. He now makes a specialty of registered 
Jersey cattle. February 15, 1860, he married Hannah, daughter of Walter Bloomingdale, 
an old resident from Schoharie county, and they have two children : Melvin J., born 
January 2, 1865 ; and Ray W., born June 23, 1878. Carrie, their first-born, died March 
21, 1872, aged eleven years. 

Jenkins, Burgess E., was born in Butler, March 13, 1848, and is the son of the late 
James M. Jenkins, who died in 1879. and was a local preacher of considerable renown. 
James Jenkins made his home upon a farm, but was prompt to respond to the call of 
duty, an ordained minister of the M. E. church and widely known for his benevolence 
and genuine piety. His wife, Pamelia Jane, died in 1884, leaving five children. Burgess 
was educated at Red Creek Seminary, and at nineteen years of age began his business 
life by embarking in the flax business with Charles W. Eddy as a partner. Ten years 
later, in 1877, he became known as a builder and contractor, and at the present writing 
is commissioner of highways, and a man whom to know is to honor. February 19, 
1868, he married Aurelia, daughter of Josephus Cross, of Wolcott, and the mother of 
seven children: Grace, Morris, Cora, Milton, Gertrude, Darrie, and Cecil. Cora died 
April 18, 1874, in early childhood; and Morris, who had reached the age of twenty-two 
and was engaged in telegraphic work in New Jersey, died there in July, 1893. 

Jordan, J. S., was born in Galen, July 9, 1857. His father, William, was born in 
England, and came to the United States and settled in Lyons. J. S. Jordan was edu- 
cated in the common schools, to which he has added through life by reading and close 
observation. At the age of twenty-six he marriod Hattie T., daughter of Moses Cook, 
of Savannah, and they have one son, Lloyd S. At the age of fourteen he went to woik 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 237 

on a farm for Elias E. Rumells. In 1881 he went to the County House and took charge 
of the insane department, in 1884 entered the employ of the West Shorer Railroad, also 
bought and shipped produce, coal and wood, in which he still continues. Our subject 
is a Republican in politics, is now serving his fourth term as trustee, and is now assessor 
of the town. He takes an active interest in educational and religious matters. 

Hopkins, W. A., was born in Lyons, April 27, 1850. His father, Robert A., was also 
a native of the town. W. A. Hopkins was educated in the Lyons High School, to which 
he has added through life by reading and close observation. In 1889 he established his 
present business of grocer, confectioner and baker, and makes a specialty of fine teas 
and coffees, and is one of the leading men in his line of business. At the age of twenty- 
one he married Sallie A., daughter of Gideon Robinson, of Lyons. Subject takes an 
active interest in educational and religious matters. 

Hoag, Isaac R., Macedon, was born in the town of Walworth, March 8, 1838. 
Humphrey, his father, was born in Macedon (then known as Palmyra), December 22, 
1810, and at present is living with our subject at Macedon. He married Rachael Briggs, 
of Scipio, Cayuga county, who was born in 1815. They had four children, two now 
living : Marion L., and our subject. His occupation has been farming, but for the past 
four years he has lived retired with his son. The Hoags are one of the old families in 
this section, dating back for many years. Our subject was educated in the district 
schools of this State, was supervisor of the towns of Walworth and Macedon, and in 
early life was engaged in the grocery business, which he conducted in Trenton, N. J. 
He then came to Wayne county and took up farming. He married, March 15, 1865, 
Mary E. Wright, of Pennsylvania, and they have two children and one adopted daughter. 
He is at present road commissioner. 

Hickox, William, of Macedon Centre, was born in Canandaigua, Ontario county, 
September 2, 1840. Zopher Hickox, his father, was also born in Canandaigua. He was 
a farmer and died in 1863, aged fifty-three years. He married Sallie M. Mallory, of 
Canandaigua, and they had four children : Martha A., Mary E., William (our subject), 
and Henry H. Mary E. and Henry H. are deceased ; Martha A. is now living in Gales- 
ville, Wis. The family is one of the old settlers in New York State. The grandfather, 
George, was a military officer, was one of the first settlers in Ontario county, helping to 
clear the land where the city of Canandaigua now stands, was the first man to bring 
goods from Albany to Canandaigua, transporting them with oxen and cart or sled. 
There were no houses at that time and he was obliged to sleep out in his sled. Subject 
is a farmer and has a fruit and berry farm, producing about 10,000 quarts of the different 
qualities. He married first Jennie R^y, of Phelps, Ontario county, daughter of William 
Roy. They had these children : M. Belle, J. Elton, George S., E. Grace, and Albert R. 
The first wife died in 1883, and he married second, in 1887, Susan, daughter of Samuel 
S. Wilber, of Manchester, Ontario county, by whom he had one child, Henry H. Our 
subject was educated in Macedon Academy, and is a member of the order of S. F. I. 

Hurley, N. A., was born in Clyde August 19, 1876. His father, Dennis Hurley, was 
a native of the province of Quebec, Lower Canada, and came to Clyde in 1864. N. A. 
Hurley was educated at the Clyde High School and entered the employ of E. Sands, 
remaining three years. In the spring of 1893 he established his present business, carry- 
ing a large line of imported and domestic groceries and also a full stock of crockery. At 
the age of eighteen he married Lizzie, daughter of Dennis Sheehan. Our subject is 
identified in advancing the best interests of the town, and is a trustee of St. John's 
church. 

Hibbard, Fremont, born at Butler, July 5, 1856, is the only son of the late Jerome 
Hibbard, and joint proprietor with his sister Nettie of the Hibbard Basket Works, the 
most important industry of South Butler. All the machinery used at this factory was 



238 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

designed by Mr. Jerome Hibbard, and evinces not only his superior mechanical ability, 
but stands a monument to his energy and sagacity. He died April 4, 1888, at the age 
of fifty- eight years, and his memory will long be cherished for his many good qualities 
and generosity. Fremont Hibbard married, April 25, 1889, Marian, daughter of Andrew 
Piersall, of Savannah. 

Haugh, Frank A., was born in the village of Clyde. His father, John Haugh, was a 
native of the town of Galen and is a prominent farmer of his town. Frank A. Haugh 
was educated at Clyde and has always lived in this town. At the age of twenty-four 
he married Kittie Hallett, daughter of Horace B. Hallett, and they are the parents of 
two children, Lena and Leora. Mr. Haugh is one of the best known men in the town, 
and has held office as town clerk and deputy postmaster. 

Hunt, William, was born in Farmington. Ontario county, March 25, 1832, a son of 
Micajah and Sarah (Gardner) Hunt, who settled in Walworth in 1844. The father died 
there in 1880, and the mother in 1860. The grandparents were Micajah and Sarah 
(Nichols) Hunt, whose parents came from England. Our subject was educated in the 
Macedon CeDter Academy and first engaged in the fruit tree business for ten years. He 
married in 1863 Alice, daughter of Samuel and Louise (Reed) Knowles, of Rensselaer- 
ville, and they have these children: Lilian, wife of Loren Hill, of Iowa; Miriam, of 
Nebraska ; Jessie, Carrie, and Cora, all of whom are teachers. Mr. Hunt is a farmer 
and makes a specialty of fruit evaporating, the raising of garden truck, etc. They are 
members of the Free Will Baptist church. 

Harris, Calvin P., was born in Penfield May 14, 1857, son of Peter and Ellen (Bur- 
rows) Harris, natives of Penfield. The paternal grandfather of our subject was a native 
of Scotland, who came to Penfield at an early d?iy where he died. The maternal grand- 
father was Amos Burrows, a native of Connecticut, who died in Rochester in 1874. 
His wife was Sallie Cornwell, a native of Connecticut. He was a soldier in the war of 
1812. The father of subject is a farmer and resides in Penfield. Subject has always 
been a farmer, and owns 100 acres. He married in 1878 Ella C. Butler, a native of 
Detroit, Mich., and daughter of Amasa and Esther Butler, who reside in East Penfield. 
Mr. Harris and wife have had four children : Arthur P., Ellen L., Esther H. and Donald 
D. The great-grandfather of subject was Joseph Burrows, a native of Connecticut, 
whose parents came in the Mayflower and settled in Connecticut. Joseph Burrows 
was in the war of the Revolution, an aid to Washington. He died in Penfield in 
1848. 

Hoagland, Charles B., born in Williamson May 2, 1859, is the youngest of two sons 
of William and Harriet (Luce) Hoagland. The grandfather, Albert, came to William- 
son about 1825, and purchased a farm where subject now resides. He died July 25, 
1852. His wife, Elizabeth, died January 20, 1865. William was reared on the home- 
stead in Williamson. He made many improvements and increased it to 208 acres, 
which he left to the family. His wife, Harriet, was a daughter of William Luce, who 
was one of the pioneers of Palmyra. Their son Albert was born July 15, 1854. He 
married Mattie Cady, followed farming, and died February 28, 1893. He left one son, 
Willie. Mr. Hoagland died June 12, 1893, and his wife April 26, 1892. C. B. Hoag- 
land was educated in Marion, Walworth and Williamson, and has always followed 
farming on the homestead. He now has 104 acres of land, and carries on general farm- 
ing. November 25, 1884, he married Nellie, daughter of William Reed, of Ontario, 
Wayne county, by whom he has two children : Blanche and Stanley. Mr. Hoagland 
is at present road commissioner of the town. He is a member of Williamson Grange, 
and of the Williamson Tent, No. 162, K. O. T. M. 

Hoag, Benjamin H., was born in Walworth March 14, 1849, the fifth of six children 
born to Hiram C. and Sallie A. Wyman, daughter of Abel B. Wyman, of Walworth, 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 239 

one of the early settlers in the town. Hiram C. was born in Macedon in 1818, son of 
Benjamin Hoag, one of the first settlers of Macedon. He is a farmer and resides in 
West Walworth, where he has resided since 1857. He enlisted in Company B, 9th 
Heavy Artillery, and served three years. Benjamin H. Hoag was reared on a farm, at 
fourteen years old learned the harness trade and followed it ten years in West Wal- 
worth, and in 1878 went to Kansas, where he was engaged in farming ten years and 
returned to Ontario and settled on the S. N. Maine farm, where he has since resided. 
He has sixty acres and follows general farming. He is a Republican and married De- 
cember 24, 1868, Jennie Maine, a native of Ontario and daughter of Stephen N. Maine, 
a native of Connecticut, who came to Ontario in 1836, and settled on the farm now 
owned by Mr. Hoag. His father, Stephen Maine, was also a native of Connecticut, 
came to Ontario in 1836, and died here in 1864. His wife was Lucinda Ray, a native 
of Vermont, who died in 1851. The wife of Stephen H. Maine died in 1878, and Mr. 
Maine resides with his daughters. Mr. Maine was supervisor ten years, county super- 
intendent of schools for some years, and taught school twenty-one terms. He married 
Cornelia Pratt, a native of Williamson, and daughter of Alvah Pratt, one of the first 
settlers of Williamson. Mr. Maine and wife have had five children, of whom two are 
living : Mrs. Hoag and Dr. Maine, of Webster. Mr. Hoag and wife have had two 
children : Cora, wife of Thomas Ransley, by whom she has two children, Benjamin D. 
Murray, and Esca, at home. 

Hennessy, Dr. W. J., is a native of Rochester, born in 1856, educated at the Victor 
Union School, Macedon Academy and Syracuse University, graduating from the latter 
in 1881. He began the study of medicine with Dr. C. M. Kingman, of Palmyra, in 
1877, and graduated from the Syracuse Medical College in 1881. He practiced at 
Palmyra till 1883, then moved to Valley Center, Kan., where he practiced till April, 
1884, when he returned to Palmyra and has since practiced here. He married in 1883 
Minnie, daughter of J. C. Lovett, dry goods merchant of Palmyra, and they have had 
one son, who died in infancy. Mrs. Hennessy died in May, 1884, and October 29, 
1888, Dr. Hennessy married May, daughter of Henry Birdsall, of Palmyra, and they 
have had one son and one daughter. Dr. Hennessy was trustee of the village in 18B9- 
93; president of Wayne County Medical Society 1889-90, and has been health officer 
for the past seven years. 

Hillimire, Anson, a native of Germany, was born in 1824, and came to America in 
1849, locating at East Palmyra. In 1852 he married Celestia Cole, and a few years 
afterward purchased 107 acres of land, where he now resides. He makes a specialty of 
growing and distilling peppermint. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Hillimire are: David, 
deceased ; Edwin, Kittie, deceased, and Frederick. 

Hill, Joseph G., graduate Toronto Veterinary College, was born at Sennett, Cay- 
uaga county, N. Y., January 16, 1864. His earlier education was acquired at the Mon- 
roe Collegiate Institute, after which he spent three years at Toronto, graduating with 
high honors, besides holding special dental and medical diplomas. January 11, 1893, 
he married Ida Barrell, of Wolcott. Dr. Hill began practice at Weedsport, but is now 
located at Red Creek, where his manifest ability and genial nature have already given 
him a wide clientele. 

Hoag, Jefferson W., was born and reared on a farm in the town of Arcadia, Wayne 
county, N. Y. While preparing for college he taught a district school for one term and 
for two terms taught in the Canandaigua Academy. He prepared for college at the 
Newark Academy, under the principalship of J. Forman Steele. He entered the class 
of 1870 at Union College, and graduated with that class. After his graduation he en- 
gaged in teaching, for two years as principal of Leavenworth College at Wolcott, N. Y. 
He graduated from the Albany Law School in 1873, and was then admitted to practice 
as attorney at law. Shortly after being admitted to the bar, he opened an office at 



240 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Wolcott, N. Y., where he has ever since been engaged in the practice of his profession. 
In 1882 he was elected district attorney for Wayne county and served three years in 
that capacity. In 1877 he married Ada H. Rowland, of Newark, N. Y. 

Hoff, Hubbard, a veteran soldier, who is a familiar figure at Red Creek, and whose 
disabilities are a constant reminder of those " times that tried men's souls," was born in 
Schoharie county, June 2, 1826. His father, R. C. Hoff, came here in 1834 and en- 
gaged in mercantile life. Hubbard learned the trade of cabinet making, which he 
practiced in various cities of the State until August 28, 1862, when he enlisted in the 
160th N. Y. S. Vols, as hospital steward. At the battle of Winchester he was severely 
wounded by a shell, subjecting him to a weary confinement in the hospital, a long con- 
valescence at home, and causing permanent lameness. July 28, 1847, he married Mary 
G. Rassmussen, of Sterling, and they haye two children: William D., born September 
10, 1848, and Ives P., born November 26, 1852. 

Hyde, J. H., is the only son of Harlow Hyde, who came to Wolcott in 1807, when 
four years of age, and whose father, Zenos Hyde, was the first practicing physician in 
Wolcott. Harlow Hyde, now ninety-two years of age, and in possession of all his 
faculties, is in many ways a remarkable man. He is the oldest living ex-supervisor of 
Wolcott, was for twenty years a justice, and a Repubhcan assemblyman from 1856 to 
1860. James H., when eleven years old, was by an accident deprived of an eye, not- 
withstanding which he acquired a good education, and in 1862 accepted the lieutenancy 
of Company A., 138th Inf., and went at once to the front, participating in the battles 
of Monocacy Junction, Petersburg, Cold Harbor, and Cedar Creek. At the latter, while 
in command of cavalry, ke was shot through the arm and unhorsed. He married in 
1850 Sarah A. Avery, who lost her life while caring for sick soldiers at Alexandria, Va., 
and whose four sons are also now deceased. 

Hoyt, A. W., a veteran of the Civil War, was born at Weedsport, Cayuga county, 
November 5, 1846, the youngest son of Aaron F. Hoyt. At sixteen years of age, a 
student at Weedsport, he enlisted in Battery I, 3d N. Y. Light Artillery. His ex- 
perience during the war possessed more than the usual vicissitudes of a soldier's life, and 
during an expedition to Plymouth, N. O, he received injuries which culminated in the 
loss of an eye, and for disability he was discharged in July, 1865, after three years of 
service. It is a fact worthy of note that he was the youngest of five brothers: William, 
Aaron, Abner, Judson, and Adin, all of whom were in the service and in the same com- 
pany and regiment. 

Hawley, William, is the son of Aaron Hawley, for many years a prominent builder 
and contractor at Albany, N. Y. William, born in New York city, September 30, 1819, 
and educated at Albany, came to Wolcott in 1834, and was for a period of ten years en- 
gaged in the mercantile business at Red Creek. Afterwards adopting agriculture as his 
principal vocation he has achieved a signal success, being one of the largest landholders 
of this locality, and his farms are adorned with large and handsome buildings. In 1849 
he married Sophia Hamilton, of Victory, Cayuga county, and they have two sons, 
Aaron, born in 1850, and Charles H, born in 1857. Sophia Hawley died in 1863, and 
Mr. Hawley's present wife was Miss Hannah Ward, of Wolcott, Mr. Hawley has been 
a steadfast Republican all his life. 

Hoyt, George H., was born near Dexter, Me., in the town of Ripley, September 6, 
1825, a son of George W. Hoyt, who was a native of Bradford, N. H. George H. was 
educated in the common schools of Bradford and at the Francistown Academv. His 
parents died when he was three years of age, and he journeyed through Maine into 
New Hampshire, a distance of 250 miles and resided with his grandfather on the farm 
until reaching his majority. After various experiences he came in 1850 to Newark, 
Wayne county, and in 1854 returned to_Concord,jN. H. That year he married Mary H., 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 241 

daughter of Jonathan Scribner, of Salisbury, N. H., and they have had three children : 
George H., jr., Carrie, now Mrs. Green ; and Lillie, now Mrs. Barnard, of Baltimore, 
Md. In 1857 Mr. Hoyt came with his wife to Clyde, where he engaged in the grocery 
business, continuing up to 1861, when he entered the employ of William C. Ely at the 
glass works, being soon after appointed agent for Dr. Linus Ely in the same business. 
Dr. Ely was succeeded by Orrin Southvvick, and in 1868 Mr, Hoyt became a partner in 
the firm of Southwick, Reed & Co., they being succeeded by Ely, Reed & Co., which 
firm continued up to the time of the death of William C. Ely in 1886. The firm was 
then reorganized and continued under the style of William C. Ely's Sons & Hoyt, 
manufacturers of fruit jars and glass bottles. Our subject is recognized as one of the 
conservative men of his town, and has always been identified in advancing its best 
interests. He is a trustee of the M. E. church of Clyde. 

Warren, Gardiner D., was born in the town of Sodus July 8, 1827, a son of Gardiner, 
and a grandson of Samuel Warren, the first of the family to settle in Wayne county. 
He came from Cheshire, N. H., with his family, consisting of his wife and six sons, 
arriving in 1807, on an ox sled. The place was a wilderness, and many trials and 
hardships were met by this pioneer family, which became one of the first in importance 
in the county. His son, Gardiner, father of our subject, came to South Sodus, where 
he died. He was a farmer and also engaged in the mercantile trade. For several 
years he was county superintendent of the poor, and was a leading member of the 
South Sodus M. E. church. He married Abigal Davis, and their children were: Aldace 
P., Gardiner D., and Mary E. The latter married C. T. Cure, and settled in Grant 
City, Mo. Aldace P. settled at South Sodus and was for several years a major in the 
old State militia. He was for twenty-eight years a justice of the peace, and for thirty 
years engaged in the mercantile trade. He removed to Ohio, where he died December 
12, 1881. Gardiner D. was engaged in the dry goods trade at South Sodus for five 
years, prior to 1852, when he went to New York city, and for fourteen years was en- 
gaged in jobbing. In 1872 he formed the jobbing house of S. J. Arnold & Co., from 
which firm he retired in 1878, then went to Chicago and formed the firm of Lee, 
Reynolds & Warren, wholesale dealers in buffalo robes. In 1881 Mr. Warren retired 
from business, returning to Sodus, but he spends his winters in the South. In 1866 he 
married Ann De Kay, who died in 1882. 

Hill, Charles H., was born at Sodus Point in 1838, and is a son of John Hill, who 
came from Oswego to Sodus Point in 1837. His father served in the war of 1812. 
The family is of English descent and trace their ancestry back to 1640, when he first 
came to this country and settled in Connecticut. The grandfather of John Hill settled 
in Yermont and his father settled in Jefferson county. John Hill was a carpenter and 
builder and for many years carried on an extensive business. He resided at Sodus 
Point until 1865, when he removed to New York and entered the employ of the 
N. Y. C. & H. R. R. R. as master carpenter. He was a member of the State militia and 
was adjutant. He married Jerusha C, daughter of Capt. Samuel Freeman, who was a 
merchant trader to the West Indies. Their children were : Edward, Charles H., Mary 
E., John J., and Helen A. Charles H. Hill settled at Sodus Point. He is a carpenter 
and builder and has a large and prosperous business. For three years he carried on the 
business at Albany, N.Y. He takes an active part in political affairs, and was a deputy 
collector of customs at Sodus Point from 1889 to 1893. He married October 18, 1866. 
Mary E. Waters, of Pultneyville, N.Y. 

Gordon. John, son of David and Polly Gordon, was born October 14, 1807, in Carlisle, 
N.Y., was the eldest of a family of ten children. His parents were of German and 
Scotch descent, and moved from Carlisle to Galen when John was about six years 
old, and purchased near Lockpit what is now called the Burton farm. John re- 
mained on the farm with his father until he was twenty-one years of age, 



242 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

attended the district school winters and summers whenever his father could spare him 
from work, where he obtained what was called in those days a good education. In 1831 
he had accumulated by his industry enough to enable him to purchase a farm of i 44 acres, 
which he occupied at his death. It was a dense forest when he purchased it. In 1835 
he married Pboebe, daughter of Jedediah and Mary Jenkins. She was born Novem- 
ber 15, 1807, in Queensburg, N. Y., and moved with her parents to Galen when twelve 
years old. So both may be classed among the early settlers. By their united industry 
they built up the home which they occupied fifty-five years. They had eight children, 
three of whom are living: Clarissa, Dora O, and T. Adelbert. He was a very success- 
ful farmer, raising grain, hay, fruit and stock. During the spring of 1891 both passed 
away, April 14th the wife died and May 17th the husband. Adelbert, the only son 
living, lives on the homestead. He was married to Hattie, daughter of Roswell Crane, 
of Waterloo, February 26, 1889, and now has five children : Olive, Amy, Lillian May, 
and twins, Hiram and John. " There ever existed between them and between the 
members of their family uninterrupted domestic concord and felicity. In all things the 
members of the household, by influence of the conjugal example, have been affectionate, 
faithful and true to each other. As citizens their life was not conspicuous before the 
world, but their influence was none the. less effective and salutary, since it is ever true 
that the power of virtue is inherent in itself and cannot be lost, though there be no 
tongue to herald it abroad. A long life of integrity and honor has an earthly im- 
mortality, the dying breath does not fade it out. As religionists they were broad of 
faith and unrestrained and sincere in charity. As citizens they are public spirited, in- 
telligent and patriotic. As parents they were affectionate, wise and faithful. As 
neighbors they were neighborly. In character they were a noble man and woman. 
They had lived together so long and tenderly, had so grown to become one in their 
union that they could not live apart. The stroke that sundered them served to reunite 
them, the husband surviving the wife but a few weeks." 

Arnold, William T., was born in Perry, Wyoming county. December 16, 1832. His 
father, George, was a native of Yorkshire, England, came to America in 1830 and in 
1835 settled in Sodus, purchasing a farm of eighty acres on the lake road, northeast of 
the village, where he lived until his death, December 16, 1887. He was a prominent 
member of the Sodus M. E. church. He married Catherine Wride, and they had one 
son, William T., our subject. He settled on the homestead and is a prosperous farmer. 
He married Elizabeth, daughter of William Hewson, and they have two children : 
George, who married Sarah Drake, and Charles, who married Elizabeth Swailes, both 
settled in Sodus. 

Hartman, P. T., was born in Tuscola county, Mich., August 28, 1858. His father, 
Joseph, was a native of Wayne county, and retired in 1860. P. T. Hartman was edu- 
cated in Lyons Union School, after leaving which he farmed two years, and then en- 
gaged as clerk in the hardware business with Col. William Kreutzer, then associated 
with the express company two years and then entered the employ of E. G. Leonard 
for five years and then went to Canandaigua with George B. Anderson and returned to 
Lyons in the spring of 1880, and entered into partnership with F. L. Breisch, the firm 
name Breisch & Hartman, carrying one of the largest stocks of dry goods, cloaks, car- 
pets and notions in Wayne county. The firm originally located at 36 Canal street, but 
in 1892 removed to the Parshall Memorial building, occupying two floors, with a depth 
of 120 and width of 50 feet. P. T. Hartman married at twenty-nine Ada, daughter of 
James S. Hickox, of Canandaigua, Ontario county, and they have two children : P. H. 
Hartman and Ruth M. Hartman. Our subject is one of the leading merchants in his 
town, taking an intelligent interest in educational and religious matters, and is recog- 
nized as a man of sterling integrity and worth. 

Swift, Elisha T., born in Sullivan county, N. Y., July 17, 1818, is the second of a 
of four sons and four daughters of Silas and Elizabeth Swift, pioneers of William- 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 243 

son, coming there from Sullivan county, N. Y. They went to Michigan leaving Elisha 
T., who was about 14 years of age, with Mr. Smith of Marion with whom he remained 
till of age. He commenced business for himself in a saw mill, manufacturing and selling- 
pumps. He then engaged in the cooper business in Walworth, exchanged this business 
for a farm in Walworth which he traded for the farm in Williamson, where he now resides. 
Here he was also engaged in the lumber business a few years. He made nearly all of 
the improvements on the farm. Mr. Swift has been three times married, first to Cath- 
erine Rounserville, aud after her death to Martha Wake, who died in 1873 and by whom 
he has one son and three daughters, two now deceased, Emma and Jennie. He married 
third Maria S. (Evans) Harding, daughter of Luther and Elizabeth (Howland) Evans, 
natives of Massachusetts, who went to Michigan in 1844, where he died in 1851, and 
his wife in 1858. Mrs. Swift came to Palmyra at the age of fourteen years. She mar- 
ried first John Harding, by whom she has one son, Fred, a farmer in Nebraska. Mr. 
Harding died 1866 and she married Mr. Swift, by whom she has one daughter Lizzie D. 
Mr. Swift has for some time been disabled by paralysis, and Mrs. Swift now has charge 
of the farm. They have 103 acres, and are engaged in general farming and fruit raising. 
They attended and supported the M. E. church until the few last years. 

Le Vanway, Joseph, father of Henry W., was a native of France, and was an orphan 
at the age of ten years. He was bound out to a man and brought to America when 
twelve years old, and after serving his time he married Margery Moore, she being of 
German descent. He engaged in agricultural pursuits, purchasing a farm in Peru, 
Clinton county, and gave it his entire attention for several years. He then engaged 
extensively in the lumbering business, sometimes employing 100 men, and took the lar- 
gest raft of lumber to Quebec that had ever been taken there, which covered four acres 
of water. He sold his property in Clinton county and bought a farm in St. Lawrence 
county. The children of Joseph and Margery Le Vanway were as follows : Betsey, 
Doras. Julia, Harriet, George, Harrison, Hardy, Wellington (who is a minister), Henry 
W. (our subject), Hardy 2d, Adeline, Anderson (who was a doctor) and Charles N., 
who left his law office and raised a company of men and went into the War of the 
Rebellion, where he was killed at the battle of Shiloh, while acting in place of Colonel 
Bosworth, of the 34th Illinois regiment. The brothers all grew to be temperate, with 
one exception. When Mr. Le Vanway went to St. Lawrence county the whole territory 
was a dense forest, and he took with him his seven sons to assist him in felling trees 
and clearing the land. Henrv W., not liking the wild forest so well, started out for 
himself when only sixteen years of age, and on arriving in Wayne county among 
strangers, had only three shillings left. He engaged as a farm hand on his arrival, and 
now is the owner of one of the finest farms in the county, consisting of 200 acres of 
fine land (fifty of which, however, he has sold to his daughter). He is now the only 
survivor of his father's family. The father died in 1841, and the mother in 1860. At 
the age of twenty-eight our subject married Cynthia D., daughter of Alanson S. Curtis, 
and they had two children : Alanson H., who died aged four years and Edra A., wife 
of R. R. Barnes, a clothier, of Clyde. Mrs. Le Vanway died July 18, 1894. 

Brundige, Cornelius O., was born at Fishkill, N. Y., in 1827 and is of German descent. 
Alvah, his father, was born in 1799 and died in 1874. He was a son of Abram who 
served in the War of 1812. Alvah Brundige came from Fishkill in 1838 and settled in 
Lyons, purchasing of Daniel Paul a farm of seventy-six acres. He was a leading mem- 
ber of the South Sodus M. E. church. By trade he was a blacksmith and edged tool 
maker, and carried on that business after coming to Wayne county. He married Bar- 
bara A. Ostrander, and their children were : Harvey, who settled in Huron and is a 
farmer; he married Sophia Upson. Catherine married Myron M. Alden, of Lyons. 
Emily, who is unmarried. Margaret A., who died unmarried. Abraham, who enlisted 
in 1862 in the 8th N. Y. Heavy Artillery and served till the close of the war; he mar- 
ried Hattie Davis and settled first in Sodus and later at Niagara Falls. Much of his life 



244 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

was spent in teaching and he died in 1891. Mary E. married David S. Dawes and 
settled near Weedsport, N. Y. Alson died in childhood, Cornelius O., first settled in 
the town of Lyons but soon after settled near South Sodus. He is a veterinary surgeon 
by profession, but for eighteen years was an extensive apple buyer. In 1890 he was 
elected justice of the peace, is a member of the South Sodus M. E. church and Lyons 
Grange. He married in 1851 Lucy, daughter of Jonathan H. Lamson, of Lyons, and 
their children are: Alice A. (Mrs. Cornelius B. Horton, of Sodus) ; Lucy E. (Mrs. Oscar 
H. Sweet, of Rochester) ; and Kate E. (Mrs. William Munn, of Lyons). 

Lyman, Samuel, and Clementina (Evarts) Lyman were born in Salisbury, Conn., the 
former August 18, 1794, the latter July 7, 1793. They removed to Rose (then Wolcott), 
N.Y., in February, 1818, coming with sled and oxen, and were seventeen days on the 
road. They endured with patience and hope the privations and discomforts incident to 
all settlers of a new heavily timbered country, subject to malarial diseases, from the 
annual drying of undrained swamps. For a number of winters Mr. Lyman taught 
school, and his help-mate, taking advantage of a trade learned in Connecticut, sup- 
plied many of her neighbors with that indispensable article of feminine attire, a bon- 
net, and by united efforts they succeeded in keeping the wolf from the door. Their 
children were: Caroline, born, May 7. 1817; John, born April 28, 1819; Mary, born 
May 16. 1821; Charles and David (twins), born February 7, 1824; Lavius H., born 
April 15, 1828; Frederick, born July 21. 1830; Flavia E., born May 31, 1833; Samuel 
E., born June 16, 1836. Samuel Lyman died May 28, 1877, his wife having died 
June 25, 1870. In politics Mr. Lyman was a partisan only in so far as he believed the 
action of his party to be in line with public interests and individual rights. He was 
originally a Democrat, but in the Morgan excitement he became an anti-Mason, and, 
in succession, a Whig, Liberty party man, Free Soiler, and, last of all, a Republican. 
He was the leading abolitionist of Rose, and occasionally his house was used as a 
station on the underground railroad. He was also one of the earliest temperance 
men, and the first cold water raising in town was that of a barn built by him in 1830, 
where the cold water and hot water forces met in a trial of strength, and for a while 
the result seemed doubtful, one party raising up and the other party pulling down ; 
but the hot water men were finally beaten, and with bruised fingers and trailing 
colors abandoned the contest. They succeeded some half dozen times in forcing back 
the first bent after it had taken quite a start upward, and at the next attempt, when 
the beam had reached the proper height to make the action effective, a stout beechen 
lever in the hands of Elizur Flint was swept along its length, to the detriment of 
numerous fingers that were tugging at its upper instead of its under side, and the 
bent moved steadily to its place, to the great disgust of the whiskyites, a near by 
whiskey seller saying he would rather have given $5 than to see the barn go up ; but 
the joke was, he had no $5 to give. Conspicuous among the men who stood for the 
right on that occasion were Elizur Flint, Chauncey Bishop, Stephen Collins, Joel N. 
Lee, Rev. Ansel Gardiner, and C. W. Fairbank. Samuel Lyman was social, humorous, 
wittv, a good story-teller, intelligent, argumentative, honest, and his motto was: ''Do 
Right." 

Boss, Cornelius, born in Sodus April 6, 1856, is the fifth of nine children of Isaac 
and Sarah (Dedee) Boss, natives of Holland, who came to America in 1854 and 
settled in Williamson on a farm. He bought a farm in Sodus, where he resided till 
1865, when he went to Michigan for a year. He returned to Sodus, again buying a 
farm, which he sold and bought the farm, a part of which is now owned by our sub- 
ject. He died April 3, 1887, and his wife March 29, 1880. Subject was reared on a 
farm and educated in Sodus and Marion. He married, April 7, 1880, Annie, daughter 
of Frank and Mary (Lawrence) Leroy, natives of Holland. Mr. and Mrs. Boss have 
one son and one daughter: Frank O, born September 6, 1886, and Jessie May, born 
July 13, 1891. Mr. Leroy died in 1866, and Mrs. Leroy resides in Marion. Mr. Boss 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 245 

has always been engaged in farming, and makes a specialty of fruit growing. He is a 
member of the Grange, and is also a member of Security Tent, K. 0. T. M. 

Ford, Charles H., was born in Utica, October 19, 1861. His father, Harvey Ford, 
was a well known contractor and builder throughout Oneida and Herkimer counties. 
Charles H. Ford was educated in the common schools and finished at the Whitestown 
Seminary, then went to Auburn and engaged in the tobacco trade; in 1882 came to 
Clyde and established his present business as jobber in tobacco and cigars. In 1889 he 
was elected trustee of the village, in 1890 supervisor, and re-elected in 1891. He was 
appointed the same year superintendent of section 8, of the Erie Canal, resigned in 
1893, and was appointed under Governor Flower sheriff of Wayne county in the spring 
of 1894. At the age of twenty-five he married Miss Emma W. Gilbert, daughter of 
Horace Gilbert, of Auburn, and are the parents of one son, Vivian Ford. Our subject 
is identified in advancing the best interests of his town and county and leading events of 
the day. He is a member of the fire department for ten years, foreman, and drill 
master for six years ; also member of Clyde Lodge No. 300, Wayne Encampment of 
Newark ; Canton Galen No. 49, of which he is the present commander. 

Eaton, William L., was born in Marion, February 20, 1841, and is the son of Ira and 
Almira (Hall) Eaton, she being the first white child born in the town of Marion. Mr. 
Eaton settled in Marion after his marriage and came to Ontario, where he died. His 
wife died January 20, 1894. William Eaton was educated in the common schools of 
Ontario, and went to Pultneyville to learn the miller's trade with J. B. Craggs, and 
worked at Ontario and at Sodus Point. He came to Williamson in 1873, and built the 
present mill, and formed a partnership with Thomas Seeley, which continued until 
1878, when he entered into partnership with J. A. Eidgeway, which was dissolved in 
1880. He has since continued the business alone. He has the full roller process, with 
a capacity of fifty barrels per day and grinds about 25,000 to 30,000 bushels of wheat 
yearly, and about 20,000 bushels of coarse grain. Mr. Eaton has served as excise com- 
missioner, but devotes his energies mainly to his farm. In 1866 he married Eebecca 
Jackson, of Williamson, and they have two children : Mary, wife of Alfred J. Paget, 
who assists his father-in-law in the mill; and Clarence W., who is at home. Our 
subject is a member of the Pultneyville Lodge No. 159, F. & A. M., and he and his 
family are members of the M. E. church. Mr. and Mrs. Paget have one daughter, 
Gladys. 

Young. Dr. Augustus A., was born in the town of Clay, Onondaga county, November 
8, 1849. He was educated in the public schools, two years in Cazenovia Seminary, and 
in Syracuse University, graduating from the liberal art department in June, 1876, with 
the degree of B.S. The same year he entered the medical department of Syracuse 
University, graduating June 25, 1879, with the degree of M.S., and immediately began 
to practice with much success at Newark. August 18, 1879, he married Sarah E., 
daughter of John M. Carver, of Mallory, Oswego county. They have one adopted 
daughter, A. Marguerite, who is a student in the academy. The doctor's father, Peter 
J., was born at the old home in 1819. He was educated iu the schools of his day, was 
a farmer by occupation, and married Catherine Somers, of Schoharie county, N. Y., by 
whom he had two children : Gilbert T., and Augustus A. His grandfather, Jacob V. 
Young, was born at Hinesville, Schoharie county, N.Y. He married Isabell McNaughton, 
of Onondaga county, and they had four children : Mary, John, Elizabeth, and Peter, jr. 
Jacob V. was a soldier in the war of 1812. Dr. Young is a member of the Wayne 
County Medical Society, the Central New York Society, also of the New York State 
Medical Association, and Fellow of the Academy of Medicine of Syracuse. He is also 
a member of the American Microscopical Society. He has contributed articles to 
medical and other papers, and is also president of the Pension Examining Board at 
Lyons. He is a member of the Newark Lodge No. 83, F. & A. M., also of Newark 
Lodge No. 250, I. 0. O. F., and health officer of Newark the past six years. 



246 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY 

Wride, William, was born in Yorkshire, England, whence he came to the United 
States in 1S30, and settled in the town of Sodus, on the Lake Road. With him, or 
about that time, came his sons, Robert, John, William, jr., and James. Robert, born 
in 1803, came to America in 1831 and settled at Perry, N. Y., where he lived until 
1835, then removed to the town of Sodus, settling on the Lake Road, then two years 
later near the Centenary M. E. Church, where he has since resided. The family were 
among the early Methodists of the town, Robert being a leading member of the Cen- 
tenary Church, and largely responsible for its erection. John Wride settled at Geneva, 
soon after coming to Sodus. James settled in Huron, and became one of the influential 
farmers of the town. He was deputy collector of customs for several years at Port 
Gibson, and was justice of the peace a number of years. He married Martha Sowerby, 
and their children who lived to maturity were : Fletcher, George S., and Alice, now 
Mrs. S. S. Granger. After the death of Mr. Wride his widow married William Hew- 
son (deceased), of Sodus. 

Walch, Edward, was born in Schenectady December 25, 1861, received his higher 
education at the Union school, then learned the tinsmith's trade, then entered a boiler 
shop and learned the machinist's trade, and afterwards learned blacksmithing. Going 
to Paterson, N. J., he entered the Rogers Locomotive Works, and six months later en- 
tered the employ of the Danforth & Cook Locomotive Co., still later in the Grant Loco- 
motive Works, and then went to New York and entered the employ of Fletcher & 
Harrison, in their marine shop. He next went to McNeil's Iron Works in Brooklyn, 
and then engaged with the Scranton Locomotive Works. He then obtained a position 
in the West Shore shops at East Buffalo, and in 1884 was sent to Newark, one of the 
terminal points of the road, in charge of the boiler works at this point, and then was 
sent to Buffalo. Two months later he was returned to Newark as general foreman of 
the West Shore Engine House here, which position he has filled since. December 27, 
1887, he married Lucy M., daughter of Hugh and Mary Crowe, and they have two chil- 
dren : Edward, jr., and Maria N. Mr. and Mrs. Walch are members of St. Michael's 
Church, and he was first president of the Catholic Benevolent Legion, was its chancellor, 
orator and secretary, and represented it at the conventions of Buffalo, Brooklyn, and 
New York. 

The Whitbeck Family. — The first to settle in Wayne county was Albert Whitbeck, 
who came from Kinderhook, Columbia county, about 1824 and settled in Arcadia. His 
ancestors came from Holland in an early day and settled on the Hudson. He mar- 
ried a Miss Schumerhorn, and their children were James, who settled in Newark where 
he died ; Dorcas, who married Jacob Trumper and settled in Arcadia ; Caroline, who 
married George Van Housen and settled in Arcadia ; Maria, married William New 
and settled in Arcadia; John settled in Arcadia and later removed to Michigan ; 
Peter settled in Palmyra and was a farmer; Edward died in Arcadia; Jane married 
Henry Cronise and settled in Newark. Andrew A. settled in Sodus in 1834 and was 
one of the prominent and influential men of the town. He was at one time supervisor 
of the town and was a prominent member of the Sodus M. E. Church, being for many 
years one of its trustees. He married first Cynthia K. Whitbeck and their children 
were William, George, Cornelius A., Ahda and Edmund. For his second wife he mar- 
ried Imogene Filkins, and for his third wife Almira M. Willard, by whom he had four 
childred John D., Frank, Carrie and Arthur L. Andrew A. died in 1885. 

Welcher, Charles A., was born in Arcadia October 3, 1855, and was educated in the 
district, and the Union school and Academy of Newark. His early life was spent on 
his father's farm, and he is now one of Newark's enterprising grocery merchants. He 
married Jennie E. Garlock of Newark, and they have five children, Fred G., Frank C, 
Le Fern, Ernest L. V., and James. Mr. Welcher's father, J. Philester, was born on the 
homestead two and one-half miles north of the village of Newark March 13, 1821. 
September 22, L845, he married Abigail Lee of Arcadia, by whom he had seven chil- 



FAMILY SKETCHES. ■_• | J 

dren Alice, Amanda, Rev. Mant'ord P., Valora E., Charles A., as above, Lucy V., and 
Byron R., who died, aged fifteen years. Subject's grandfather, John, was born in Nor- 
ristown, N. J., in 1790 and came to Phelps, Ontario county, when in his ninth year, 
and went to live with Oliver Clark of East Palmyra until he was twenty one years old! 
He then took up the land for the homestead from the primeval forest. He married 
twice, first Mebetabel Culver, and second Electa Jagger of Batavia, formerly of Long 
Island. 

White, Patrick S., was born in Syracuse May 6, 1852, where he was educated in the 
public schools. He entered the N. Y. C. Railway shops, learned the trade of machinist, 
and worked his way through the various grades to locomotive engineer of passenger 
train, which position he still holds. He ran the first passenger train out of Newark on 
the West Shore Railway in 1884. December 22, 1874, he married Mary Kenny of 
Rochester, and they have had four children : Hattie, who died in infancy in Rochester; 
Dalros M., who died in Syracuse, aged three years; Florence M., born in Rochester' 
and Bertha E., born in Newark. Mr. White's father, Moses, was born in Ireland in 
1825. He married Elizabeth Powers and had four children, Patrick, as above, George, 
Charles and Elizabeth. He too was a railroad man and came to the United States be- 
fore 1852. He died, aged fifty-two, and his wife still survives, living at the old home 
in Syracuse. Mr. White is a member of the Catholic Benevolent Legion. 

Weinman, Jacob, was born in Rhinefaltz, Germany, September 7, 1832, educated in 
their schools and worked at various occupations. May 13, 1859, he married Catherine 
Mencner of his native place, and they have had "eight children : Jacob, jr., who is a 
farmer in Clifton, Ontario county, and married Emma Fresch of Newark, by whom he 
has three children: Carrie M., Carl F. and Ruth E; Philip is a farmer in Phelps, Ontario 
county. He married Julia Werner and has one son, John P.; Frederick is a carpenter 
and builder in Newark, and married Neilie Fresch; Theresa M. and Julia A. reside at 
home ; Elizabeth C. died in infancy ; Lon also died at the age of two years ; and Chris- 
tian was killed on the West Shore railroad near his home at the age of fourteen. They 
came to the United States in 1871. Mrs. Weinman died in 1885, mourned by a bereaved 
husband and family. Mr. Weinman and family are members of the German Evangelical 
Church of Newark, and the family have resided on their farm twenty years. 

West, George H. ; was born about two miles east of Newark, November 19, 1840. He 
married twice, first, Mary L. Lee of Newark, by whom he had two children, K. Eudora 
and Charles E., who married January 13, 1886, Harriet E. Richmond of Newark, and 
has three children : Mary A., Mabel E., and Ada B. Mrs. West died October 16, 1892, 
and Mr. West married, second, March 7, 1894, Lizzie S. Yeo, of Phelps, Ontario county. 
Mrs. West was born near Le Roy, Genesee county. Mr. West's father, Matthew W., 
was born near Fairville, this town, June 18, 1818, and was a farmer. February 5, 1839, 
he married Mary Hughes of this town, formerly of Vermont, and they had five chil- 
dren ; George H., as above noted ; S. Maria, Catherine, Emma J. and Lewis G., who 
married Effie M. Lake of Marbletown, of the south part of the town of Arcadia. They 
have two children Edward W. and Ethel. Mathew W. West died March 4, 1874, 
mourned by a bereaved wife and family. His father, Moses, was a soldier in the War 
of 1812, and some members of the family were in the late war. Mrs. George H. West's 
father was born in Lincolnshire, England, September 28, 1814, and came to the United 
States when a young man, locating at Mount Morris, Livingston county. He married 
twice, first, Mary Stillson, sister of Judge Norton's wife, by whom he had four children : 
Arthur E., Frank S., M. Ella and Lizzie S. Mrs. Yeo died April 12, 1860, and he mar- 
ried in 1866 Adaline Knapp. Mr. Yeo died April 25, 1893, and his wife in 1892. The 
family resided in Le Roy for a time, also in Phelps, Ontario county, for twenty-eight 
years. Mr. West is a member of the official board of the M. E. Church. 

Welch, T. B., a native of Rose, was born February 18, 1864, son of William and Mary 



248 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

(Powers) Welch, natives of Ireland ; he was born March 25, 1821, and she was born 
April 25, 1829. They came to Rose in 1849, where he died May 15, 1883, and his wife 
July 15, 1892. He owned seventy acres at his death. Subject was educated in Rose 
Union School and Sodus Academy, from which he graduated in 1886. foilowed teaching 
two years and then engaged in the hardware business in North Rose in partnership 
with his brother, J. J. Welch, born August 29, 1867. He learned the tinner's trade at 
the age of eighteen, which he followed in Clyde and Rochester until he formed a part- 
nershiy with his brother. They occupy a two story building 56 x 22 feet, and have had 
a successful business. S bject was appointed justice of the peace to fill a vacancy of 
H. E. Scutt in 1892, and re-elected in 1893. He was postmaster at North Rose in 1888, 
and was again appointed December 27, 1893. Mr. Welch married February 10, 1891, 
M. Olive Briggs a native of Huron, and daughter of John and Sarah Briggs. They 
have had one son, Harold J. W. The firm is known as Welch Bros., and they also own 
a farm of eighty-five acres, part of the Sheer farm. 

Wilson, Ephraim B., was born in Connecticut, November 12, 1809, son of Jonathan 
and Demaris (Wimsil) Wilson, who came to Wayne county when E. B. was about two 
years of age, they being pioneers of the county. They resided at various places in the 
county and were farmers by occupation. Their last days were spent in Galen, where 
Mr. Wilson and his wife died. Our subject was reared on a farm, coming to Rose when 
the country was new. He has cleared ninety-five acres and made many improvements, 
besides rearing a family of four sons and six daughters, two of the latter now deceased. 
He married Celesta Flint of Rose. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson are active members of the 
Presbyterian Church, and strong temperance advocates. They are also members of the 
Clyde Grange. 

Whitney, the late William, was born in Ulster county October 15, 1820, and came 
to Western New York with his parents when he was eleven years of age. He was 
educated in the schools of that day, in Fairport High School and Genesee Wesleyan 
Seminary at Lima, N. Y. He was always a farmer. January 24, 1844, he married 
Jane Nichols, of Fairport, formerly of Rensselaer county, and they had two children : 
Mary E., who married Merian Filkins and had one daughter Jessie, who is a student in 
Genesee State Normal School. Mrs. Filkins died May 3, 1879; and Estella M., who 
married Robert Mitchell of the town of Huron, formerly of Sodus, March 15, 1893. 
Mr. Mitchell runs the farm, and is trustee of the school in his district. Mr. Whitney 
died January 4, 1892. The family resided in Fairport, Monroe county, twenty-five 
years, and also in Arcadia many years. Mrs. Whitney's father, Elijah Nichols, was 
born in Rensselaer county in 1786. He married Marie Filkins, and had the following 
children : William, Betsey, Polly, Jane, Elijah, jr., John, Trowbridge, Robert and 
Sarah. He died August 22, 1864, and his wife August 9, 1855. Mr. Whitney's father, 
Jesse, was born at the old home in Ulster county, and married Emeline Simpkins, by 
whom he had six children: William, as above; Loring, Eliza J., Sarah A., Albert and 
Mary. He died August 27, 1876, and his wife several years before. 

Waters, John, the pioneer of the family in Wayne county, was of German descent, 
George Waters, his grandfather, having come from Germany in an early day, and set- 
tled at Pine Plains, N. Y. John Waters served in the war of 1812. He came to 
Wayne county in 1833 with his sons George, William, Henry and John, and settled in 
Sodus, purchasing 300 acres of land near Joy, there being only a small clearing on it 
with a log house. John Waters, sr., married Elizabeth Rarrick. The sons were all 
farmers, John settled in Sodus, and married Jennie Ireland; George died at Joy on the 
homestead. He married Lydia Jaqua; William resides in Newark, and married Abbie 
Bishop. Henry Waters went to Albany in 1845 and studied law for a time, but 
abandoning that he engaged in the drover business, and for many years was an exten- 
sive dealer, buying and shipping to New York markets. In 1864 he purchased a farm 
west of Joy near the the town line, and has since been engaged in farming. He served 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 249 

one term as justice of the peace. Although never admitted to the bar, he practiced suc- 
cessfully injustice court for many years. He married Margaret Murphy, and their 
children are: Josephine (Mrs. John Crosby) and Lillian, (Mrs. John Constantabouver). 

Van Slyck, Charles, was born in Sodus in 1859, and is a son of James, whose father, 
Isaac Van Slyck, was the pioneer of the family in this county. The latter married 
first Elizabeth Van Duzer, and their children were: Peter, James, John, William, Mar- 
garet, Sophronia, and Hannah. He married second Hannah Bain. Of his children, 
John settled near Albany, where he died ; William moved to Coldwater, Mich.; Mar- 
garet, married Wesley Wilbur and settled at Palmyra ; Sophronia married Hugh Wil- 
son, and settled at Sodus; Hannah married Darius Kettle, and moved to Coldwater, 
Mich.; James Van Slyck spent his life in Sodus, and was a farmer. He was a man of 
quiet tastes, and never sought political honors. He married Olive Ellrington, and their 
children were: Nellie E. (Mrs. E. J. Harvey), of Coldwater, Mich.; Mary H.; Carrie A., 
who married James Handy, of Sodus; and Charles D., a farmer on the old homestead. 
He is a Democrat, and a member of Sodus Grange. His wife was Miss Eva C. Stickney. 

Van Tassel, Philip, was born in the town of Austerlitz, Columbia county, May 27, 
1820, and at the age of seven years was thrown on his own resources. He followed 
farming ten years, and was a hotel keeper for the same period, also following droving 
and speculating several years. October 14, 1839, he married Catharine Messenger, of 
Washington, Mass., by whom he had six sons: William H., George W., Thomas M., 
John E., Francis and Philip. William H. was elected sheriff of Columbia county ; 
George W. was killed by a horse falling on him. Thomas M. died young. John E. 
resides in Sullivan county. Francis married Cora Wood, and lives in Newark. Philip 
married Flora Tillottson, who died, leaving four children. He resides on the home 
farm. This family came to reside in this town in 1865, and Mr. Van Tassel retired 
from active business in 1888, and has since resided in the village. William, father of 
our subject, was born in Hillsdale, Columbia county, in 1788, and married Catharine 
Holsapple, of his native place, by whom he had seven childien : Maria, Martin, Fred- 
erick, William, Philip, Harriet, and Sarah. Mr. Van Tassel died in 1834, and his wife 
in 1883. Mr. and Mrs. Van Tassel are members of the M. E. Church, of which he is 
steward. 

Vosburgh, William, son of Jacob, came from Dutchess county about 1845, and set- 
tled in the northeast corner of Sodus on the lake road, purchasing a farm of 250 acres, 
and was an extensive farmer. He married first Henrietta Trumper and second Eliza- 
beth Trowbridge, and their children were : Jacob, Anna E., Margaret, Sarah C, Mary 
E., Eunice, who died in infancy, Emma and Antoinette. Anna E. married Robert Wat- 
son ; Margaret married Thomas Youmans; Sarah C. married Wesley T. Jolly; Mary 
E. married Rowland Smith; Antoinette married Henry Toor; Jacob settled on the 
homestead and is a farmer. He taught school for several years during the winter. He 
married Catherine Youmans of Sodus, and they have five children : William, Edith A., 
Wesley, Henrietta and George Y. 

Vosburg, Rev. Robert T., was born in Milwaukee. Wis., April 19, 1868. When a 
child, his father, who was a minister, received a call to preach in New York city. Mr. 
Vosburg was educated in the common schools of Rochester, five years in Wagner 
College in that city and three years in the Evangelical Lutheran Theological Seminary 
at Mount Airy, Philadelphia, from which he graduated in 1892 and began to preach in 
Newark July 1, 1892, in Zion Lutheran church. May 17, 1893, he married Salome 
Hungerer, of Lyons, and they have one daughter, Magdalene E. Mr. Vosburg's father, 
George, was born in Madgeburg, Germany, August 26, 1835. He was educated at 
Madgeburg Gymnasium, studied at Friedrechs University, at Hall Wurtenburg, also at 
the University of Tuebingen, and completed his theological studies at the University of 
Erlangerin in March, 1860, and taught at a ladies' seminary two years. In 1863 he was 
■ ff 



250 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

sent to the United States as a missionary, locating and preaching in many places in 
Wisconsin. In February, 1867, he married Emily, daughter of Rev. George Kinne, 
of Rochester, and they had three sons: Robert T., George, and Gustave. He died 
and his widow now resides in Rochester. 

Van Marter, David, father of Mrs. William J. Holland, was born in Arcadia April 19, 
1819, was educated in the public schools, and in early life was a cooper, later taking 
up farming. October 30, 1853, he married Elizabeth J. Baldwin, of Lyons, by whom he 
had two children: Mary, who died in her ninth year, and Jennie M. Mr. Van Master 
died February 4, 1881, and his wife died September 20, 1889. Jennie M. married, 
September 16, 1890, William J. Holland, of Fairville, and they have two children: 
Viola M., and D. Cole. The family are nicely situated on the Van Marter homestead. 
Mr. Holland's father, Thomas, was born about 1836, in England, and married Mary S. 
West, of Michigan, formerly of England. Their six children were: Mary A., William 
James, Sarah S., Helen D. A., who died young, Henry K., and Emma J. Both parents 
reside in Fairville. 

Van Dusen, Richard, was born in Marion, Wayne county, was educated in the com- 
mon school and has taught school fifteen years, three of which he taught in the Union 
School of Palmyra. For the past thirteen years he has been conducting a fruit farm 
near Marbletown. August 10, 1886, he married Elizabeth Reutchler, of East Newark, 
and they have one daughter, Mary E., who is a student. Mr. Van Dusen's father, 
Hiram, was born in Berkshire county, Mass., June 27. 1799. The family moved to 
Columbia county when he was a boy, where he was educated in the schools of his day. 
June 30, 1816, he married Maria Crandall, of his native county, and they had eleven 
children : Maria, Hannah, William, Henry J., Lucinda, Catherine, John EL, Margaret, 
Stephen, Hannah, 2d, and Richard. Mr. Van Dusen died hi 1866, and his wife April 
17, 1850. Subject's grandfather, William, was born September 6, 1772. He married 
Hannah Spencer and had seven children. Mrs. Richard Van Dusen's father, John 
Reutschler, was born in Germany. He married Mary Schwartz, of his native place, 
and came to the United States, locating in East Newark. They had seven children. 
Mr. Van Dusen was elected assessor in 1892 and is trustee of the district school. He 
is also a member of Newark Lodge No. 83, F. & A. M., and is a member of the 
Knights of Honor. 

Thurston, Albert L., was born in St. Lawrence county October 10, 1848, and was 
educated in the district schools. He has been in the employ of the West Shore Rail- 
road Company three years as brakeman and conductor, and has been cooper and 
engineer. December 25, 1873, he married Susan Hildrith, and they have had six chil- 
dren : Warren, Jesse G., Albert, Arvilla M., Frank L., and George R., who died aged 
twenty-two years. Mr. Thurston's father, Daniel, was born at the old home in 1822. 
He was educated in the schools of his day, and was a cooper by trade. He married 
Sarah Herriman, of his native country, and they have two children : Albert L, as 
above, and Harriet A. Mr. Thurston come to reside with his son in 1892. He en- 
listed in Company G, 106th Inf., N. Y. S. Vols., was wounded, and honorably dis- 
charged June 22, 1865. He was a member of Vosburg Post No. 99, G. A. R., depart- 
ment of New York, and died October 19, 1892. Mr. Thurston is engineer in the 
electric light and water works at Newark, and his son, Warren, is one of the assistants. 
Mr. Thurston is a member of Newark Lodge No. 83, F. & A. M., Newark Chapter No. 
117, R. A. M., Zenobia Commandery No. 41, K. T., and of N. A. S. E. No. 43. 

Thompson, S. P., was born in Rose, April 26, 1845, son of Robert R. and Elizabeth 
(Fulton) Thompson, he a native of Saratoga, born in 1821, and she of Sodus. The 
paternal grandfather of subject was Ezekiel, who came to Huron, being one of the first 
settlers and afterwards on the farm where our subject now resides, where he died. He 
was in the war of 1812. The father of subject was a farmer, owned fifty acres of land, 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 251 

and died in 1889. Our subject was reared on a farm, and at the age of fifteen enlisted 
in Company C, 8th N. Y. Cavalry, and served four years, and nine months in Anderson- 
ville. He was with the 8th Cavalry in every engagement, until he was captured twenty 
miles south of Richmond, at Stony Creek, June 29, 1864. He was in the regiment who 
fired the first shot at Gettysburg. At the close of the war he returned to Rose, and 
except five years on the Erie Canal, where he owned a boat and followed boating., has 
resided in Rose. He is a farmer, has followed threshing twenty years, and now owns 
fifty acres in Rose and one hundred acres in Sodus. Mr. Thompson has been highway 
commissioner six years. He is a member of John Sherman Post No. 401. He married 
Emily Burns, a native of Rose, and daughter of William and Jane Burns, early settlers 
in the town, where they died. Mr. Thompson and wife have two sons, James P., and 
Robert L., at home. 

Toor, Charles H., was born in Sodus, January 18, 1845, and is a son of John Toor, 
who came from England about 1830, and settled in Gorham, Ontario county, where he 
lived until 1839, when he removed to Sodus, purchasing a farm in the northwest part of 
the town and was a successful farmer. He was a leading member of the Centenary 
M. E. church of Sodus. He married Sarah Box, and their children were: Sarah A., 
George, Thomas, Charles H., and William. Charles H. settled in Sodus and is a thrifty 
farmer. For many years he taught school during the winter. He is a member of Sodus 
Grange. He married in 1872 Mary Wilkes, and their children were: Frank W. and 
Mary A. Mrs. Toor died in 1882, and in 1884 he married Lizzie Welburn, and they 
have one son, George C. 

Turner, Nathan M., was born in Sodus in 1855, and is a son of Benjamin Turner, who 
came from Yorkshire, England, in 1849, and settled in Lyons, and in the spring of 1850 
purchased the farm of Jesse H. Green northwest of Sodus village, where he spent the 
remainder of his life. He died in January, 1877. He was an enterprising and thrifty 
farmer and acquired a compe'ence. He married Ann Watson, and their children were : 
Ann, who married John Toor, of Sodas ; Joseph, who settled in Northern Michigan, 
where he died in 1875 ; Elizabeth, who married George Toor ; William, who settled in 
Sodus. He married Emma C. Baldwin ; Mary, who married Thomas Toor (deceased); 
Rachel, who married Richard Toor ; Stephen G., who resides in Sodus ; Nathan M., 
who resides on the homestead and is a farmer. He is a strong Democrat, and in 1894 
was the candidate of his party for supervisor. He married in 1885 Eliza L. Briggs, of 
Huron, N. Y., and their children are: Sarah, Isabel (deceased); Benjamin B., Hazel A., 
and Bessie 0. 

Tiffany, George W., was born at Green River, Columbia county, February 18, 1844, 
and came to Ontario county with his parents when he was three years of age. He was 
educated in the public schools and has always followed farming. He has also had 
charge of and settled several estates. January 24, 1868, he married Theresa Coons, of 
the town of Arcadia, and they have one daughter, Iva T., who is a student. Mr. 
Tiffany's father, Lamont, was born at Austerlitz, Columbia county, in 1808, and married 
Sophia Clark, of that county. They had ten children : Charles L., Jane, Esther M., 
George W., as noted, Edward D., Louis R., Florence A., Sophia E., Millie E., and AnnaB. 
He died in 1869, and his wife May 4, 1877. Mrs. Tiffany's father. Alexander Coons, 
was born at Red Hook, Dutchess county, July 4, 1812. He was educated in the schools 
of his day, and always followed farming. April 10, 1845, he married Deborah E. 
Ackley, of Newark, formerly of Sing Sing, Westchester county. They had two 
children, one who died in infancy, and Theresa, as above. The family came to Newark 
in November, 1849. He died in 1887, and his widow resides with her daughter, Mrs. 
Tiffany. Mr. Tiffany is a member of Newark Grange. 

Sherman, the late Levi, was born in Rensselaer county, February 19, 1819. He was 
educated in the common schools, and was a farmer by occupation. February 3, 1841, 



252 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

he married Angeline, daughter of James and Hannah (Gifford) Aikin of his native 
county. She was born April 15, 181G. They had three children : Deborah G., Justus 
H. A , and Hannah J. Deborah G. married Sidney Murphy of Washington county, 
and they have five sons : Clarence B., Pardon C, William E., and Myron E. Justus 
H. A. married Hattie Doolittle of that county, and they had seven children: Minnie A., 
Levi W., Myrtle, Mabel, Ina, Gracie and Edward. Hannah J. married Andrew Pratt 
of Washington county, and they had five children : Gracie, George L., Ira J., Angie and 
Eva. Mr. and Mrs. Sherman came to Newark from Washington county in 1864. Mr. 
Sherman died December 20, 1887. Mrs. Sherman's father, James Aikin, was born at the 
old home in 1702. He was educated in the schools of his day, and was a farmer and 
lumber merchant. He married Hannah Gifford of his own county, and they had fifteen 
children : Angeline, Justus, Elihu G., James, Nathaniel, Lafayette, Gifford, Sarah C, 
Patience, Elizabeth, Abigail H., Deborah and Louisa. He died in 1848, and his wife in 
1881. Mrs. Sherman is a bright active business lady. The family is of the Friends de- 
nomination. 

Stuart, John E., was born in Greene county, N. Y., August 6, 1843. The family at 
an early day moved to Syracuse, N. Y., where our subject was educated in the high 
school. He then iearned the jeweler and watch trade, and came to Newark in 1864. 
Hs followed the jeweler's trade twenty years, doing a vtry prosperous trade here. He 
was in company with his brother, Charles W., in the nursery business several years. 
He erected the building Mr. Robinson now occupies and carried on the business until 
1880. In 1884 the Stuart Manufacturing Co. was organized to manufacture advertising 
specialties. This factory was burned in 1886. Mr. Stuart has devoted his time to sev- 
eral inventions, many of which are manufactured in Syracuse. He is serving his second 
term as president of Newark village, being elected in January, 1894. June 7, 1871, he 
married Sarah E. Reed of Newark, and they had three children : Harvey R., Am ie R., 
and Marguerite, all students in the Union School Academy here. 

Soverhill, the late Charles W., was born in the town of Arcadia September 7, 1840. 
His education was obtained in the common schools, and he finished at the High school 
of Clifton Springs, afterwards taking up farming. November 20, 1862, he married 
Jennie Turnbull, and had by her two children : Robert M. and K. Isabel, both of whom 
reside at home. In the spring of 1861 Mr. Soverhill enlisted in the 17th Inf., N.Y. 
Yols., and was honorably discharged for disability in September, 1861. He died April 
20, 1892, deeply mourned by family and friends. Mrs. Soverhill's father, Robert Turn- 
bull, was born near Glasgow, Scotland, in 1797 and came to this country in 1801, first 
locating on the Hudson River. He married Catherine Morrison, of Hudson. After 
living in Montgomery county five years they came to Arcadia, then to Lyons. Their six 
children were James, Eleanor. Mary E., William M., Gertrude A., and L. Jennie. 
Mr. Turnbull died September 18, 1889, and his wife in 1880. The ancestry of this 
family is Scotch on both sides. 

Sauer, Martin, was born in Germany near Bingen on the Rhine, came to America in 
1834, and settled in the south part of Sudus. Two brothers, Christopher and John, 
came about the same time, all settling in the same part of the town. Christopher re- 
moved to Illinois about 1860. John Sauer purchased a large farm and was one of the 
prosperous farmers of the town. He married Eva Lang, and their children were John, 
Henry J., Christiana, Mary and George, all of whom reside in Sodus. Martin Sauer 
purchased a large tract of land, and by industry has become one of the most prominent 
and wealthy farmers in the town. He married Caroline Lang, and their children are 
Henry, who settled in Arcadia and is a farmer. He married Mary Sauer; Caroline, 
who married Nicholas Espenschied, of Sodus; Barbara; William, Jacob and Charles of 
Sodus; Catherine, who married Adam Fry, of East Palmyra, and Margaret, who mar- 
ried Asa F. Andrews, of Joy. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 253 

Spear, Mahlon, was born in Phelps, Ontario county, in 1845, a son of William, whose 
father, William, was a pioneer of Wayne county. He came from New England as 
early as 1808, settled in Arcadia and was a farmer. He married Rachel Cook, and they 
had one son William, jr. He settled in Phelps but in 1853 settled in the south part of 
Sodus, and was one of the most successful and prosperous farmers in the town. He 
married Louise Lewis and they had one son, Mahlon, our subject. He settled on the 
homestead, and is one of the most prominent and extensive farmers of the town. He 
is a member of Sodus Lodge No. 392 F. & A. M., Sodus Chapter and Zenobia Com- 
mandary. He married in 1884 Frances A. Olmstead, and they have two children, Helen 
M. and Louise F. 

Snyder, Henry J., was the first of the family to settle in Wayne county, coming from 
Columbia county about 1845, and settling in the south part of Sodus. He married 
Elizabeth Miller, and their children were Harmon J., who settled in Illinois, and after- 
ward in Texas ; Leonard lived and died in Sodus. He served through the Civil War ; 
Samuel died in early manhood ; Catherine, who married Freeman Hawver and settled 
in Marion; Sarah married Joseph Breggsand settled in Michigan; Lydia married John 
Simmons and settled in Illinois; Jane married Andrew French and settled in South 
Dakota; Mary marrie I Horace Gilbert, and settled in Marion. Jacob M. Snyder for 
many years during his early life was engaged in teaching, later engaged in farming which 
he followed the remainder of his life. He married Julia A. Miller, and they had three 
children : Charles, who died in infancy ; Frank M., who settled on the homestead and 
is engaged in farming. He married Helen Sauer; Leslie M. was a school teacher for 
several years and then engaged in farming, purchasing a farm southwest of Sodus vil- 
lage. He is a member of Sodus Grange. He married Nettie D., daughter of William 
H. Tincklepaugh of Sodus, and they have one son, Kenneth E. Jacob M. Snyder died 
in 1892. 

Smith, Daniel P., was born on the old homestead in the southwest part of Arcadia 
November 23, 1842. He was educated in the district schools and the Union School and 
Academy of Newark, and has always followed farming. November 15, 1876, he mar- 
ried Emma L. Fisk of this town, and they had two children William P., born Septem- 
ber 9, 1878, and Leslie E., born May 25, 1887. Mrs. Smith was born September 26, 
1849, and died July 4, 1891, mourned by a bereaved husband and children. Mr. Smith's 
father, Daniel, was born in Nassau, Rensselaer county March 18, 1802. September 23, 
1836, he married Deborah Vary of his native county, born October 9, 1809, and settled 
here the same year. They have had two children, Esther S. and Daniel P. He died 
April 7, 1874, and his wife March 3, 1887. Shis family located here fifty-eight years 
ago. Mr. Smith's grandfather, Conradt Smith, was one of the earliest settlers in the 
State. The ancestry of the family is German and Welsh. 

Sherman, Charles B., born in Phelps, Ontario county, December 21, 1804, was a son of 
John and Chloe (Dickenson) Sherman, natives of Massachusetts who were early set- 
tlers of Phelps, and came to Rose Valley in an early day where they died. Mr. Sher- 
man served in the Revolutionary War. Father of subject was a child when he came to 
Rose. He was a farmer and at his death owned 111 acres, where the family now re- 
side, and the farm is now carried on by Ezra A. Sherman. His first wife was Lucinda 
Allen, by whom he had five sons and one daughter. His second wife was Charlotte 
Tyler, a native of Oneida county and daughter of Chester and Harriet Strong ; he was 
a native of Bridgeport, Conn. They came to Oneida in an early day where Mr. Tyler 
died, and his wife died in Hannibalville. Mr. Sherman and second wife had three chil- 
dren : Chester, who married Harriet Kimberly of Auburn, by whom he has one daugh- 
ter, Marion C. He was educated in Auburn Academy and Rochester Business College, 
from which he graduated May 9, 1885. He is now clerk of the revision of the pensions 
at Washington, D. C, resigning the office of assessor of Rose when he received the ap- 
pointment; Ezra A., born in Rose January 7, 1866, and educated at the Union Schools 



254 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY 

of Rose. He is a farmer and makes a specialty of breeding Hambletonian horses, and 
at present owns Ezra A., who has a record of 232 -J-. Mr. Sherman has been town 
clerk one term ; and HattieE., wife of Manley G. Fowler of Rochester. 

Snyder, Eli, was born in Sodus in 1831, and is a son of Peter and grandson of John 
Snyder, of Montgomery county. Peter came from Columbia county to Oswego about 
1820, and about 1824 purchased a farm in the southwest part of Sodus, where he re- 
moved. He was a prominent member of the Christian church of Marion. In 1874 he 
settled in that village, where he died in 1881. He married Elizabeth, daughter of John 
Beam, one of the early settlers of Sodus, and their children were: Peter, jr., George, 
Eli, Sarah, Mary, Elizabeth, Ann, and Mahala. Peter settled in Sodus and later in 
Palmyra, where he died. He married Jane Welcher; George settled in Marion, and 
married Hannah Covey ; Sarah married Isaac Stone ; Mary married Abijah White ; 
Elizabeth married Sylvester Campbell ; Ann married Mark Johnson ; Mahala married 
Lorenzo French. Eli Snyder has always lived in Sodus and is an enterprising farmer. 
He is a member of Sodus Grange and the Christian church of Marion. He married 
Louisa Adams, of Marion, and they have one son, Frank E., of Newark, who married 
Lizzie Bowen. 

Snyder, George, was born in Sodus in 1829, son of Samuel, who was a son of John 
Snyder, a resident of Montgomery county. His ancestors came from Germany. Samuel 
and Peter, sons of John, came to Sodus about 1824, and took up farms in the southwest 
part of the town. Benjamin, another brother, settled in Sodus in 1855, where he died. 
He married Betsey Lovell. Two sons survive him, John Snyder, of Joy, and Esmond, 
of Williamson. Peter married Betsey Beam. Samuel Snyder married Mary Borden, 
by whom he had eight children : Emeline, Ann, Eliza, Stephen B., George, Charles, 
Albert, and Edward. Emeline married Orvilla Carpenter, of Sodus ; Ann married 
Horace Dennison and settled in Michigan ; Eliza married Henry Husted and settled in 
Michigan ; Stephen B. settled first in Sodus and afterward in Marion. He married 
Celia Welcher ; Charles settled in Sodus, removing later to Michigan, where he died ; 
Albeit and Edward both settled in Michigan. George Snyder has always lived in 
Sodus, and follows farming. He is a member of Sodus Grange. He married Mary 
Briggs, and their children are: Mattie (Mrs. Samuel Thorn, of Syracuse) and Irving J., 
of Marion. 

Snow, Lorenzo M., a native of Hamilton, Madison county, was born October 29, 
1828, son of Nathan and Hannah (Groves) Snow, he a native of Plainfield, Mass., born 
May 26, 1790, and she of Whitesboro, Oneida county, born February 13, 1791. Abijah 
Snow, grandfather of subject, was a pioneer of Hamilton, settling there in 1802. He 
was a blacksmith by trade and owned a farm of 120 acres, which was afterward owned 
and improved by his son. Nathan. Nathan Snow was a farmer of Hamilton, where he 
lived, and died July 17, 1852. and his wife February 20, 1875. Mr. Snow was a very 
active member and liberal contributor to the Congregational church. Lorenzo M. was 
reared on the farm and has always followed farming. He purchased the old homestead, 
where he remained till 1855, when he came to Rose and bought the farm he now owns 
of 256 acres, 160 of which he has cleared. Mr. Snow has erected a fine large dwelling 
and excellent out-houses. His specialty is thoroughbred Jersey cattle and Hambletonian 
horses. September 1, 1858, he married Harriet L., daughter of Norman Sexton and 
Sarah A. (Crofford) Sexton, of Smyrna, Chenango county. Mr. Sexton was a native of 
Milford, Conn., and Mrs. Sexton of Johnstown, N. Y. He was a farmer at Smyrna, and 
the grandfather, Elijah, was a pioneer of the county. Norman Sexton died in January, 
1874, and his wife, who spent her last days with Mr. and Mrs. Snow, died June 8, 
1885. 

See, Myron, was born on the homestead near Fairville, May 31, 1843, was educated 
in the district schools and was a carpenter by occupation until the accidental death of 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 

his brother, September 9, 1867, when he became a farmer in the place of his brother. 
He married twice, first in 1861, Emily F. Warfield, of this town, by whom he had one 
daughter, Minnie L., who married Edward H. Schwab, of this town, and they have one 
daughter, Mary E. Mrs. See died in 1865, and he married second, September 29, 1868, 
Adelaide Southworth, of Manchester, Ontario county. They have one daughter, Eva B., 
residing at home. Mr. See's father, John, was born in Rensselaer county, December 1 
1799, and left home when young. He married twice, first, Eve Turner, and had seven 
children, three of whom are deceased; Marvin, Jerome, Myron, and Mary A., now Mrs. 
Riggs. of Lockport. Mrs. See died March 2, 1874, and he married second, Maria 
Roberts, of Palmyra. He died April 22, 1883, his wife survives. Mrs. See's father, 
George W. Soverhill, was born in Dutchess county in 1814, and came to Purington, 
Monroe county, with his parents when a boy. He married Sarah McNutt, of Ontario, 
and they had four children : Eleanor, Adelaide, Lucy, and Mary. He had married 
previously to Arabella Counant, and had one daughter, Laura. Mr. Southworth still 
survives, aged eighty years. 

Sentell, Edward W., the first of the family in Wayne county, was born June 25, 1806, 
and was a native of Nova Scotia. About 1822 he came to Geneva and became a con- 
tractor and builder. About 1828, with a Mr. Barclay, he secured the contract for the 
building of the first pier constructed at Sodus Point. Later he purchased the Loomis 
property at Maxwell's Mill, including a farm, saw mill, and grist mill, and removed 
there. He carried on the milling business until 1855. He was enterprising and public 
spirited, and was identified with the best interests of the town. In 1857 he was a 
member of the General Assembly. He was a prominent member of the Sodus M. E. 
church for over forty years. He was railroad commissioner from the building of the 
Sodus Point and Southern Railroad until his death, September 19, 1892. He was for 
many years a prominent member and officer of the State militia. He married, in 1830, 
Deborah, daughter of Samuel Harvey, and their children were: Sarah A., who died in 
childhood; William H., Edward H, Catherine L., Charles M., Jennie D., Mary A., and 
John C, who died in early manhood. William H. enlisted in 1861 in the 44th N. Y. 
Infantry. In 1862 he was transferred to the 160th N. Y. Infantry, with the rank of 
major, and served until the fall of 1864, when he resigned. He died in Sodus in 1888, 
unmarried. Catherine L. married Abraham B. Gibbs, of Sodus ; Jennie D. married 
Hiram West and settled at Groton, S. D.: Mary married Charles Terpning, of New 
York; Charles M. enlisted in 1862 in the 11th N. Y. Infantry, and served till the close 
of the war. He is a member of Dwight Post, G. A. R., of Sodus and was a charter 
member of Sodus Lodge, 1.0. 0. F. He has been collector and highway commissioner 
of the town. He married Jennie Hewson, of Sodus, and their children are : Jennie 
D. and William E. Edward H. Sentell enlisted in 1862 in the 160th N. Y. Infantry 
as second lieutenant and was promoted to first lieutenant. He was wounded at the 
battle of Cedar Creek October 19, 1864, and was mustered out April 5, 1865. From 
1868 to 1872 he was engaged in the produce busines. In the latter year he settled 
at Sodus Point and built a planing mill and dock, and for several years carried on 
that business. Selling out this business he built a warehouse and a fruit evaporator, 
and engaged in the produce business and coal and lumber. In 1876 he engaged in 
the mercantile trade, which he has since carried on. He takes an active part in party 
affairs, and was elected supervisor in 1890-91. He is a member of Dwight Post, 
G. A. R. He married Fannie, daughter of John Preston, of Sodus, and they have 
one daughter, Mary. 

Seymour, Morris J., was born in Sodus, on the farm he now occupies, Decembea 
24, 1840, a son of Orson, born in 1801, who is a son of Ebenezer, who came from 
Pompey, Onondaga county, about 1808 and settled at Palmyra. They removed to 
Williamson and soon after to the town of Sodus. Ebenezer married Jemima Wilbur, 
and their children were: Va'da, Sidney (deceased), Orson, who died in 1875; Delmar, 



256 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Harland, Morris (deceased), Orlando, Jennette, Mary A., and Therese. Morris J. 
Seymour resides on the homestead and is a farmer. In 1862 lie enlisted in the 160th 
N.Y. Infantry and served until the close of the war. He was wounded at the battle 
of Winchester. He is a member of Dwight Post, G-. A. R., of Sodus, and is president 
of the Republican Club of Sodus. He married, in 1870, Hannah Burt, of Washington 
county. 

Schaich, George, was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, November 16, 1859, where he 
was educated, and learned the business of nurseryman and gardener at what we would 
call the experiment station, at Hohenheim, Germany, from which he received a cer- 
tificate of efficiency, the highest in the class of thirty six. He came to the United 
States September 13, 1883, locating in Rochester, where he served Elwanger & Barry 
eight years. January 1, 1891, he came to the State Custodial Asylum, where he 
occupies the position of gardener and florist Since he came here he has made much 
improvement, especially in landscape gardening. May 21, 1885, he married Jennie E. 
Hess, a native of Germany, and they have had two children: Emily, who died aged 
eight months, and George, born May 4, 1888. William, father of our subject, was 
born at the old home in Germany in 1832 and married Catrina Haussler, of his native 
place. Their children were: George, Barbara, Catrina, Mary, and two who died 
young. Conrad Hess, father of Mrs. Schaich, was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, 
about 1826, and married Rose Hoss, of the same place. They have had seven chil- 
dren : Mary, Jenny, Gotlieb, Charles, Caroline, and two who died young. Both parents 
are dead. 

Schwartz Franklin, was born in Mecklenburg Germany, October 5, 1834, and came 
with his parents to the United States when he was eighteen years old, locating in the 
town of Arcadia. February 27, 1858, he married Dora Hyman formerly of Germany, 
and they had ten children: Charles J., born December 6, 1858; Louisa, born April 14, 
1862 ; Dora K.. born October 11, 1864 ; Emma H, born October 31, 1866; Frances D., 
born October 27, 1868 ; Henry F., born September 23, 1870; William J., born October 
7, 1872; Carrie H., born April 20, 1875; Maude L., born September 20, 1877; and 
Frederick W., born May 22, 1880. Mrs. Schwartz's father, John Hyman, was born in 
Hanover, Germany, in 1794 He married Dora Frol of his native place, and they had 
six children : Henry, John, Christopher, William, Charles and Dora. Mr. Hyman died 
in 1857, and his wife October 2, 1874. Mr. Schwartz ha* resided in his present home 
since 1865. 

Schwartz, Charles J., was born in Arcadia December 6, 1858, was educated in the 
common schools, and has always been a farmer. He was elected road commissioner in 
1891, and re-elected in 1893. February 17, 1881, he married Louisa Lux of this town, 
and they have two daughters: Grace M. and Luwella. Mrs. Schwartz's father, George 
Lux, was born in Alsace, Germany, in 1816 and came to the United States when a young 
man, locating in Clyde. In October, 1844, he married Catherine Lape, who was born 
in Paltz, Germany, and they had three children : J. George, Philip H, and Louise. 
They have resided on this farm since 1865. Mr. Lux died in 1875, mourned by a 
bereaved wife and children. Mr. Schwartz is salesman and agent for mowers and 
reapers. 

Rupert, Conrad, was born in Hessia, Germany, August 10, 1838. He was educated 
in their public schools and academy, and began college work. He came with his 
parents to the United States and located in Albany. November 18, 1862, he enlisted 
in Co. K, 177th Inf., N. Y. S. Vols., was honorably discharged September 10, 1863. He 
then went to New Jersey and bought a farm in Somerset county. March 15, 1866, he 
married Anna M., daughter of George W. Barclow of that county, and they had four 
children : Henry L., William B., George O, and Edith M. Henry L. is an attorney-at- 
law and notary, public, and married Effe, daughter of Henry V. D. Garrison of Naw 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 257 

Jersey. They have two children : Anna M., and Stephen E. William B. is a book- 
keeper in Kinney & Garrison's manufactory of sash, doors, blinds, etc. ; George C. 
resides at home assisting his father ; Edith M. is a student at the academy. Mr. Rupert 
came to East Newark in the spring of 1886, purchased property here, and is doing a 
fine business in produce and coal. His father, Henry, was born at the old home in 
Germany in 1806, married Catherine Stone and had four children : Conrad, Henry, 
Anna and Kate. He is a member of Newark Lodge No. 83, F. & A. M., also of the 
A. O. U. W., No. 116 and of the K. 0. T. M., No. 115, and of Vosburg Post No. 99, 
G. A. R., Department of New York. He is a Democrat. 

Robinson, Calib R., was born in Fairville, October 19, 1840. He was educated in the 
district schools there and completed his education in the union school and academy at 
Newark in 1860. For twenty years he taught school winters and worked on a farm in 
the summer. March 10, 1864 he married Mary Sayles and to them was born one son, 
Charles E., who is now postal clerk on the route from Buffalo to Albany. Mr. Robin- 
son came to reside in Newark in 1885 and has been baggage master at the West Shore 
R. R. station ever since. He is a member of the Knights of Maccabees. Mr. Robinson's 
father, George E. Robinson, was born in Massachusetts in 1813, and came here with his 
parents in 1816. His occupation was farming. He married Sarah Yan Ostrand and 
they were the parents of six children : Calib R., as above mentioned ; George N., who 
died at thirteen years; Manly S. who died aged seven; Abram and a baby girl who 
diee in infancy (twins) ; and Douglas H. He retired from farming in 1857 and was 
elected justice of the peace holding that office for twenty years. After the death of his 
wife in 1888, he left Fairville and eame to Newark to reside. He died in 1890. Mr. 
Robinson's grandfather, Calib Robinson, was one of the old pioneers of the town, cutting 
a road through the woods from Newark to Fairville in 1816. 

Richards, Sidney S., was born in the town of Harrisburgh, Lewis county, May 8, 
1839. He was reared on a farm and educated in district schools. He learned the art 
of photography, and at the age of twenty-one he moved to Bellville, in Jefferson 
county. In 1862, he enlisted in Company A, 10th Heavy Artillery, N. Y. Volunteers, and 
was honorably discharged at the close of the war. He then located in Carthage, and 
then in various places until 1880, when he came to Newark. Here he followed his 
chosen profession and purchased the gallery of A. F. Brooks. In 1866 he was married 
to Louisa Sanders of Carthage, and they have two daughters, viz.: Mary A. and Alice 
E. Mary A. was educated in the Holyoke College, Massachusetts, and is now a 
teacher in the Academy of Newark. Alice E. married Lewis C. Sanford of Newark, a 
traveling salesman. Mr. Richards' father, David Richards, was born in 1804. He 
married Eliza D. Stoddard of Lewis county, and the following children were born to 
them : Edward J., Sidney S. (above noted), and Adelia C. He is dead, but his wife is 
still living. Mr. Sidney Richards is an honored member of the Vosburg Post, No. 99, 
G. A. R., Department of New York, and has held the the position of commander and 
quartermaster. He and family are members of the First Baptist Church here, Mr. 
Richard also being deacon of that church. 

Ream, Fred, was born in Strausburg, Germany, January 4, 1840. He is a son of 
Peter and Lena (Strang) Ream, natives of Germany, who emigrated to America in 
1849 and settled near Lyons. From there he removed to Rose, and finally settled in 
Rochester, where he died in 1891. His wife still survives and resides with her daugh- 
ter, Mrs. I, Boyce. The maternal grandfather, George Strang, was a prominent man 
of Lemberg, Germany, and was treasurer and county clerk under Napoleon during the 
French Revolution. Our subject has always followed farming. He now owns 100 
acres, and carries on general farming. In 1867 he married Lena, daughter of Squire 
Mitchell of Rose, by whom he has two daughters : Allie F. and Edie M. Mr. Ream 
has held the office of commissioner and collector, and at present is elected justice of the 



258 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

peace. He is a member of Clyde Grange, and they attend and support the M. E. 
Church. 

Riggs, Prine, was born in Sodus in 1841, son of John, whose father, John, sr., was 
one of the early settlers of Wayne county. His children were Prine. John, Lydia, 
William, Phineas, Aaron, Joseph and Delila. Prine Riggs settled in Sodus, where he 
died. He married Eliza King. Lydia married Fred Dennis; William settled in Sodus 
and afterwards in Rose ; Phineas settled in Sodus Center, where he died ; 
Aaron settled in Galen ; Delila married Marshall Braman and settled in Michigan. 
John Riggs settled in the south part of Sodus and was a farmer. He married Lavina 
Lane, and their children were: Lavina L., who married Ira Penoyer; John B., who 
settled in Illinois, entered the army on the opening of the Rebellion, and died in the 
service; Levi, who settled in the southwest and engaged in railroading; Rensselaer, 
who settled in Illinois. Prine Riggs is one of the enterprising farmers of the town. 
In 1861 he enlisted in the Union Army, and served until the close of the war. After 
the war he spent several years in Illinois. In 1893 Mr. Riggs was elected commissioner 
of highways, is a member of Sodus Lodge, No. 392, F. & A. M., and Sodus Grange. 
He married Eliza Shaw, and they have two sons : Lyman W. and Bert P. 

Reynolds, Frank L., was born at Sodus Center in 1859, and is a son of Lewis, whose 
father was Nehemiah Reynolds. He came from Argyle, Washington county, with 
Thomas Reynolds, his father, in 1806 and settled in the town of Lyons. Nehemiah 
Reynolds was a large and prosperous farmer. With Dr. Elisha Mather he purchased 
the grist and saw mill at Sodus Center, and for many years carried on that business. 
Upon the loss of the property by fire he purchased the site and rebuilt the present mill, 
which subsequently became the property of his son Lewis, who continued the business 
for many years. Nehemiah married Sarah Rogers, and their children were Sally, Clark, 
Cynthia, Lewis, George, Nehemiah, Eli and Polly. Sally married Horace Brown of 
Lyons ; Clark settled in Lyons ; Cynthia married John Merchant of Lyons ; George 
settled in Michigan ; Nehemiah settled in Lyons and was a farmer ; Eli settled in Sodus 
and is a farmer; Polly is deceased. Lewis Reynolds settled at Sodus- Center, where he 
died. He married first Rhoda, daughter of Peleg Randall of Lyons, and second Cath- 
erine Fries. They had one son, Frank L., our subject. He has been since 1890 the 
proprietor of South Sodus Hotel, and is a member of Humanity Lodge 406, F. & A. M. 
of Lyons. He married Minnie E. Garlick, by whom he has one son, Lewis. 

Rodwell, William, was born in Lincolnshire, England, December 25, 1844. In 1870, 
with his mother, brother, and sister, he came to America, and has resided in Eastern 
Wayne since that time. His mother now lives in Clyde with his brother. Mr. Rod- 
well engaged in farming early in the seventies and was the pioneer in steam thresh- 
ing. He run the first steam thresher in Wayne county, the engine having been built 
by his brother at Wood s foundry in Clyde. Mr. Rodwell and his brother were en- 
gaged in threshing about eighteen years. In 1882 he bought the farm where he now 
resides and carries on general farming-. From 1886 to 1892 Mr. Rodwell run a mint 
distillery, also growing peppermint in considerable quantities. In March, 1894, Mr. 
Rodwell married Helen Woodworth, of Galen. Miss Woodworth was a successful 
teacher in Wayne county for about thirteen years. 

Richmond, Charles E., was born in Hoosick, Rensselaer county. November 28, 1836. 
His education was obtained in the district schools, and he has always followed farm- 
ing. Mr. Richmond's father, Edward H., was born in Minerva, Essex county, in 1805. 
He was educated in the schools of his day, followed the wagon business for some time, 
was a hotel keeper twelve years and afterward a farmer. October 15, 1835, he mar- 
ried Mary Ann Ostrander, of Hoosick, by whom he had two children: Charles E., as 
above, and Justin M., who died February 19, 1856. The family came to this homestead 
in this town in 1857. Mr. Richmond's father died February 7, 1891, and his mother 
March 20 1890.' Mr. Rifhmond has resided here nearly thirty-seven years. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 259 

Robinson, Thomas, the first of the family in Wayne county, came from England in 
1815 and settled in Sodus, taking up a farm half a mile north of Wallington, where he 
spent his life, cleared up the land, and became a prosperous farmer. He was a 
prominent and influential memeber of St. John's Episcopal church of Sodus. He mar- 
ried Susanna Richardson, and died in 1890. Their children were: Ann, Thomas, and 
Mary A., who died in childhood; Elizabeth, who married Townley Hopkins, of Sodus- 
William, who is a farmer in Sodus and married Maria Sergeant; Susanna, who mar- 
ried William Messenger and settled in Michigan ; Samuel, who was born in 1826 and 
settled in 1874 in Sodus village, where he has since lived. He is a member of the M. 
E. church of Sodus, and married Cynthia, daughter of James Sergeant, of Sodus. 
Their children are: He-ter A. (Mrs. Albert Stocking, of Sodus), and Elizabeth (Mrs. 
A. Eugene Payne, of Sodus), and George Robinson, who settled in Sodus and is a pros- 
perous farmer. He was commissioner of highways one term, it a member of St. John's 
Episcopal church of Sodus and Sodus Grange. He married, in 1857, Sarah A. Stone, 
and they have two chiliren, Elizabeth and John. 

Rogers, George H., was born at Sodus Point June 8, 1846, and is a son of David 
Rogers, who was a native of Watervliet, N. Y., who was a son of Nathaniel. David 
was a ship builder and carried on the business at Oswego for several years. In 1838 
he came to Wayne county and settled at Sodus Point, where for many years he was 
extensively engaged in ship building. He married, in 1840, Caroline, daughter of 
Abner Wood, one of the early settlers of Sodus Point. Mr. Rogers died in 1892. 
George H. Rogers entered the store of Willis T. Gaylord at Sodus in 1864, and held a 
clerkship there until 1872. In that year he, in company with 0. W. Bates, engaged in 
the hardware business, under the name of Bates & Rogers. Ward Smith afterward 
acquired the interest of Mr. Bates, and the firm was Rogers & Smith. In 1885 Mr. 
Rogers purchased the interest of Mr. Smith and has since conducted the business alone, 
except during the year 1890, when his son, David G., was a partner. Mr. Rogers is 
one of the enterprising public spirited men of the town and one of its most successful 
business men. He is a member of the Sodus M. E. church, having been a member for 
over twenty-five years. He married, in 1867, Maria, daughter of Jesse H. Greene, of 
Sodus, and they have one son, David G. 

Ridley, William, was born in Phelps, Ontario county, January 30. 1817. He was 
educated in the district schools and has always followed farming. January 14. 1839, 
he married Elizabeth M. Tittsworth, of his native town, and they have had eleven chil- 
dren : James T., William, Esther A., Morrison, Aaron, George D., Mary E., Clara, an 
infant daughter not named, and Alice and Delbert, twins. Mr. Ridley's father, Mathew, 
was born in England in 1781 and came to the United States when eighteen years old, 
locating in the town of Phelps. He married Delila Sober, of the town of Arcadia, 
Wayne county, by whom he had seven children, of whom James, William, as above, 
Nelson, Lydia, Hiram, and Delira are now living. Mrs. Ridley's father, Richard Titts- 
worth, was born in New Jersey about 1785 and married Esther Dewitt, of his native 
place. They had four children : James, Ann, Jennette, and Elizabeth M. He died in 
1830 and his wife in 1834. They came to this locality about 1810. Mr. Tittsworth 
was a soldier in the war of 1812 at Sodus Point. Morrison is a professional caterer. 
James T. married Phoebe Westfall ; Willard married Pamelia Eggleston ; Aaron mar- 
ried Cornelia Morris ; Mary E. married Oliver Eggleston ; Alice married Charles Corn- 
well, and Delbert married Hattie Morris. 

Robison, Minard, was born in Arcadia, October 3, 1845, was educated in the common 
schools, and has always followed farming. December 27, 1872, he married Alice A. M. 
Rowe, of Manchester, Ontario county, and they have one daughter, Harriet E. Mr. 
Robison's father, John D., was born in Phelps, Ontario county, January 25, 1813, was 
educated in the schools of his day, and was also a farmer. He married Christina Yan 
Decar, who was born in Rensselaer county, and had five children : Abram, Aaron V., 



260 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Minard, as noted, Mary, and Andrew J. He died in 1877, and his wife in 1885. His 
grandfather was Minard, and his great-grandfather, John Decker Robison, was the first 
settler in the town of Phelps. Mrs. Robison's father, Freeman Rowe, was born in 
Wayne county in 1827. He married Harriet A. Oderkirk, of Manchester, and they had 
three children: Robert D., George F., and Alice A. M. Both parents were killed at the 
same time on the N. Y. C. & H. R. R. R., March 12, 1887. 

Prescott, Joel H, was born in the town of Phelps, Ontario county, Maj' 28, 1815. 
He was educated in the common and select schools and completed a course preparatory 
to entering the academy at Oaks Corners. He taught district school for several years, 
and was assistant teacher in the Seneca Falls Academy. In 1835 he became clerk for 
John R. Green, of Phelps, where he remained until 1837, and during the next three 
years he was in business with the late Cornelius Horton. He was major, colonel, and 
paymaster of the 71st Regiment, N. Y. Militia. In 1840 he moved to Lyons, and in 
1844. came to Newark, where he conducted a general store until 1854. He then 
accepted the position of secretary of the Wayne County Mutual Insurance Company, and 
held that position until 1869, when it discontinued business. Since that he has made 
insurance and real estate his business. He has served as president and trustee of the 
village of Newark for ten years. For nine years he has served as president, trustee, 
and secretary of the Union School and Academy of Newark. He held the position of 
postmaster nearly eight years, it being the first presidential appointment in the village. 
In 1851 he became one of the founders of St. Mark's Episcopal Church, and has served 
as vestryman and warden until the present term. October 18, 1838, he married Sarah 
A. Davis, of his native town, and they had six children living : Helen, Serena A., 
Sarah A., Clara A., Joel H., and T. Davis. Serena married Henry J. Peirson, now of 
Meadville, Pa.; Joel H. married Nellie Harding, of Buffalo, where he now lives. April 
26 1882, T. Davis married Anna, daughter of Rev. J. P. Foster, now of Davisville, and 
they have two children, Grace F. and Joel H. He now conducts a jeweler's store in 
Newark. He has served as town clerk two years, and is a member of the Board of 
Education. Mrs. Prescott died August 26, 1890. 

Pyatt, the late Stephen A., was born in Oswego county, November 9, 1839, and came 
to this county with his parents when a young man. He was educated in the public 
schools. He enlisted twice, first in Company I, 17th Inf., N. Y. S. Vols., was promoted 
corporal, and was honorably discharged on account of illness, caused by exposure, 
November 8, 1862, and returned to Newark. After recuperating in September, 1864, 
he re-enlisted in Company E, 111th Inf., N. Y. S. Vols., soon after was commissioned 
second lieutenant, and was honorably discharged at the close of the war. Mr. Pyatt 
was an active member of Vosburg Post No. 99, G. A. R. Dep't of N. Y., of Newark. 
After his return he formed a co-partnership with M. E. Burnham in the grocery and 
crockery business, under the firm name of Pyatt & Burnham. In politics he was a 
Democrat. September 13, 1865, he married Amelia Lewis, who was born in the State 
of Pennsylvania. Mr. Pyatt died May 22, 1885, mourned by a bereaved wife, and re- 
gretted by many friends. He was a member of Newark Lodge No. 83, F. & A. M. 
Mis. Pyatt's father, Lyman Lewis, was born in Troy, N. Y., May 10, 1792. He mar- 
ried Lucinda Lamb, formerly of Vermont, and they had ten children. Mr. Lewis died 
September 29, 1859, and his wife May 4, 1854. Mrs. Pyatt is an active member of the 
Woman's Relief Corps. 

Peirson, Henry R., was born in the 'town of Arcadia, three miles north of Newark, 
January 22, 1816. He was educated in the public schools and in early life was a 
farmer. He afterward learned the shoe trade and carried on the tanning business, 
which in those days was very profitable. April 22, 1840, he married Celestia Reems, of 
the town of Arcadia, and they were the parents of the following children: Silas S., 
who is a banker in Newark; Mary A. C, Sarah S., Henry A. and Samuel A. (twins), 
Sophia M., Herbert, and . The twins lived to be grown men, but are now dead, 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 261 

and only three of the other children are now alive. Mr. Peirson moved to the village 
of Newark in 1852. He was a drover for some years, selling to the eastern market, 
then a produce dealer, and purchased the flouring mill on Mud Creek, which he con- 
ducted six years. After this he became a merchant in the grocery business, and later 
was a banker with his son, Silas S., under the firm name of Peirson & San. Mr. Peirson 
then retired from active business and purchased a farm of forty acres, including the old 
Bartle place, which is now nearly all sold and fine residences erected and streets opened. 
His life has been an active one and in all his various pursuits success has crowned his 
efforts. He has always identified himself with the growth and prosperity of the town 
of Arcadia and of the thriving village of Newark. In politics Mr. Peirson is a Democrat 
and has been trustee and assessor of this village some years. When Sumter was fired 
upon he put himself in line with such men as Daniel S. Dickinson of New York, and 
General Dix, and was largely instrumental in sending the first company of this county 
to the front from the village of Newark. Mr. Peirson's father was a soldier in the war 
of 1812. 

Palms, Andrew, was born in Oneida county, May 13, 1838, was educated in the 
public schools, and came to this county in 1869. He became superintendent of H. C. 
Edgett's Canning Factory, which position he filled eight years, then spent two years in 
the same position for a concern in Batavia, and six months in Water town, Jefferson 
county. He is now a carpenter and joiner. November 26, 1862, he married Harriet 
E. Abbott, of his native county, and they had two daughters, Addie and Cornelia S. 
August 14, 1862, he enlisted in Co. H, 117th N. Y. Inf., and participated in thirteen 
general engagements, among others he was present at the capture of Fort Fisher, N. 
C. He was honorably discharged June 8, 1865. He is a member of Vosburg Post, 
No. 99 G-. A. R. and of Newark Lodge No. 83, F. & A. M. Levi, his father, was born 
in Rensselaer county in 1811, and came to Oneida county with his parents when a young 
man. He married Emily Dibble of that county, and their children were: Stephen, 
Andrew, Almira E. and Adelia. He died in 1889 and his wife in 1891. Alfred W. 
Abbott, father of Mrs. Palms was born in Oneida county in 1817, and was a millwright 
and carpenter. He married Mary Thompson, by whom he had five children : Harriet 
S., Esther E., Willard W., Mary A. and Eliza J. Mr. Palms' grandfather, Stephen, 
was a soldier of the War of 1812, and his maternal grandfather was in the Revolution. 

Price, George H., was born south of the village of Newark, October 17, 1834, was 
educated in the district schools and the Union School and Academy and in early life was 
a farmer. He resided in Baltimore five years before the war, then farmed on the 
homestead five years, and then became a miller at the lower village three years, since 
which time he has kept a general supply store at the upper lock on the canal, together 
with a dry dock. February 27, 1867, he married Matilda Pierce, of Orleans county, 
and they have had four children : Perry G., Roy well S., Allerton R. and Anna A. 
Pe-ry G., the father of Mr. Price, was born in Maryland in 1802 and came to Ontario 
county with his parents, where they settled in Spring. He married Mrs. Eliza (Taylor) 
Douglass, and they had four children : George H., Ann E., Esther E. and Seward F. 
Mr. Price died in 1872 and his wife a few years later. ' Our subject was elected super- 
visor while on his wedding tour, and received a re-election in 1873. He is a member 
of the A. 0. TJ. W. 

Price, Seward F., was born on the old homestead two miles south of Newark village 
February 17, 1845. His education was acquired in the district schools, also attended 
the Union School and Academy'five years, and delivered the valedictory address for 
the graduating class, January 13, 1869, he married Sarah L., daughter of Henry R. 
Peirson of this village, and they have three sons, George H., Harry B. and Seward P. 
Mr. Price is cne of Arcadia's representative men and one of her best farmers. 

Pearsail, John T., was born in Huron, Wayne county, in 1856, and is a son of Henry 



262 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY 

who came from Saratoga to Seneca county, and about 1845 settled in the town 
of Huron and engaged in farming. He married Jane Turbush, and their children were: 
John 0. (deceased), William H., Eleanor, Esther, George, Amanda, John T., Phoebe 
and Edward. William H. settled in Huron, where he died ; Eleanor married Cyrus E. 
Fitch and settled in Butler ; Esther married James McClure and settled in Tompkins 
county ; George settled in Wolcott where he died ; Amanda married Frank W. Hagen 
and settled in Niagara county ; Phoebe married, first, Anthony Curtis and second 
Abraham Griswold, and settled in Wolcott; Edward settled in Sodus ; John settled 
in Sodus and is an enterprising farmer. He was for several years excise commissioner, 
and in 1893 was elected assessor. He married in 1893 Delia L., daughter of John Bates 
of Sodus, by whom he has two children, Leo B. and Theda J. 

Pratt, Elizabeth A. — Her father, Isaac Soverhill, was born in New Jersey December 
6, 1809, coming to the town of Phelps with his parents when a boy, where he was edu- 
cated in the schools of his day and came to this county soon afterward. September 1, 
1831, he married Maria Cline, formerly of Columbia county, and they had two daugh- 
ters, Elizabeth A., as above, and Gertrude J., who died aged thirteen. He died 
December 19, 1866, and his wife July 27, 1876. December 15, 1859, Elizabeth A. 
Soverhill married Morrison Pratt of the town of Marion, and they have five children, I. 
Byron, Gertie M., Anna E., Marion E., and Leland M. T. Byron married Anna Whal- 
ing and has one daughter. The youngest son is the farmer for his father. Mrs. Pratt's 
grandfather, Isaac Soverhill, was born in New Jersey January 24, 1774. He married 
Elizabeth Dobbins of his native place, a sister of General Dobbins of Revolutionary 
fame, and came to this State. They had nine children : Samuel, Jemima A., Justus D., 
James M., Isaac, Eliza J., John G., Hugh W. D. and Charles W. In 1817 Isaac Sover- 
hill bought from the land office a tract of land three and a half miles northeast of 
Newark village, and Mrs. Pratt now resides on a part of the original purchase. A 
cousin, Cornelius P. Soverhill, was born in Marion, Wayne county, June 8, 1843, son of 
the late Justin D. Soverhill. In early life he was a farmer and now a resident of New- 
ark, dealing in coal, wood, etc. He married Mary Lans;don, of Clyde, and they have 
one daughter, Ada J., who is a student in the Union School and Academy. Mr. Sover- 
hill was a soldier in the late war, and is a member of Vosburg Post No. 99, G. A. R., 
Department of New York. 

Potter, James, was born in Lyons in 1828 and is a son of Elry Potter, who was a 
native of Eastown, Rensselaer county. He served in the War of 1812, holding the 
rank of sergeant. He came to Wayne county in 1811 and settled in Lyons, taking up 
a farm of 160 acres. He remained until 1838, when he removed to Sodus, purchasing 
a farm in the southeast part of the town, where he spent the remainder of his life and 
died in 1883. He married Elizabeth Hay, and they had ten children: Maria, who mar- 
ried William Sutherland ; Eliza, who married Samuel Warren ; David settled in Lyons 
and was a farmer. He married Anna E. Woodworth ; Jane married Samuel Clary ; 
Elry settled in Michigan ; Horace was a farmer and settled in Sodus. He married Har- 
riet Thompson ; Conrad was a ship carpenter. He first settled in Michigan and later in 
the South; William was a shoemaker and settled in Lyons. He married Susan Price; 
Harvey lived and died on the homestead in Sodus. He married Clarissa Allen ; James 
Potter in his early life run a boat on the canal eleven years, but for over forty years has 
been a farmer in Sodus. He is a member of the Sodus Grange, and married Elsie 
Burns. 

Peek, Winslow J., was born on the old homestead two miles west of Newark August 
31, 1841. He was educated in the common schools, has had a variety of occupations, 
and is now a farmer and fruit grower. He has been section foreman of the West Shore 
Railway six years. He has also followed the canal several years, owning the boat F. 
M. Allerton. December 17, 1862, he married Levina J. Shaver, formerly of Broome 
county. His father, Abram, was born in Nelson, Madison county September 4, 1805. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 263 

He married three times, first Martha Holdridge of his native place and they had two 
sons, Andrew and Germaine, who reside in Michigan. For his second wife he married 
Asenath Heath, of Penfield, Monroe county, by whom he had four children, Martha J., 
Adaline M., Winslow J., as above, and Sarah A. For his third wife he married Rhoda 
E. Covey, of Penfield, formerly of Columbia county, and they had two daughters, Grace 
A. and Bertha E., the eldest residing in Kansas and the other a teacher at home. Mr. 
Peek has resided on this homestead fifty-five years. His grandfather, Abram, was a 
soldier in the Revolutionary War. Mrs. Peek's father, George Shaver, was born in 
Greenbush, Columbia county, in 1818, and came here with his parents when a boy. He 
married Hannah Shartz.of this town, and they had five children. Mr. Peek is a member 
of Newark Lodge No. 83 F. & A. M. 

Patrick, the late Isaac N., was born in Pittsford, Monroe county, November 7, 1822, 
and came to this town with his parents when three years old. He was educated in the 
district schools and was always a farmer. December 23, 1859, he married Mary Ann 
Deny, who was born April 10, 1840, in Fendrayton, Cambridgeshire, England. They 
had two children, Sarah E., who married John C. Penoyer, of Bristol, Ontario county, 
and they had three children. Walter J. was born February 8, 1865, was educated in 
the district schools and at Newark Union School and Academy, and is the farmer on 
the home farm. February 7, 1884, he married Julia L. Bloom of this town, and they 
had one son, Newton J., born April 17, 1888, who died August 7, 1893. Patrick died 
March 22, 1888, mourned by a bereaved wife and family. He was a member of the 
Masonic order. His grandfather, John, was born March 1, 1788, and was a captain in 
the War of 1812. Mrs. Patrick's brother, Aldred Deny, was a soldier in the late war 
in the cavalry branch of the service, was promoted to the position of colonel. John 
Patrick Avas a manufacturer of plows. The Patrick family located on this homestead 
about 1828. The ancestry of this family is Scotch and English. 

Pitts, Jesse G., was born in Chatham, Columbia county, June 7, 1823, and was edu- 
cated in the common schools and Kinderhook Academy. In 1845 he came to Geneva 
Ontario county, where he engaged in saddlery business, including harnesses and trunks 
until 1852. He then came to Newark, where he embarked in the hardware business, 
in company with Eli Van Valkenburg, under the firm name of Pitts & Van Valkenburg. 
They sold out in 1854, and Mr. Pitts then went on his farm, north of the village and 
sold timber, remaining two years. June 2, 1859, he married Heien R. Day of West- 
field, Mass., and they have one adopted daughter, Louisa, now Mrs. Calvin P. M. Vary, 
a banker in this place. They have two children : Grace and Calvin. Mr. Pitts has re- 
sided in New York seven years, also in Brooklyn seven years, returning to Newark 
about 1873, where he has conducted a boot and shoe business about twenty years, in- 
cluding the manufacture of moccasins under letters patent about six or eight thou- 
sand dozen pairs annually, selling them to jobbers and the finding trade. Mr. Pitts' 
father, John W., was born at the old home in Columbia county in 1795, and came here 
at an early date. He married Polly Gifford. of his native town, and has six children. 
He died in 1874 and his wife in middle life. Mrs. Pitts' father, David M. Day, was 
born in Westfield, Ma»s. He married Eliza Johnson of Bristol, Conn., and they had 
two children: Helen R. and Martin. Both father and mother are deceased. Mr. Pitts' 
father was a soldier in the war of 1812. 

Pulver, John, was born in Schoharie, N. Y., in 1807, a son of John M., who came to 
Sodus in 1829. Their ancestors came from Holland in an early day and settled in 
Dutchess county. John M. married Rebecca Millis, and their children were : Serene, 
John, Jane, Dorcas, William, Daniel, Anson and Jerome. John settled in Sodus and is 
engaged in farming. He married Mrs. Lucinda, widow of William Ellsworth. Ami 
Ellsworth, the pioneer of the family in Wayne county came from East Windsor, Conn., 
on foot in 1800, and took up 100 acres of land on the lake west of Sodus Point. He 
built a log house and returned to Connecticut for his family. They endured all the 



264 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

hardships that fall to the lot of a settler in a new country. His wife was Chloe Allen, 
and in 1807 learning that she had inherited some property in Connecticut, she made the 
journey there and back on horseback alone. Their children were : Ami, Sophia, Hul- 
dah, Aurelia, Julia A., Levi, Ann, William, who settled on the homestead and was a 
prosperous and enterprising fanner. He married Lucinda I. Selby of Palmyra, and 
died in 1853. 

Potwine, Thomas H., the first of the family to settle in Wayne county, came from 
East Windsor, Conn., in 1835 and settled in the eastern part of Sodus, purchasing a 
farm north of the Ridge. The family were of English and French descent. Caleb the 
father of Thomas H. was a son of the Rev. Thomas Potwine, who was pastor of the 
Presbyterian Church at East Windsor from 1753 to 1802. Thomas H. was a man of 
thrift and energy. He was a regular attendant and liberal supporter of the Sodus 
Presbyterian Church. He married Jane Trumbull, a descendent of Governor Trum- 
bull of Connecticut, and their children were : Mary, who married William Sergeant of 
Sodus; Thomas, who died in early manhood, and Charles, who settled in Sodus, and is 
a prominent farmer. He is a member of Sodus Lodge, No. 392, F. & A. M., and 
Wayne Chapter. He married Emma A, daughter of John Gates of Sodus, and they 
had five children : Henry H., Charles J., Nora E., Morris M. and William T. Thomas 
H. Potwine died March 15, 1894. 

Proseus, Elias, was born in Columbia county in 1819, and is a son of John, whose 
father, John Proseus, sr., came from Germany and settled in Columbia county, ard in 
1831 came to Sodus and purchased a farm northeast of the village on the lake road. He 
was a prosperous and thrifty farmer. He married Hannah Coon, and their children 
were: John, Peter I., Henry, Hannah, Betsey, Ira, Anson, Jonas and Margaret L. 
John Proseus, jr., died in Columbia county in 1821. He married Ella Carnun, and their 
children were : Hiram, who married Catherine Harvey of Sodus and settled in Wiscon- 
sin ; Elias and Robert, who never married. They settled on the Proseus homestead in 
Sodus and were farmers. Robert died in 1893. Elias Proseus has held the office of 
highway commissioner three years. 

Oaks, Charles G., was born in Rose August 22, 1834, son of Charles G., and Sallie S. 
(Hills) Oaks, he a native of Craftsbury, Vt., and she a native of Pittstown, N. Y. The 
father of our subject was reared on a farm and started in life at the age of twelve, his 
father dying at that time. He learned the cooper's trade and also followed farming. 
He came to Rose in 1830 and here lived and died. He owned ninety acres of land. He 
Avas a strong temperance man. Subject was reared on a farm and educated in Red 
Creek Academy. He followed teaching several terms, and then followed farming and 
also worked at the cooper's trade. He traveled for Ellwanger & Barry, nurserymen of 
Rochester, for two years. He was also engaged in selling maps for two years previous 
to the war, and owns a fruit farm of fifty acres known as the Robert Wilson farm. In 
1885 he engaged in the manufacture of boxes and the ssleof paints, oils, etc., in partner- 
ship with his son Charles W., and the firm is known as Oaks & Son. Subject was in 
the lumber business two years previous with H. L. Munn. He enlisted in 1864 and 
served ten months, and was at Lee's surrender. He has been justice of the peace three 
years, and is a member of the I. 0. G. T., of North Rose. He married Hulda A. Wil- 
son, a native of Rose and daughter of Robert and Catharine Wilson, natives of Dundee, 
Yates county, who came to Rose where they died. Mr. Oaks ard wife have four chil- 
dren : Katie, wife of James Thomas, of Huron ; Charles W., who is a partner with his 
father. He married Ellen, daughter of Calvin Winchell, by whom he has one child, 
Seth C. ; Marilla, wife of Edgar Davis, of Central Falls, R. I. ; and Bertie R., at home. 

Olmstead, John H, was born in the town of Amsterdam, Montgomery county, and 
came to Phelps, Ontario county, with his parents when he was about four years of age. 
His father died in Galen when subject was thirteen years old, and he was sent to Steuben 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 205 

county. He afterward returned to this county, and made his home with Roderick 
Price, working summers and attending district schools during the winter. April 11, 
1844 he married Ruth, daughter of Samuel and Jane Lucas, of Arcadia, who was born 
March 20, 1822, and has resided where she now lives sixty-five years. They have eight 
children : Ruth A., Samuel L., John H., jr., Frank, Lorin R., Frances A., Adelia, and 
Theodore H. Mr. Olmstead's father, Dorus, was born in Amsterdam in 1787, and mar- 
ried Margaret Hendrick of his native town, by whom he had ten children : Adelia, 
Abijah A., Catherine A., Phoebe, Abigail, Margaret, Marian John Id., as above, Peter 
and Charles. He died in 1832 and his wife October 17, 1848. Mrs. Olmstead's father, 
Samuel Lucas, was born in Middletown, Conn., in 1790, and married Jane Gardiner, of 
Rhode Island. They came to Western New York in 1812, and had four children : Alma, 
Miranda, Angehne and Ruth. He died in 1860 and his wife in 1824. 

Ostrander, Melvin, was born in Phelps, Ontario county January 19, 1825, and came 
to this homestead with his parents in his tenth year. He was educated in the common 
schools and has always followed farming. November 20, 1855, he married Emma G-. 
Harrington, of Arcadia, formerly of Junius, Seneca county, and they have had three 
sons : William H., born December 10, 1860, who is a farmer at home; Dorman D., born 
June 1, 1864, and is now a nursery salesman for C. W. Stuart & Co. He married Mary 
ONeil, of East Palmyra and they have one son, Claire J., born June 14, 1888, and 
Clarence M., born October 15, 1869, who died in infancy. Mr. Ostrander's father, 
William, was born in Columbia county in 1776. He married twice. By his first wife 
he had these children : Levi, Hiram, Mary, Robert L., Silas, Anna, Harmon, Eliza, 
William, Phoebe, Marvin and Melvin as above. Mrs. Ostrander died when her youngest 
son was less than three years old, and he married second Mrs. Mary Turbush, of Phelps, 
and they had one daughter, Harriet. He died in September, 1855. Mrs. Ostrander's 
father, Isaac Harrington, was born in Otsego county March 3, 1793, and married Melinda 
Waterman. They had fourteen children. Mr. Harrington was a soldier in the War of 
1812. He died in September, 1856, and his wife in 1867. Mr. Ostrander has resided 
on this homestead sixty years. 

Nellis, Peter E., was born in Arcadia August 24, 1846, educated in the Hnion School 
and Academy of Newark. He has conducted a liquor store here for the past sixteen 
years, and also owns a farm in the town. He has been connected with the fire depart- 
ment since its organization in 1859, first as torch boy, and is now its chief engineer. 
December 28, 1872, he married Caroline L., daughter of T. S. and Betsev A. Hooper of 
Newark, and they have two daughters, Blanche H. and E. Viola. Mr. Nellis's father, 
Azariah, was born at Fort Plain, Montgomery county April 14, 1822, and was a con- 
tractor on public works. He married Margaret A. Failing, of Arcadia, by whom he had 
five children : Bmogene, Peter E., Josephine, Georgiana and Margaret. He died in 
1872, and his wife resides with her only son. The paternal great-grandfather was a 
soldier in the French and Indian war. The ancestry of the family is Dutch and Ger- 
man. 

Nicholoy, William H., was born in Arcadia on the homestead north of the village of 
Newark October 23, 1844, and was educated in the Union School and Academy of 
Newark. His early life was spent on the farm. In 1861 he came to Newark and 
became a partner with Edward Blackmar in the clothing and dry goods business, 
and was also with E. B. Marian one year in a general store. In 1871 he formed a 
co-partnership with S. B. Van Duser under the firm name of Nicholoy & Van Duser, 
selling dry goods, carpets, and custom clothing, and was subsequently changed to 
Nicholoy & Co., which continued till April 14, 1892. February 14, 1890, he was ap- 
pointed postmaster of Newark under the Harrison administration. July 5, 1870, he 
married Alice E. Eddy, of Taunton, Mass., and they have five children : Henry E., 
Emma B., Mary A., Ella, and William Everett. The eldest son is the assistant post- 
master and his oldest daughter stamp clerk. Mr. Nicholoy is one of the elders in the 
hi 



366 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Presbyterian church, and is also president of the Enterprise Seed Company, which was 
organized January 1, 1894. His father, Jacob, was born in Arcadia, three miles 
north of Newark, January 14, 18.19. January 21, 1842, he married Harriet B. Van 
Tassal, formerly of Columbia county, and they have thirteen children: William H., 
Julia A.. Catherine A., Harriet D., Esbon T., Alice E., Frances A., Mary L., Jacob H., 
Lillie A., George Mellan, Jennie V., and Sarah E. The ancestry of the family is Dutch, 
German and English. 

Norris Family, The. — The pioneer of this family in Wayne county was Job Baldwin 
Norris, who came to Sodus in 1816, and took up a farm. He was a native of New 
Jersey, and was a son of John Norris, a pioneer in that State, and a soldier in the 
Continental Army. John married Susan Baldwin, and settled in Mayence, Cayuga 
county, and later in Wayne. Job married Pamelia Foster, by whom he had four chil- 
dren : Rufus F., Mary. Samuel H., and Frances. Samuel settled on the homestead, and 
though he has taken an active interest in all local affairs, has never cared for office. His 
first wife was Diantha Bennett, and his second, Arvilla D. Shirtz, by whom he has 
one son, William R., who lives near his father, engaged in farming and fruit evaporat- 
ing. Rufus F. Norris settled on a farm in the south part of the village of Sodus and 
became one of the leading men of the town. He was largely instrumental in the build- 
ing of the Sodus Point and Southern Railroad, of which he was vice-president and 
director for several years, and also one of the commissioners of the Lake Ontario Shore 
Railroad. He married Louise Kingsley, by whom he had these children : Ellen, Elliott 
B., Kingsley F., and Louise. Elliott B. Norris was born in Sodus June 25, 1845, and 
with the exception of the years 1867-68, when he was engaged in the mercantile trade 
at Greenville, Pa., has always lived there, being one of the largest farmers of the town, 
as well as one of its most progressive and enterprising business men. He is engaged 
in the buying and shipping of live stock, and was for several years engaged in the pro- 
duce business at Sodus. Since 1874 he has followed fruit evaporating. He is a 
prominent and active Democract, and in 1885 was candidate for member of Assembly. 
In 1890 he was again nominated, and elected. Mr. Norris was the author and intro- 
ducer of a bill making the sheriff and county clerkships salaried offices. He is a mem- 
ber of the Patrons of Husbandry and a charter member of Sodus Grange No. 73, of 
which he has been master many years. He is also chairman of the Legislative Com- 
mittee of the State Grange. In 1868 he married Georgianna Chipman, of Wolcott, 
and their children are: Mabel I., Floy E., Amy L., Louise E., and Mark Elliott. Will- 
iam R. Norris was born September 16, 1855, in the town of Sodus, son of Samuel H. 
Norris. He has always followed farming, takes an active part in politics, and has been 
candidate for supervisor. He married, in 1881, Carrie E. Synder, of Sodus. 

Morse, Rollin E., was born in Newark May 8, 1842, educated in the Academy, and 
began as clerk in his father's store in 1857. In 1860 he became a merchant tailor and a 
dealer in men's furnishing goods until January, 1890, when he bought the Kenyon drug 
store, and has since done a successful drug and stationery business. October 16, 1860, 
he married Emma C, daughter of Dr. Lewis Hernck, of Albany, and they have had 
two children : Louis H. and Nellie, who died aged seven years. Horace H., father of 
our subject, was born in 1817, and began business as a merchant in Port Gibson, com- 
ing to Newark in 1836, where he engaged in the grocery, and later in the dry goods 
business. He married Mary Vanderhoof, of Plainsville, Ontario county, and they had 
one son, Rollin E. Horace H. died June 6, 1887, and his wife In 1884. The ancestry 
of the family is English and Dutch. Mrs. Morse's father, Dr. Herrick, was born in 
Maiden, N.Y., in 1816, and was a noted physician of his day. His sugar coated pills, 
and Dr. Hemck's plasters, have a world-wide reputation. His wife was Emma Potter, 
a relative of Bishop Potter, and they had four children: Helen E., Emma C, Richard 
P., and Robert L. Dr. Herrick died in 1878, and his wife in 1888. Mr. Morse is a 
member of Newark Lodsje No. 83, F. & A. M., and of the I 0.0. F. No. 250. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 

Miller, Mrs. Mary L. — Her father, John Flyn, was born in Waterford, Ireland, in 
1822, was a farmer by occupation, and married Mary Powers, of his native place, and 
came to the United States in 1849, first locating at Auburn, N. Y., afterwards at 
Newark, where they made their permanent home. They had thirteen children, nine of 
whom survive: Michael, who resides in Newark ; Mary L. ; Thomas is a resident of 
Canada; John resides in Newark; William is a resident of Canada; Nellie, now Mrs. 
William Tusk ; Anna, Catherine, and James. Mary L. married William M. Miller, of 
Camden, Oneida county, N. Y., and they have two children : William A., and Rose E. 
The son was educated at Eastman's Commercial College, Poughkeepsie ; the daughter is 
being educated in the academy. The son works in the factory of the Wayne County 
Preserving Company, of which Mrs. Miller is superintendent. In 1886 she organized and 
started the Lake Port Preserving Company in Canada, and superintended it two years, 
then returned here and has b^en superintendent the past five years. Mrs. Miller's 
efficiency commands good pay. In Canada she received one hundred dollars per month 
and board for herself and two children. Her father died in 1886, aged sixty-four 
years, her mother still survives. Mrs. Miller is a devoted Catholic, and is interested in 
the welfare and prosperity of her church. 

Mills, Dr. William R., was born in the town of Arcadia, July 20, 1861. When six 
years old his parents moved to Washington, D. C, where they remained three years and 
then returned to Lyons. Here he was educated in the Union School and academy, and 
then entered the West Winfield Academy, where he graduated in 1879. He taught 
school in various places for seven years and then began the study of dentistry with Dr. 
Forrester of Lyons. He afterward went to Philadelphia and attended the dental college 
in that city, from which he graduated in 1889, and then began a successful practice in 
Newark. Dr. Mills' father. Gustavus Mills, was born in the town of Columbia, Herkimer 
county, in 1817. He was reared on a farm and educated in the schools of his day. In 
1861 he became a sutler in the 17th Inf., N. Y. Vols. ; was captured and spent six months 
in Libby prison, and after this was in the paymaster's department at Washington for 
three years, then became a commercial traveler. In 1840 he married Nancy Petrie, of 
his native county. Eight children were born to them, two dying in infancy and six 
still living: Emma, Marsh, Mason, Lizzie, John, and William, as above noted. Mr. 
Mills died in 1891, and his wife now resides with her son, Dr. William Mills. The 
ancestors of both the paternal and maternal sides served in the Revolutionary war and 
in the war of 1812. 

Miehl, Philip, was born in Alsace, France, in 1834. His father was Jacob Miehl. 
Philip came to America in 1853 and settled in Rome, N. Y., where he remained until 
1862, then went to Rochester, and in 1864 settled in the town of Sodus, south of the 
village. He is a cooper by trade, which business he conducted until 1889, then pur- 
chased a farm wh ; ch he has since operated. From 1880 to 1889 he was commissioner 
of highways for the town of Sodus. He is a member of the Grange at Sodus, and of 
the Presbyterian church at Joy. He married first, Thorita Hennager, by whom he had 
two sons and a daughter. Christopher, the older son, settled in Williamson, and is a 
wagonmaker ; Philip is a blacksmith at Alloway ; and Mary married William J. 
Cheatham, of Joy. Mr. Miehl married second, Mary A. Yight, and they had one 
daughter, Catherine, wife of James Robertson, of Rochester. For his third wife he 
married Sarah F. White. 

Miller, E. Alvin, was born in Saxony, Germanv, November 26, 1356, where he re- 
ceived his education and learned the trade of florist and nurseryman, receiving several 
diplomas as a reward for his efficiency. He came to the United States June L, 1876, 
locating in Rochester, and entered the employ of Elwanger & Barry, where he remained 
seven years. September 21, 1882, he married Catherine M. Roth, of Rochester, formerly 
of Germany, and they have one son, W. Henry, born June 9, 1883. The family came 



268 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

to Newark in 1884, Mr. Miller entering the employ of Jackson, Perkins & Company as 
foreman of their extensive nurseries. Mr. Miller's father, William, was born at the old 
home in Germany, and married Sophia Hotsuth, of his native country, by whom he had 
six children, four of whom survive: E. Alvin, as above ; Bertha, Anna, and Minnie, all 
reside at the old home. Mrs. Miller's father, Henrv Roth, was born in Hesse, Germany, 
in 1827. He married twice, first, Ann Smith, by whom he had one son, Adam H. Mrs. 
Roth d<'ed, and he married second, Catherine M. Seibert, and they had two children : 
Elizabeth, and Catherine M., as above. The family came to the United States, locating 
in Rochester, where they have earned a competency. Mr. Miller is a member of the 
A. O. U. W., No. 116. 

McDermott, John B., was born in Newark, August 4, 1864, was educated in the 
Union School and Academy, and at the age of sixteen was employed in the American 
Express office at the N. Y. C. & H. R. R. R. station, and on the removal of the office to 
the village, February 1, 1883, he was given charge of the same, which includes the 
National Express. Since March 1, 1891, he has also been manager of the Western 
Union Telegraph office at this point. His father, Thomas, was born in Ireland, in 1836, 
came to America when a boy, and married Nora McCarty, of Macedon, Wayne county. 
Their three children were : John B., as above ; Michael J., and Sarah A. Thomas is 
section foreman on the N. Y. C. & H. R. R R The family are members of St. 
Michael's Church at Newark, our subject being also a member of the Benevolent Legion. 
He has served as town clerk three years, and is now serving three years' term as village 
trustee. 

Miller, the late William R., was born in Kinderhook, N. Y., in 1823, was educated in 
the district schools, and followed farming. November 20, 1849, he married Almira 
Pultz, of his native town, by whom he had two children : Amasa L., who married Ruth 
Frisbie ; and Charles W., who married Lillie M. Gosline of this town, and has one 
daughter, Nellie H. The family moved here in 1872. Mr. Miller died October 17, 
1889. William M. Pultz, father of Mrs. Miller, was born in Columbia county in 1806, 
and married first, Margaret Pultz, by whom he had three children, Almira, Charles and 
Mary. Mrs. Pultz died in 1848, and he married second, Julia A. Cookingham of his 
native place. He died January 23, 1878, and his widow resides with Mrs. Miller, aged 
eighty-five. Mary Yanderbilt, a sister of Mrs, Miller, died April 20, 1871. Mr. Pultz 
and his second wife came to this county to reside in 1871. 

Moody, Charles R., was born in Williamson in 1817, and is a son of Col. Cephus 
Moody, who came from Amherst, Mass., in 1810, and settled in Williamson, Wayne 
county. Taking up a tract of land he engaged in farming. He was a carpenter by 
trade and for many years carried on an extensive business in that line in Williamson 
and surrounding towns. He was a stirring business man, for a time kept tavern at 
Williamson, and was a partner in a mail route from Rochester to Oswego. He took 
an active part in political affairs, being deputy sheriff for several years and poormaster 
fifteen years. He was active in military affairs, served in the War of 1812, afterward a 
member of the State militia, and for several years was colonel of the 242d N. Y. Regi- 
ment. Colonel Mood} 7 was twice married, first to Jane Nash and they had two chil- 
dren, both of whom died in infancy ; and for his second wife he married Sally E. Por- 
ter and their children were Charles P., Sidney C, Arvilla S., Eleanor L. and Albert J. 
Colonel Moody died in 1879. Charles C. settled in Williamson and engaged in farming, 
and in 1866 settled in Sodus, west of the village where he has since resided. He has 
been a buyer and shipper of live stock, and has been active in political affairs, having 
been deputy sheriff se\eral years, and has held various other political offices. He was a 
member of the 242d N. Y. State militia several years, and was lieutenant colonel at the 
time of its disbandment. He is a member of the Sodus Presbyterian Church, is a 
member of the I. O. O. F., and R. S. of T He married in 1850 Carolme De Kroeft, 
and they had these children : William D., Byron E., Josephine and David C. (deceased). 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 269 

Mrs. Moody died December 6, 1877, and February 18, 1879, he married Frances E. 
Brown. Byron E. settled in Sodus and is a farmer. He married Jennie Corts. Will- 
iam D. settled in Canada and engaged in the live stock and produce business. In 1890 
he returned to Sodus and resides on the homestead. He married Hattie Hadberson. 

Miller, Samuel B., was born in Canandaigua October 23, 1826, and came to this 
homestead with his parents in 1827. He was educated in the common schools and has 
always followed farming, until he retired in 1888. January 2, 1856, he married Sarah 
A. Hoffman of this town. Mr. Miller has been assessor of the town six'years. Mr. 
Miller's father, James, was born in Pittstown, Rensselaer county, in 1790, and went to 
Cayuga county when a young man. He married Eliza Benson, of Owasco Cayuga 
county, and they had ten children, Susan, Cordelia, Edwin, Caroline M., Augusta, 
Samuel B., as above, Sarah, Sophronia J., Horton and Eliza. Mrs. Miller's father, 
William Hoffman, was born March 24, 1804, and married Harriet Krum of his native 
place. They had four children, Margaret, Sarah A., Ambrose and Franklin. The 
family came to this town in 1837. Mr. Hoffrmn died July 15, 1893, and his wife in 
1881. Mr. Miller's father, James, was represented in the War of 1812. His brother, 
J. Horton, was a lieutenant in the late war in Company A, 150th Inf. N. Y. State 
Yols., and was honorably discharged at the close of the war. 

Mason, William H., was born July 3, 1831, in Marion, Wayne county. Jesse Mason, 
his father, was born at Cheshire, Mass., April 26, 1787, a son of David. The Mason 
family are descended from Scotch ancestry, came to America in an early day and settled 
in Massachusetts. Jesse Mason came to Marion about 1810 with his father and engaged 
in farming. He was supervisor of Marion one term and in 1823 was elected to the 
General Assembly, and held many minor offices. He studied law and although never 
regularly admitted to the bar enjoyed an extensive and successful practice. He was 
one of the organizers of the Christian Church of Marion and an active member of the 
same. He removed to Sodus in 1832 and several years later settled east of that vil- 
lage on the State road, purchasing a farm there, on w_:ich he spent the remainder of his 
life. He died September 12, 1847. He married Patience Skinner November 12, 1809, 
at Pownal, Yt., and they had eighteen children: Lyman H., who d ; ed in infancy; Ann 
S., Jane, who died in childhood ; Caroline, Lyman H., who died in childhood ; Edwin. 
David J., John, who died in childhood; Mary A., Arvilla, who died in infancy; Lois 
L., Jesse, who died in childhood ; Carleton H., Harriet J., Marcia Y., Alfred J., Ptollin 
D. and William H. Oar subject in early life was a sailor for several years, then en- 
gaged in farming, and is one of the extensive and prosperous farmers of Sodus. Dur- 
ing the building of the Sodus Point and Southern railroad he was a contractor on the 
same. He is a prominent member of the Sodus Point M. E. Church. He married in 
1854 Cornelia, danghter of James Sergeant, who died in 1892, leaving one daughter, 
Allie, Mrs. Clarence Button of Sodus. 

Miller, Frederick O, was born in Mecklinburg, Scherwin, Germany, October 10, 1843, 
and came to the United .States when he was twenty-one, locating in Lyons. He is a 
farmer and milk dealer. March 26, 1867, he married Sophia Merke, of Lyons, formerly 
of his native place, and they have three children : Charles, wno married Julia Feicock 
of this town ; James, who is a farmer with his father and Ella L., who resides at home. 
Mr. Miller's father, Christian, was born at the old home July 2, 1805. He married 
Dora Corman of Germany, and they had seven children": Louise, Mary, Louis, Jennie, 
William, Frederick C. as noted, and Charles. Mr. Miller died in 1873, and his wife in 
1862. Mrs. F. C. Miller's father, Louis Merke, was born in Mechlinburg, Scherwin, 
Germany, June 25, 1824. He married M'nnie Helwie of his native place, and they 
had eight children : Sophia, Louise, John, William, Henry, Charles, Eliza and Lois. Mr. 
Merke died January 6, 1888. The family came to the United States in 1862, locating in 
Lyons. 



270 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY 

Marble Bros. — John W. was born in the town of Arcadia in Marbletown November 
28, 1842, was educated in the common schools, and has always followed farming. De- 
cember 25, 1874, he married Mary E. Robison of Huntsburg, Ohio, and they have one 
son, Ray W., born April 14, 1879, who is a student in the Union School and Academy at 
Newark. His brother, Warren F., was born at the old homestead December 5, 1848, 
was also educated in the common schools, and is a farmer with his brother, John W. 
December 1G, 1874, he married Josette Moss of Huntsburg, Ohio, and they have one 
son, George B., born July 2, 1879, who is a student in the same institution. Our sub 
ject's father, James, was born in Marbletown, July 29, 1819, was educated in the schools 
of his day and was a farmer. He married Lorinda Dusenbergof Phelps, Ontario county, 
and their children were : John W., as noted ; Elizabeth and Warren F. Mr. Marble died 
April 21, 1891, and Irs wife September 29, 1887. Mrs. John W. Marble's father, Har- 
vey II. Robison, was born in 1792, the first white child born in the town of Phelps. 
He married twice, for his c econd wife Emily Durham, by whom he had three childien : 
James, Harry, who died in infancy, and Mary E , who died in Livingston county He 
died in 1854, and his wife in 1858. Mrs. Warren F. Marble's father, William C. Moss, 
was born in Burton, Geauga county, Ohio, in 1808. He married Maria J. Robison of 
Phelps, and they had seven children : Charles, Elizabeth, Ford, Josette as noted, Mar- 
vin, Almira and Jessie M. He died in 1870, and his wife survives him. 

Langdon, Thomas, was born in Phelps, Ontario county, December 5, 1836, was edu- 
cated in the district schools, and at the age of eighteen came to Newark and became a 
clerk for James Bennett. In 1859 his father's family came to the New York Central 
Station, where they kept the Langdon Hotel, until the death of the father in 1875, when 
o ir subject took the management entirely. February 21, 1866, he married Ruth A. 
Wilber of this town, and they have had three children : a son who died in infancy ; 
Mary E. and Caroline. March 11, 1885, Mary E. married B. J. Palmer, of Palmyra, 
and they have four children : Bennie L., Earl, Carolyn R. and Charles W. December 5, 
1888, Caro'ine married Chauncey I. McCoy, of Newark. She died January 11, 1892. 
Mr. Langdon's father. Eben D., was born at Fort Ann, Washington county, December 8, 
1803. He married, first, Eleanor Haight, by whom he had one son, Henry. He mar- 
ried, second, Mrs. Hannah Brown, born November 18, 1802, and they had two children : 
Thomas, and Anna M., who married Benjamin F. Bennett of this town. Eben D. died 
March 20, 1875, and his wife April 12, 1876. Thomas is a member of Newark Lodge 
No. 83, F. & A. M. and Newark Chapter No. 117, R. A. M., Palmyra Council No. 26, 
R. & S. M., Zenobia Commandery No. 41, K. T., of Palmyra. 

Lusk, Christopher O, was born in East Newark October 23, 1833. He was educated 
in the district schools and followed boating on the canal in early life, was also clerk in 
a store some time. He went to California in 1853, remaining there two years digging 
gold, and has been conducting a meat market for many years. In 1876 he was elected 
poormaster, serving three years, was town clerk one year and village collector one year. 
In 1894 he was again elected poormaster. December 31, 1855, he married Emeline B. 
Fairchild of Phelps, and they had four children : Frank S. who married Nettie M^Ken- 
nie of Indiana; Ralph O, who died, aged twenty -six ; William H., who married Helen 
Flynn of Newark, and they have one daughter, Marie L.; and Adella L , who resides at 
home. Mr. Lusk is a member of Newark Lodge, No. 116, A. O. U. W., and of the 
Knights of Honor. No. 492. He enlisted September 3, 1864 in Company E, 11th In- 
fantry, N. Y. S. Volunteers, was honorably discharged for disability November 19, 
1864. Mr. Lusk's father, Peter, was born in Schenectady county March 19, 1793, he 
was a merchant, interpreter and attorney. August 23, 1812, he married Harriet 
Howell, formerly of Columbia county, by whom he had twelve children: James Gr., Al- 
lied, Christopher, all died in infancy ; Adelia, Harriet, Daniel H., Permelia, Clinton O, 
Alfred D., Irene and Christopher C. Mrs. Lusk's father, Asher Fairchild, was born in 
New Jersey in 1799, came to Ontario county, and married Temperance Humphrey, by 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 371 

whom he had five children. He died in 1878, and his wife in 1860. Peter husk died 
June 9, 1839, and his wife March 28, 1848. 

Lovejoy, the late David W., was born in Kinderhook, Columbia county, in 1812, and 
came to Western New York in 1845. His education was obtained in the public schools 
and he was a farmer by occupation. He married twice, first Sally Wilb°r of that 
county, who died in 1873, 'and second in 1875 Martha J. Davis of East Newark. They 
have had two children : Mary L. and David W., a student in the Union School and 
Academy. Mrs. Lovejoy's father, George Davis, was born in Saratoga county in 1808, 
was well educated, and in early life was a merchant. After he came to this place he 
was a grocery merchant. He married twice, first in 1834 Lucy Patrick of Stillwater, 
and they had three daughters, one who died in infancy ; Martha J. and Mary F., who 
is a resident of Toledo, 0. Mrs. Davis died in 1839, and he married second Elizabeth 
Wilcox, of his native county, by whom he had one son, William G-. Mr. Davis died in 
1883, and his wife in 1887. Among the Davis family for generations there have been 
preachers of the Friends denomination. Mrs. Lovejoy taught two years in the Union 
School and Academy, also in Louisiana and Alabama fourteen years. On the maternal 
side the family are of Revolutionary stock. 

Lyman, Milo S., was born in Galen May 18, 1826, son of Jesse and Betsey (Sedgwick J 
Lyman, he a native of Connecticut and came to Galen about 1820, and then to Rose, 
where he settled on a farm, and finally to Rose Yalley, where. he died in 1866. He 
kept lighthouse at Sodus Point for about fen years. Subject's mother died when he was 
four years of age, and subject was bound out to work for Adam Learn of Galen, with 
whom he remained until he was twenty-one. He afterward worked for John Learn 
seven years, worked his farm three years, and during the time bought forty acres in 
Eose on which he moved, and erected buildings, remaining three years. He next 
worked by the month eight years, and then rented his father-in-law's farm. In 1874 
he bought the farm he now owns of 148 acres. Mr. Lyman has been postmaster one 
year. He has been a member of the M. E. Church thirty years, and has held every 
office in the church of Rose Valley. Mr. Lyman married in 1854 Rebecca, daughter of 
John, Barnes, by whom he has one son, John W., born in February, 1857. He was 
educated in Albany Normal School, from which he graduated with high honors, and 
taught school two years in Garrison. His health failed and he died with quick con- 
sumption in 1881. Mrs. Lyman died May 18, 1892, and in April, 1894, he married 
Clarissa Webb of Huron. He has one adopted son, George A. Barnes, son of James 
Barnes of Huron. 

Lent, Charles D., was born in Sodus in 1832. His father, Benjamin, was a son of 
Jonn Lent, a resident of New Jersey. Charles D. was reared in Bergen, Genesee 
county, his father having died during his childhood. In 1853 he returned to Sodus and 
August 14, 1862, enlisted in Company H, 9th N. Y. Heavy Artillery as private, was 
promoted to sergeant, first lieutenant and captain, serving until the close of the war. 
He was mustered out in July, 1865. Returning to Sodus he purchased the Messenger 
farm, west of Wallington, and has since carried on farming. Upon the building of the 
railroads through the town be erected a depot and was made station agent, continuing 
to act as such until 1888. For many years he was in the produce business at Walling- 
ton, and was a dealer in coal and fertilizers, bringing the first car load of each that came 
in Sodus. In 1872 he started a grocery and carried on that business until 1891. He 
secured the establishment of the postoffice at Wallington in 1874, which continued until 
1886. In 1874 he built a hotel at Wallington, which he has since kept as a temperance 
house. He is deeply interested in political affairs. He was appointed deputy, by 
Sheriff Reed in 1889, is a member of Dwight Post, G. A. R., of Sodus and was com- 
mander for several years. In 1852 he married Laura, daughter of Solomon Smedly of 
Sodus, and their children are Herschael D., who settled in Illinoig ; Charles M. of 



272 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Rochester ; Lillian 0. (Mrs. Clayton Boyd of Syracuse); Ida (Mrs. J. S. Cox of Newark); 
Emma, (Mrs. A. L. Olmstead of Des Moines, la.), Kittie and Matie. 

Lincoln, Theron L., was born in Virgil, Cortland county, November 24, 1815. and 
educated in the district schools. Until the age of twenty-one he was reared on a farm, 
afterward became a boot and shoe dealer, also manufactured mittens, and was for many 
years a farmer until he retired. He married twice, first, Loretta Bruce, of his native 
place, and they had two children: Bruce W and Loretta, both deceased. Mrs. Lincoln 
died July 10, 1850, and he married second, in January, 1852, Polly A. Keyes, of his 
native place, formerly of Vermont, and they have three sons ; Orion M., who married 
Helen Garlock, and they have one son, Ward G.; Clinton T., who married Emma Shaw, 
and has two children, Claud E. and Mildred E ; and Herbert G., who married Emma E. 
Filkins, by whom lie has one daughter, Ermie B. Mr. Lincoln's father, William, was 
born in Massachusetts July 6, 1784, and was one of the first settlers in Virgil, Cortland 
county. He married Ruth Saxton, of his native place, and they have had twelve chil- 
dren :" Harriet, Silas, Theron L., Wait, Ruth, Minerva, William, Clinton, Levi, Laura, 
Oscar, and Emma. Mr. Lincoln died in 1870, aged eighty-six years, and his wife in 
1864. William Lincoln was major in the State militia. Mrs. Theron Lincoln's father, 
Eli Keyes, was born in 1794 in Vermont. He married Mercy Chapman and had ten 
children. ' Mr. Keyes died in 1850 and his wife in 1857. Mrs. Lincoln's grandfather, 
Jonathan Chapman, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and her grandfather, Ezra 
Keyes, was a soldier in the war of 1812. Mr. Lincoln was assessor and justice of the 
peace several years. 

Leggett, Charles E., was born in the town of Arcadia August 26, 1864, and came 
here with his parents when he was four years old. He was educated in the Union 
School and Academy. At the age of twenty-one he became a partner with John L. 
Wilder in the hardware business three years, then bought his interest, conducted it 
alone one year, when the co-partnership of Leggett & Watkins was formed under that 
firm name, which continues until the present time. October 24, 1888, he married 
Edith M. Percey, of the town of Phelps, Ontario county. Mr. Leggett's father, John 
T., was born in Columbia county in 1820, and came here when a young man, was a 
farmer until 1868, when he retired and moved to the village. He married twice, first, 
Mary A. West, and they had one son, Sanford, who is a clerk in the firm. He married, 
second, Susan Cronise, of this town, whose ancestors came from Maryland. They had 
three children: Ida O, John T., jr., and Charles E. He died in 1879. Mrs. Leggett's 
father, Henry Percey, was born in Hoosic Falls, and came to Lyons when a boy. He 
married Louisa Harmon, and they had two daughters: Nellie and Edith M. Mr. 
Leggett is a member of I.O.O.F. No. 250, of Newark. 

Kelley, Clarence M., was born on the old homestead south of Newark September 20, 
1850, and was educated in the common and the Union School and Academy. In early 
life he learned the machinist trade at H. C. Silsby's, Seneca Falls, and became a 
thorough workman. Taking locomotive work he pursued it in detail at Schenectady, 
Philadelphia, and for the N.Y.C. & H.R.R.R. Leaving the locomotive cab in 1876 he 
went to the Black Hills and Big Horn region, prospecting and mining, and for four 
years remained there testing many claims. He came back to the East with the inten- 
tiou of settling in Newark, but was induced to take charge of the Bignall Manufactur- 
ing Works at Medina, which employed seventy men. This he left and came back to 
Newark to succeed his father in business, purchasing the Eagle foundry site on Union 
street and erecting the present Kelley block. With his own private purse he led the 
work of establishing ^rade, laying walk and curbing Union street in front of his 
premises. He has added to his business house furnishing goods and carriages, and by 
liberal dealing has made his business a success. October 7, 1880, he married, at Medina, 
Rosena Randolph. Mrs. Kelley's father, Rev. Webster Randolph, was born in Vermont, 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 273 

He located in Newark and was instrumental in building the present Universalist 
church. He married Eliza Yose, of Boston, and they had three children : B. Howe, 
Rosena, and Caroline, who died in infancy. Mr. Randolph died in October, 1893, and 
his wife in January, 1882. Mr. Kelley is a member of Newark Lodge No. 83, F. & A. 
M., of Newark Chapter No. 117, R. A. M., Zenobia Commandery No. 41, K. T. 

Kneeland, Rev. Francis W., was born at Strikersville, Wyoming county, September 
15, 1856, was educated in the public schools, and the academy, preparatory to entering 
the university. In 1880 he graduated from the Rochester University, and soon after 
entered the Rochester Theological Seminary, from which he graduated in 1887, and 
immediately began Gospel work, preaching at Moodus, Conn., for some time, then 
coming to Wayne county, where he settled at Newark in November, 1890, as pastor of 
the First Baptist church, which he has continued up to the present time, 1894. Decem- 
ber 27, 1881, he married Anna Randolph, of Rochester, who is a grandniece of John 
Randolph, of Roanoke, Va. They have three children : Paul S., Lloyd R., and Marjorie 
B. The ancestry of the family is English on both sides, the original stock in this coun- 
try having settled in Massachusetts and Connecticut. 

Keener, Stephen N., was born in the town of West Huron, Lewis county, January 
31, 1841. He was educated in the public schools, learned the carpenter's trade before 
he was twenty-one years old, and came to Newark in June, 1862. July 25, 1862, he 
enlisted in Company A, 160th Inf., N. Y. S. Vols., and was honorably discharged at the 
close of the war. Upon his return he resumed business, this time as architect, contractor 
and builder for twenty-three years. January 21, 1868, he married Katie E. Espenscheid, 
of Lyons, and they have one daughter, I. Augusta. Mr. Keener has been a member of 
the School Board six years, with its offices of president, secretary, etc. He has served 
as village trustee two terms, is a member of Vosburg Post No. 99, G. A. R., Dep't of 
N. Y. ; also of the M. E. church, and an official member of the same for twenty-five 
vears. He is also trustee of the Cemetery Association for the past twenty years. Mrs. 
Keener's father, John Espenscheid, was born in Germany, February 17, 1813, and came 
to the United States when a young boy, and located in Sodus, shortly afterward in 
Clyde, and finally in Lyons. He married Helen Derich, of his native country, and they 
had six children : John M., Katie E., Philip J., Mary E., William H., and Helen E. 
He died October 5, 1888, his wife still survives. 

Kennedy, Thomas, was born in Canandaigua, September 20, 1857, and received his 
education in the district schools, having been a railroad man for sixteen years. He has 
filled various positions in that line, was with the N. Y. C. & H. R. R. R. ten years ; and 
with the West Shore Railroad Company six years as yard conductor, and also as freight 
conductor when needed. September 20, 1882, he married Mary A. Norris, of Cortland, 
and they had two sons : James N., who died young ; and Thomas N., a student at the 
academy. Mrs. Kennedy died October 22, 1887. Mrs. Kennedy's father, James N., 
was born in the old country in 1824, coming to the United States in 1844, where he 
located in Canandaigua, and married Alice Armstrong, by whom he had eleven children. 
Both parents are now deceased. Mr. Kennedy is a member of the A. O. U. W. No. 
116, at Newark. 

Kaiser, John, was born in Baden, Germany, August 5, 1824. He learned the black- 
smith's trade, came to the United States in 1840, and located in Rochester, where he 
worked in Barton's edge tool establishment. He afterward engaged in work at Mud 
Creek, and from there came to Lyons. He married twice, first, May 28, 1847, Lottie 
Worllhiser, formerly of Germany. They had ten children, seven of whom are living : 
Lottie, John, jr., William, George, Margaret, Louisa, and Hattie. Mrs. Kaiser died 
October 9, 1867, and he married second, May 25, 1868, Mrs. Susana Becker, of Liver- 
pool, Onondaga county. Mrs. Kaiser's father, Frederick Arnold, was born in Wurtem- 
berg, Germany, in 1788. He married Barbara Harkenbock, of his native place, and 



274 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

they had fourteen children, all deceased except Mrs. Kaiser. They came to the United 
States in 1837. Mr. Kaiser moved from Lyons to Fairville in 1848, and bought his 
farm there in 1854. 

Kansier, Christopher, was the first of the family to settle in America. He came from 
Germany in 1852, and settled in Lyons. He was a wagonmaker by trade and engaged 
in that business. In 1859 he settled at Sochis Centre, where he engaged in the same 
business. He married Frederica Schultz, and their children were : Fred, William, 
Augustus, and Hattie. In 1863 Mr. Kansier retired from business and was succeeded 
by his son, William, who has since carried on carriage making and blacksmithing. 
Christopher died in 1878. Fred is a wagonmaker and settled at Sodus Centre. He 
married Dortha Yokel. Augustus was a blacksmith and carried on that business in 
Sodus for several years. He married Mary Flint, and died in 1888. Hattie married 
Henry Webber, of Sodus. William Kansier is a member of Sodus Lodge No. 392, 
F. & A. M,, and Wayne Chapter. He married Mary Eyer, and they have one daughter, 
Cora B. 

Keir, Alexander, was born in Banffshire, Scotland, March 7, 1842. He was educated 
in their schools and when twenty years old went to Australia, remaining ten years. 
July 19, 1867, he married Elizabeth Rohinson, who was born in England of Scotch par- 
entage. They have five children, Jane, Margaret, who married Dyton Barclay of Sodus 
Centre ; Alexander R. is an employee of the West Shore Railroad Company ; El'zabeth, 
who is a student in Genesee Normal School, and James W., who is a student in the 
Union School and Academy. The family came here from Australia in 1873. Mr. Keir 
has been in the employ of the West Shore Railroad Company since that time, first in 
charge of a construction corps and after assistant road master, which position he still 
holds. Mr. Keir was one of the principal men in constructing the railway track from 
Long Branch to Franklin cottage for the conveyance of President Garfield after he was 
shot by Guiteau, and received a card of thanks therefor by the company. Mrs. Keir's 
father, Robert Robinson, was born in Scotland in 1792, and married Margaret MacKee 
of his native place. They had five children, Jane, Robert, Violet, James and Elizabeth. 
Her father was a sergeant in the British Army, and her brother, Robert, was a major in 
the British Army in India, Mr. Robinson died in 1869 and his wife in 1890. Mr. 
Keir is a member of the Masonic Order in Bolton, N. J., No. 150 F. & A. M., also of 
Newark Chapter No. 117 R. A. M. 

Kelley, Charles E., was born on the homestead southeast of Newark January 28, 
1858, was educated in the common schools and the Union School and Academy at 
Newark. He is a farmer and dealer in seed potatoes, and owns the old E. B. Kelley 
farm. February 21, 1883, he married Ada A. Bennett, of Phelps, and they have two chil- 
dren : Bertha A. and Burnette F. Mrs. C. E. Kelley's father, Hiram Bennett, was 
born in Phelps, Ontario county, April 14, 1826, was educated in the common school and 
followed farming. He married Eliza Parsons of Columbia county, and they had five 
children : Ada A, as above, Milton P., Jennie E., Ulysses C. and Frank H. He had 
two children by a first marriage, Andrew J. and Mary L. Mr. Bennett died in 1893 
and his widow survives at the old home in Phelps. 

Jones, Albert N., was born in Cookham, Berkshire county, England, March 6, 1843, 
and came with his parents to the United States in 1847, finally locating in Shortsville, 
Ontario county. He was educated in the public schools, and worked at intervals in his 
father's paper mill till 1879, since which he has made a business of propagating varieties 
of winter wheat. He has 1,700 varieties, which he has produced from three kinds, viz, : 
Clawson, Mediterranean and Russian Velvet. August 17, 1862, he married Marietta 
Crofut, of Canandaigua, a daughter of Joel and Lucinda (Coy) Crofut, of Connecticut,, 
and Vermont, respectively. They have one daughter, Lin S., who lives at home. His 
father, William,, was born in England, and married Eliza Fisher, of Bradford, England, 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 275 

and they had six children : Albert N., William, who died, aged thirteen ; Lizzie. Walter 
S., Frank C, and George H. The mother died in 188G. Our subject is a member of 
the A. 0. U. W., No. 116, of Newark. 

Jenkins, Thomas J., was born in New York city, September 25, 1840, was educated 
in the public schools there, and learned k the butcher's business, at the age of sixteen 
coming to Newark with his parents. Here he began work with G. H. Filldns, continu- 
ing four years. July 6, 18G2, he enlisted in Company E, 111th N. Y. Vols., and was in 
the quartermaster's department till 1863, ween he returned to his company, participat- 
ing in all its engagements until August, 1854, when he was captured at the battle of 
Reams' Station, sent to Libby Prison, and later to Belle Island, and Salisbury, N. C, 
caring as far as it was in his power to do, for his sick and starving fellow prisoners, 
caring for forty from the town of Arcadia, burying them when they died, taking their 
last messages to their friends at home, as well as assisting their widows and orphans in 
the settling of their property, etc. Few towns suffered as this town did, in its losses 
through the war. He was honorably discharged as duty sergeant August 7, 1865, and 
returned home to Newark, where he opened a meat market, and has been engaged in 
that business now for many years, having been for fourteen years in his present loca- 
tion, corner Main and Union streets. November 27, 1859, he married Annie Taylor, 
of this town, and they have had five children: Charles, Grace M., Will, and Lela and 
Lula (twins), Charles and the twins being deceased. Grace married Charles Frey of 
Newark, and they have one daughter, Lulu. Will married Mary O'Brien, of Manches- 
ter, and they have two daughters, Fannie and Pearl. Thomas J., father of our subject, 
was born in New York city in 1800, and conducted a butcher's business. He married 
Maria Francisco, of Whitehall, by whom he had five children : Susan F., Louisa, Thomas 
J., William W., and Isaac G. Mr. Jenkins died in 1856, and his wife in 1884. Our 
subject is a member of Newark Lodge, No. 83, F. & A. M., and also a member of the 
G. A. R. No. 99. 

Jewell, Alva, was born in Dutchess county February 21, 1820, a son of Isaac and 
Charity Jewell, natives of Dutchess county, who came to Lyons in 1819, where Mr. 
Jewell died, and his wife died in Rose. Subject was reared on a farm till eighteen, 
when he learned the cooper's trade and after ten years engaged in farming. Mr. Jewell 
owns 140 acres, and has a fine residence and out buildings on his farm. He married in 
1843 Susan Wager, a native of Galen, and daughter of John and Margaret Wager, early 
settlers of Galen, who died in Huron. They had nine children. Mr. Jewell and his 
wife had six children, Henry, Malinda (deceased), Alonzo (deceased), Elizabeth, Frank- 
lin, and another. 

Jolly, Rev. Thompson, was born in Yorkshire, England, August 5, 1822. His father 
died while he was still a child and his mother married John Middleton. In 1830 they 
came to America and settled in Ontario county. In 1833 they removed to Sodus and 
settled in the northwest part of the town. He learned the blacksmith trade and from 
1838 to 1843 followed that business at Stanley, N. Y. He then returned to Sodus 
village and for two years worked at his trade there. He then built a shop and for 
thirteen years carried on the business of blacksmithing. In 1857 he joined the Central 
New York M. E. Conference and from that time until 1884 was pastor of various 
churches throughout Central and Western New York. In the latter year he returned 
to his farm in Sodus and for a year was pastor of the church at Joy, and for a year and 
a half at South Sodus. In 1889 he settled in Sodus village. For twenty years he has 
been a strong Prohibitionist, and has taken a very active part in temperance work. He 
married in 1845 Mercy, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Gates, of Sodus, and they 
had four children : Mary, Mrs. Wilmot M. Ormsby ; Dr. William F., Wesley T., and S. 
Belle. Dr. William F. Jolly on being admitted to practice settled at Middlesex, N. Y., 
and in 1894 settled at Atlanta, N. Y. Wesley T. settled in Sodus and is an enterprising 



276 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

farmer. He is a member of Sodus Grange and Pultneyville M. E. church. He married 
S. Cammilla, daughter of William S. Vosburgh, of Sodus, and their children are Olin B. 
and Arthur T. 

Hoffman, Frederick, was born in Prussia, Germany, June 9, 1827. He was educated 
in their schools, learned the trade of carpenter and came to the United S*ates in 1849, 
locating in Carthage, Jefferson county, where he remained fourteen years. He came to 
Lyons in 1863 and to Newark in 1864, where he has been a contractor and builder. He 
has done much in building and enlarging the enterprising village of Newark. July 31, 
1854, he married Theresa Say forth of his native place, and they have one adopted son 
August L., who is a resident of Lyons, a jeweler by occupation in company with 0. C. 
Robinson, of Newark. Their stock in trade is watches, jewelry, diamonds, musical in- 
struments, pianos, organs, sheet music, etc., with stores in Lyons and Newark. He 
married Emma Jacoby, and they have a son, Frederick. Mrs. Hoffman's father, Fred- 
erick Sayforth, was born in Prussia, Germany, in 1806. He married Julia Schlieder of 
that place, by whom he had six children. They came to the United States in 1847. 
Mrs. Hoffman's grandfather, Christoph Sayforth, was a judge in his province fifty years. 
Mr. and Mrs. Hoffman are members of the German Evangelical church, of which he has 
been trustee twenty-nine years. 

Hyde, William H., was born at the old home July 26, 1863. He was educated in the 
Union School and Academy, in Cook's Academy at Havana, and in Genesee Normal 
School. He is a farmer and capitalist. February 26, 1885, he married Bertha J. Jack- 
son, of Lyons, and they have two children: Bertha L., and William H., jr. Mr. Hyde's 
father, Artemus W. ; was born at the old home in Hydesville September 15, 1816. He 
was educated in the schools of that day, and was also a farmer. He married twice, 
first Armeda Miles, of this town, by whom he had four children : E. Miles and a twin 
brother who died in infancy ; Ransom A., who died aged nineteen, and John L. Mrs. 
Hyde died in 1856, and he married second Louisa Pierson. They had three children : 
Artemus D., William H., as above noted noted ; and Armeda L. Mr. Hyde was super- 
visor of the town in 1864-65. He died January 5, 1892. Mr. Hyde's grandfather, 
Henry W., was born in Vermont June 29, 1774. He was a pioneer settler and physi- 
cian of this town. Mrs. William H. Hyde's father, George W. Jackson, was born in 
Lyons August 11, 1832. He was educated in the common schools and Starkey Semin- 
ary. He was a farmer by occupation. October 27, 1857, he married Elizabeth Agett, 
of Lyons, by whom he had two daughters and one son: Mary E., Bertha J., and James 
A. Mr. Jackson died July 6, 1884. His father, Cyrus, came to Lyons in 1811 on 
horseback. He was then a young physician, and made several trips back and forth to 
New York city for medicine on horseback. It was said by the Fox sisters that Artemus 
W. Hyde was a firm believer in spiritualism. The family wishes this to be emphatically 
denied, it being a pure fabrication on their part. 

Hill, Gilbert and Noadiah, came from Columbia county in 1845, and settled about two 
miles southwest of Sodus village. They were sons of Caleb Hill, whose father Caleb 
Hill, sr., came from England and settled in Vermont. Noadiah Hill was supervisor of 
the town one term, and took an active part in political affairs. In 1867 he returned to 
Columbia county, where he died. Gilbert Hill died in Sodus in 1889. He married 
Sylvia Smith, of Columbia county, and their children were: Eunice (Mrs. T. H. Hath- 
away) ; John C, Noadiah M., and Henry, all of Sodus. Noadiah M. settled on the 
homestead and is a farmer. He married Eva L. Pulver. John C. Hill is a thrifty and 
enterprising farmer. He has held the office of collector of the town, is a member of 
Sodus Lodge No. 392, F. & A. M., and of Wayne Chapter ; and is also a member of 
Sodus Grange and the Presbyterian church of Sodus. He married Lydia M. Brayton, 
and they have one son Gilbert. 

Hoeltzel, George, was born in Alsace, France (now Germany), December 30, 1836, 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 277 

and came to the United States with his parents in 1840. They located in Lyons. Wayne 
county. He was educated in the district schools, and is a farmer. June 27, 1867, he 
married Lena Schwab, of Arcadia, and they have three children : Albert G-., Emma M., 
and Minnie R. August 12, 1862, he enlisted in Company D, 9th Heavy Artillery, and 
was in the following engagements : Cold Harbor, Monocacy Junction, Winchester, 
Cedar Creek, and others, and was honorably discharged May 3, 1865. Mr. Hoeltzel's 

father, Michael, was born at the old home in Alsace in 1794, and married Dorathy , 

of his native place. They had seven children : Dorathy, Elizabeth, Michael. Frederick, 
Sally, Henry, and George, of whom Michael, Dorathy, Elizabeth, and Henry are 
deceased. Mrs. Hoeltzel's father, George Schwab, was born in Alsace, May 14, 1814, 
and came to the Unites States with his parents when sixteen years old, locating in this 

town. He married Magdalene , also of this town, by whom he had five children: 

Elizabeth, Philip, Lena, Barbara, and George. Mrs. Schwab died January 9, 1854, and 
her husband June 4, 1884. 

Hart, Samuel C, was born in Coonsville, Ontario county, February 29, 1814, son of 
Thomas R. and Lorinda (Granger) Hart, he a native of Rhode Island, born January 21, 
1786, and she of Connecticut, born March 4, 1788. The grandfather of subject was 
William Hart, who lived in Rhode Island most of his life, and died in Manchester, 
Ontario county. The maternal grandfather was Jacob G ranger, a native of Connecticut, 
and an early settler of Galen, where he died. Mr. Granger and wife had four daughters 
and two sons. The father of subject came to Ontario when a young man, and finally 
went to Seneca county where he died July 15, 1860, and his wife June 8. 1823. He 
married three times. His second wife was Amelia Eddy, who died March 23, 1841. 
His third wife was Nancy Lemunion, who died in Watertown in 1892. Subject has 
been a farmer and has also followed various occupations. He came to Rose in 1841 
on the farm he traded to William Dodd for ninety-six acres one and one-half miles 
southwest of Rose Valley, and has lived where he now resides thirty-eight years. He 
owns 138 acres in Rose and an interest in a small place in Junius, Ontario county. He 
married in 1836 Ann Witherel, a native of Vermont and daughter of Abel Witherel, 
who lived in Vermont, but died in New York, and the wife of subject was reared by 
Ira Lathrup, of Rose. They have five children : Mary J., who died in 1864, the wife of 
George Knox, by whom she had one child, Lillie, deceased ; Ira L., who married 
Cornelia Cushman, by whom he had six children : Susan, deceased ; Addie, Belle, Frank, 
Charles, and Bert; Ann E., wife of Daniel Seager, of Huron, both deceased; Marion, 
born in 1851, who married Salina Cushman, by whom he has had nine children : 
George H„ Mary A., Clinton M., Ida J., Alice E., Nettie M., John L., Rosie, Vina B. ; 
and William, born July 3, 1863, educated in the common schools, and is a farmer. 

Horton, William 0., a native of Vermont, was born March 14, 1834, son of Abraham 
and Sarah (Bingham) Horton, he a native of Springfield, Mass., and she of New Hamp- 
shire. He died in Vermont in 1838, and his wife in 1863. He was a soldier in the war 
of 1812. Our subject was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools. He 
started when a young man, came west, and at the close of the war came to Rose Valley 
and engaged in shoemaking, which he has since followed. He married in 1866 Sarah 
Brewer, a native of Bennington, Vt., by whom he has had five children : Mary, Willie, 
Hattie, and two who died in infancy. Mr. Horton is a member of Sherman Post No. 
401, G. A. R. He enlisted in 1861 in Bonton's Battery, 1st III., served a short time, 
and was wounded at Shilo. He re-enlisted in Company K, Vt. Vcls., and served until 
the close of the war. He was in the following battles : Shilo, Fort Donaldson, Vicks- 
burg, Grand Gulf, Bolton, Champion Hill, Fort Hudson, Baton Rouge, Nashville, on 
Red River expedition, and New Orleans, Mobile, and many skirmishes. He was 
wounded five times. When a young man subject spent three years in California. 

Hopkins, E. Horace, was born in Queensbury, Washington county, in 1820, and is a 
son of Thomas, whose father, James, came to Sodus about 1822, and purchasing a farm 



278 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY 

in the south part of the town, became a prosperous farmer. He was a leading member 
of the Sod us Centre Baptist Church. He married Mary Bramer, and they had eleven 
children : Nicholas, who served in the Avar of 1812. He settled in Michigan, where he 
died ; Esther died in infancy ; Elizabeth married James McMullen ; Jeremiah died in 
early manhood ; Eunice married Samuel Fuller, and settled in Michigan; John B. settled 
in Washington county ; Mary and Hannah died in childhood ; Freeman settled in 
Kalamazoo, Mich., where he died ; James; and Thomas, who served in the war of 1812. 
He settled first in the south part of the town, and the following year purchased a farm 
near the Point. Three years later he settled on the south line of the town, purchasing 
a farm, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was a successful and prosperous 
farmer, and was a prominent member of the Sodus Centre Baptist Church, of which he 
was deacon many years. He married Samantha Fuller, and they had ten children : 
Emily, Mary, E Horace, Betsey J. Clark, Amanda, Thomas, Daniel, Samantha, and 
Alonzo. E. Horace Hopkins, with the exception of a residence of ten years in Lyons, 
has always lived in Sodus, and has always followed farming. He is a member of Sodus 
Grange and the Sodus Centre Baptist Church. He married Emeline, daughter of Gaius 
Granger, of Sodus, by whom he had three children: Marion, who died in childhood; 
Catherine (Mrs. George Negus, of Sodus) ; and Emily (Mrs. Albert Harris, of Sodus). 

Hanby, James E., was born in Sodus October 31, 1853, and is a son of Charles, jr., 
born September 19, 1809, whose father, Charles, sr., came from London,' England, in 
1832 and settled in the east part of Sodus, purchasing a tract of land. Charles Hanby, 
sr., died in 1849. His children were: Joseph, Elizabeth, Charles, Thomas, Peter, James 
and Henry. The father of subject settled in Sodus and was one of its enterprising and 
prosperous farmers. He married twice, first, Harriet Jackson, and their children were : 
Ann, Charles J., and Harriet P. His second wife was Catherine Gates, and their chil- 
dren were : Joseph G., Mary L., Catherine E., Lewis B.. James E., Hannah and Esther 
J. Mr. Hanby died June 22, 1887. James E. Hanby settled in Sodus on the old home- 
stead, and is one of the enterprising and prosperous farmers of the town. He is also 
a dealer in agricultural implements, and is a member of Sodus Lodge No. 392, F. & A. 
M., and Sodus Grange. He married, in 1893, Carrie 0., daughter of James Van Slyck, 
of Sodus. 

Hulett, William J., came from Onondaga county in 1837 and settled in the west part 
of Sodus, north of the Ridge road. He was a farmer and for several years a sailor. 
He married Mary A., daughter of Henry Mumford, and their children are : Louise (Mrs. 
C. C. Fields, of Sodus), and Charles H. He was for a number of years a sailor on the 
lakes, and since 1877 has been engaged in farming. December 23, 1877, he married 
Mary A. Felker, of Sodus, and they had one son, Leslie J. 

Hartnagel, Leonard, was born in Wurtemburg, Germany, July 14, 1832, was edu- 
cated in their excellent schools, and came to the United States in 1851, at the age of 
nineteen, first locating in Lyons. March 10, 1859, he married Margaret Zimmerle, of 
Lyons, and they have three children: J. George, who is a resident of Rochester; C. 
Edward and L. Ella, who reside at home. Mr. Hartnagel's father, George, was born 
at the old home. He married Margaret Hanner, and they have five children. Both of 
his parents are now deceased. Mrs. Hartnagel's father, Jacob Zimmerle, was born in 

Switzerland, and married Sadie , by whom he had six children. He died when 

Mrs. Hartnagel was three years old, and her mother died in 1875. 

Horn, John P., was born in Sodus in 1850 and is a son of Conrad Horn, who came 
from Germany about 1835 and settled at Lyons, and in 1838 settled in the southeast 
part of Sodus, where he purchased a farm and engaged in farming. He also engaged 
in the manufacture of lime, and died in 1883. He married Dorathea Lang and their 
children were : Henry, who settled in Galen, and is a farmer ; he married Eliza 
Benning ; Caroline, who married George Hopp, and, for her second husband, Eli White ; 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 279 

Barbara, who married George Richards, of Newark ; Lena, who married Michael Brier, 
of Fairville; Emma, who married Theodore Pultz, of Sodus; Eliza, who is unmarried : 
Jennie, who married John Rogers, of Arcadia; William, who married Fannie Burcroff, 
settled in Sodas and is a lime manufacturer; Edward, who is a farmer on the old 
homestead ; and John P., our subject, who is a farmer and resides in Sodus. He is a 
member of the Sodus Grange and married Hannah Hanby. 

Grant, Willis, is one of fourteen children of James and Nancy Grant, of Butler. He 
enlisted in the 9th Heavy Artillery and suffered amputation of the right leg at Cedar 
Creek, as the result of a rifle ball wound. His reminiscences of those " times that 
tried men's souls " and when his own life was despaired of, are characterized by unusual 
modesty. James Grant gave his sympathetic and material assistance toward the 
abolition of slavery, and his house was a Mecca for the fugitive. January 14, 1851, 
being then twenty-two years of age, Willis married Mary M., daughter of Drayton 
Phelps, of Butler, and they have eight children : Horace, Emma, Charles, Bertha, Orena, 
Drayton, Nathan, and Arthur. An elder daughter, Nancy, died when three years of 
age in 1854. 

Gilbert, William, born in Sodus August 12, 1834, is the oldest son of five children of 
Roswell and Harriet (Crandall) Gilbert. Mr. Gilbert came to Williamson with his 
parents when five years of age and died in Sodus in February, 1893, aged eighty-five. 
His wife died April 30, 1889, aged seventy-nine. Subject was reared on a farm, edu- 
cated in the common schools, and has alsvays followed farming. He is a member of 
the P. of H. of Marion, and he and wife are members of the Christian church, of 
which he has been deacon four years. He married, in 1857, Helen S., daughter of 
Simon and Caroline Adams, of Marion, where he died in 1854, and she in 1885. 

Gridley, Edward, was born in Sullivan county, N. Y., December 9, 1837. His father, 
Charles Gridley, was a native of Schoharie county, and came to Wayne county in 1875. 
He died in 1878, aged seventy-seven. Edward Gridley was educated at Saratoga in 
the common schools. In 1862 he enlisted in Company H, 9th Heavy Artillery, U. S. 
Volunteers, and was wounded in the left shoulder in the battle of Cold Harbor June 1, 
1864, and for a number of months was not expected to live. He was honorably dis- 
charged February 11, 1865, returned to Clyde and married in the fall of the same year 
Betsey M., daughter of John Braden, by whom he has one daughter, Mrs. Mary L. 
Flynn. Our subject was elected collector in 1865, and takes an intelligent interest in 
educational and religious matters. 

Graham, E. P., second son of Henry and Eliza (Ross) Graham, late of Rose, was born 
September 7, 1848. Henry Graham, a pioneer settler of Rose, a prominent Democrat, 
finding in farming and horticulture his principal occupation, died in October, 1878, aged 
seventy-six. Elmer was educated at Clyde and Canandaigua Academy, and in 1878 
acquired by purchase a farm of 200 acres in Butler, devoted chiefly to small fruits and 
dairy products, and embellished with handsome buildings. In 1876 he married Nettie, 
daughter of Lewis Beach of Varick, Seneca county. 

Gautz, Philip, was born in Galen October 11, 1839. His father, Philip, was a native 
of Reichwiller, Germany, and came to the United States in 1830 with the grandfather, 
Beldazar Gautz, coming to Wayne county by canal boat. He then went to Lyons, and 
from there to the town of Galen, where his descendants all reside. He had four chil- 
dren : George, Philip, Fred and Eva, who died, aged fourteen. Philip Gautz, jr., laid 
the foundation of his education in the common schools, to which he has added through 
life by reading and close observation. At the age of twenty-two he married Magda- 
lena Shuler, daughter of George Shuler, and they have two sons: Philip Edward, who 
died at twenty-seven years of age, the result of an accidental discharge of a gun. He 
married Lizzie, daughter of Lewis Streeter, and they had one daughter, Edna Philopene. 



280 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

The younger son, Milton F., is still with his parents. In 1863 he bought the John 
Wells property, also the Adam Learn property, the David Closs property and the Philip 
Wells property, having 500 acres of land and raising large quantities of mint, fruit, hay, 
grain and stock, making a specialty of milk dairying, producing 300 quarts per day. 
Our subject is one of the largest farmers in Wayne county. 

Gridley, William H., of Macedon. was born in Sullivan county July 29, 1853. 
Charles, his father, was a native of this State, and married Mary M. Skinner of Sullivan 
county, by whom he had these children : William H., Edward, Louisa M., Lewis, who 
died, aged four years, and Charles. He was a farmer and a dealer in lumber. After 
the death of his first wife he married Mary Ricard of Saratoga county, by whom he 
had two children : Lewis, deceased, and George, now of Saratoga Springs. The mother 
of our subject was of Revolutionary ancestry, her grandfather having been a soldier in 
that war, and her father in the war of 1812. One of her uncles, Israel Skinner, M.D., 
who was a man of note, wrote a history of the Revolutionary War, a copy of which is 
in the possession of the family. The father of our subject was hurt in the building of 
the Delaware & Hudson Canal, which caused his death. William H. came to Wayne 
county over forty years ago, and began as a thresher, working by the month. He 
spent about seven years in Galen, then married Phoebe, daughter of Stephen Y. Wat- 
son of Galen. He then bought part of the Watson farm, and after eight years Mr. 
Watson bought it back, and our subject removed to his present farm in Macedon of 180 
acres. Mr. and Mrs. Gridley have these children : Emma May, Edward Watson, and 
Charles Albert. Mrs. Gridley claims birthright to the Friends' Church. Our subject is 
a member of the Grange. 

Gage, Austin J., was born in the town of Macedon April 11, 1842. His father, Abial 
D. Gage, was a native of Albany county, born December 17, 1802. He settled in this 
town in 1827, buying a farm which he worked up to 1865, when his son came into pos- 
session. Austin J. Gage was educated at the Macedon Academy, and was also gradu- 
ated from the Eastman Commercial College of Poughkeepsie. He practiced the profes- 
sion of surveying until he succeeded his father to the farm. In 1869 he married Hel- 
len M. Butler of Rome, and they are the parents of three children, all at home. Mr. 
Gage is a Republican and has served twelve years as commissioner, and at present is 
inspector of elections. 

Grimm, George F., was born in Lyons December 2, 1867. His father, Henry, was 
one of the largest farmers in Lyons, having bought a residence in Lyons. His son now 
carries on the farm, raising fruit, hay, grain and stock. George F. was educated in the 
Lyons Union School, afterwards returned to his father's faim. At the age of twenty- 
six he married Mary, daughter of Abram Tack of Sodus. Our subject is one of the in- 
telligent young men of his town, taking an active interest in the leading events of the 
day. Conservative and independent in character. 

Gates A. H., was bora in the town of Ontario May 28, 1844. His father, William F., 
was a large farmer and prominent citizen in his town. A. H. was educated in the dis- 
trict schools and at the academies of Walworth, Macedon, and Lima. In 1864 enlisted 
in Co. B, 8th N. Y. Cavalry, joining his regiment in the Shenandoah Yalley, and served 
under Generals Phil Sheridan and Custer, and received an honorable discharge at the 
close of the war. Returning to Ontario in 1867 he was appointed deputy county clerk 
and in 1872 was elected clerk of his county, and at the expiration of his term was again 
appointed deputy and has served continuously from 1867 up to the present time, with 
the exception of three years. Our subject is one of the best known men in town, 
identified in advancing its best interests, the leading events of the day, and is recog- 
nized as a man of sterling worth and integrity. 

Groat, Frederick, jr., was born in Phelps, Ontario county, January 31, 1865. His 
father, Frederick Groat, came from Germany. He was educated in the common schools, 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 281 

to which he has added through life by reading and close observation, being a self-made 
and self-educated man. In 1886 he entered the employ of Hoffman & Robinson and 
learned the watch making and jeweler's business. In 1893 he established himself in 
the same business, and now carries a large line of diamonds, watches, clocks, silver 
ware, musical instruments and optical goods, of which he makes a specialty, having the- 
most complete line of optical goods in Wayne county. At the age of twenty-seven he 
married Carrie P., daughter of C. M. Hattler of Lyous. Subject is one of the active 
business men of his town, identified in all the leading events of the day. 

Goldsmith, David, was a native of Palmyra, born on the place now occupied by his 
son, George W. Paul, grandfather of the latter, located on a farm three and a half 
miles north of Palmyra, taking up 300 acres of land, and there he died. David married 
Eliza Smith, who came from Trenton. George W. was the elder of two sons, his 
brother Festus, dying at the age of six years. George W. was born in 1847, was reared 
on his present farm, and here he has always lived, owning 110 of the original 300 acres. 
In 1870 he married Mollie Mungmaster, of Palmyra, by whom he has one child, William 
G. Goldsmith. 

Goldsmith, Thomas, and his brother Festus, were sent from Orange county in 1792 by 
their father, Thomas, to Palmyra, to improve a purchase of 1,000 acres. The following 
year their father came with the rest of his family, driving forty head of cattle through. 
Thomas first mentioned, came to Port Gibson in 1798, locating on a farm given him by 
his father. Here he died in 1850 and his wife in 1867. Allen T. Goldsmith was born 
in 1824, and has all his life followed farming, having in connection been a maltster for 
the past twenty years. In 1854 he married Caroline Lakie, and they have four chil- 
dren : Fred, Lizzie, Anna and Kate. 

Gage, B. F., was born at Port Gibson, N. Y., Februry 21, 1853. His father, William, 
born in Dutchess county, came to Wolcott in 1866, being engaged in farming. They 
have five children, of whom subject is the eldest : Eliza J., Isabelle, Harriet and Der- 
rick. Maria Gage now lives at Huron with the youngest son, Derrick, William Gage 
having died March 1, 1888. B. F. received an academic education at Pittsford, giving 
his attention to farming since 1871, at which time he came to Savannah, purchasing the 
farm in 1886 on which he now resides. For the four years succeeding 1887 he served 
as overseer of the poor at Savannah. November 15, 1877, he married Rebecca, daugh- 
ter of Smith Williams of Savannah. Mr. Williams died July 6, 1892, his widow, Phoebe 
D., daughter of Seth Crandle, surviving him. Rebecca Gage has one brother, Albert 
Williams of Savannah, and two sisters, Emma and Amanda, the former wife of Henry 
Severance, and the latter wife of Frank Bryant of Fayette, Seneca county. The chil- 
dren of B. F. and Rebecca Gage are: Alfred M., born April 11, 1884, died October 29, 
1885 ; Nellie C, born August 6, 1887, and Cora R., born January 18, 1892. 

Goss, James W., of Savannah, was born in Galen, November 24, 1861, a son of James 
W. Goss, also born in Galen, and for many years a grocer at Lockport. The latter died 
in 1875. He married Hannah, daughter of Walter Brockway, of Savannah, where she 
now resides. Our subject passed an uneventful boyhood in his native town, and Octo- 
ber 1, 1881, he married Dora Y., daughter of N. C. Yought, of this town, who was 
born November 2, 1861. Their children are Fred, born October 7, 1882 : Bessie, born 
May 5, 1885 ; Jennie V., born July 23, 1887 ; and Nicholas, born July 29, 1889. Mr. 
Goss is one of a family of six children, none now living except himself and two broth- 
ers, Darwin and Frank, both of this place. Mr. Goss is one of the leading tonsorial 
operators of Savannah, and has many warm friends. At the present writing he and his 
wife have just returned from a sojourn in Tennessee, whither they went with the hope 
of benefit to Mrs. Goss's health, and to escape our inclement winler. 

Gregg, Alexander, of Savannah, was born in Ireland February 27, 1840, emigrated in 



282 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

1856, and came direct to Clyde, where an elder brother was settled. He first entered 
the employ of A. Field at Clyde, but after a severe illness in 1856 he went to Palmyra 
and learned the cooper's trade, at which he worked for the next two years in various 
places. In Ithaca Mr. Gregg made his first business venture, in the coopering line, 
which in five years, by his personal attention and industry, expanded into a plant em- 
ploying sixteen men. In 1863 he married Mary E. Murphy, daughter of James and 
Ellen (Kelley) Murphy, of Clyde, by whom he has had these children : Robert James, 
born September 18, 1864, died March 5, 1872 ; Ellen Amelia, born November 15, 1866; 
Katharine Rebecca, born June 27, 1868; Minnie, born December 4, 1870, died April 19, 
1872 ; Alexander George, born March 12, 1872, died in infancy; Mary Jane, born July 
6, 1873; Anna, born May 29, 1875; Mark Alexander, born September 8, 1876. 
Katharine R. was married February 10, 1891, Willett R. Wiles, of Savannah. In 1864 
Mr. Gregg left Ithaca, selling out his factory there, and opened a grocery business in 
Savannah, which he conducted until the fire in 1885, which destroyed the building and 
most of the stock. In 1886 he rebuilt on the same site, a fine business block m.der a 
handsome opera house, and took as partner E. L. Adams, adding dry goods and general 
merchandise. He has now a large trade. Mr. Gregg is prominent in the Episcopal 
Church, a Knight Templar and charter member of Lodge No. 764, and was postmaster 
under Cleveland. The family occupy an elegant home on Main s'treet. 

Greene, Almon C, dealer in evaporated fruits, grain and produce, is a native of Mace- 
don, born in 1854. He was graduated from Cornell University in 1875, after which he 
engaged in the fruit, grain and produce business at Wallens Station four years, and one 
year at Palmyra. From 1880 to 1883 he was deputy clerk of the State Senate, then 
three years journal clerk of the Assembly, and four years assistant clerk of the Assem- 
bly, In 1886 Mr. Greene married Alice E. Clark, a native of Lewis county. They 
have one son, born in 1891. Ephraim Greene, the grandfather, was a native of Con- 
necticut and came to this State at an early date and settled on what is now the old 
homestead in Maceden, where he died. Almon Greene, the father, was born in the old 
homestead in 1807, where he remained all his life as a farmer, and died in 1881. The 
mother of Almon Greene, jr., was Sarah Archer Greene, who still resides at the old 
place. Mr. Greene was one of a family of two sons, his brother, Percy A., resides with 
his mother. 

Greenwood, Marvin I., was born in the town of Sullivan, Madison county, January 
31, 1840, and came with his parents to the town of Marion, this county in March of the 
same year. He was educated in the common schools, Walworth Academy, and in the 
Union School at Newark, N. Y. He studied law with Judge Norton, was admitted to 
the bar in 1868, and was elected district attorney in 1876, serving three years. No- 
vember 16, 1862, he married Laura F., only daughter of Joseph and Lillie Wadsworth, 
of Newark, They had two sons, Frank M., who was well educated. He was clerk for 
Ryan & McDonald, contractors on the West Shore Railway. He was .killed at the age 
of twenty by an engine on the road, and William, who served his country five years in 
the regular army, was in the Indian War. He was wounded in the leg, and honorably 
discharged at the expiration of five years as orderly sergeant of his company. He is 
now foreman in the new manufacturing concern of the garment drafting machines, con- 
ducted by George A. Horn & Co., at Newark. Mr. Greenwood's father, Ira, was born 
at the old home, was a carpenter and pioneer there, and a farmer here. He married 
Clarissa M. Mosely of his native place, and had three children ; Lucy M., Marvin I., and 
Olivia J. He died in December, 1884, and his wife in 1863. Mr. Greenwood is a mem- 
of Newark Lodge, No. 83, F. & A. M., of Newark Chapter No. 117 R. A. M., Palmyra 
Council No. 26 R. & S. M., Zenobia Commandery No. 41 K. T. of Palmyra, and Roch- 
ester Consistory of Scotish Rite, and is now deputy high priest of the Grand Chapter 
of the State of New York. He has practiced law here since 1868. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 283 

Groat, Hon. Richard P., was born in the town of Ghent, Columbia county, March 29, 
1822, and was brought here with his parents in June of the same year. He was edu- 
cated in the public schools of Newark, learned the trade of blacksmith with his father, 
and succeeded him in the business. October 28, 1847, he married Mary A., youngest 
daughter of Daniel B. and Lurena (Case) Lovejoy, of this place, and they have had five 
children, three died in infancy, two survive, Mary E., and Charles L. Mary E. married 
James W. Dunwell, of Lyons, and they have one daughter, Pauline G. Charles L. is a 
resident of Philadelphia. In 1861 he was appointed keeper of the Wayne County Alms 
House by the county superintendent, which position he occupied nine years. In the 
fall of 1873 he waa elected sheriff of the county. He took the office January I, 1874, 
serving three years. He was then appointed deputy collector of internal revenue by 
John Shaug of Auburn, which position he held nine years. In the years or 1889, 1890 
and 1891 he was elected a member of the Legislature, holding honorable positions in the 
several committees on which he served. Mrs. Groat's father, Daniel B. Lovejoy, was 
born in Columbia county in 1795, and married Lurena Case, and came to Syracuse in 
1827, where he remained a year, and came to Newark. They had eight" children : 
Alexander, Hannah, William, Daniel, George, Elisha, Mary A., and John. He died in 
1866, and his wife in 1863. The ancestry of the family is Dutch and English. 

Gaslin, George B., was born in the town of Vassalborough, Me., February 1, 1827, 
and was educated in the district schools and the academy of Bath. His early life was 
spent on the farm settled by his grandfather before the Bevolution. He engaged in the 
granite and marble business in his twentieth year, and in 1851 came to Newark and 
continued trie business, which has gained large proportions through his strict integrity. 
January 24, 1864, he married Frances J. Sholes, of Phelps, Ontario county, and he has 
one daughter, Maggie, who married Solomon Parks. They had one daughter, Lela F. 
For her second husband she married George Mallory, of Newark. Mr. Gaslin's father, 
Aaron, was born at the old home in Maine in 1780, and married Sarah Hedges, of Cape 
Cod, whose father was a sea captain, born in England. To Aaron and wife were born 
six children : Roxanna, Martha, Lydia, John, Aaron, and George B. Aaron died in 
1858, and his wife in 1846. The grandfather of our subject on his father's side was the 
first settler up the Kennebeck River, eight miles above Augusta, Me. His brother was 
a general in the Revolution, and came to this country from England. Mr. Gaslin's 
father was a captain in the war of 1812, and was at Sackett's Harbor. Mrs. Gaslin's 
father, Benjamin Sholes, was born in New Jersey and came to Phelps with his parents. 
He married Mary J. Frederick, who was born on Long Island, and they had fourteen 
children, eleven of whom arrived at maturity : Susan, Julia, Frances J"., David L, 
William, Mary E., Charlotte, Benjamin, Emma, Orville, and George. Mr. Gaslin is a 
member of Newark Lodge No. 83, F. & A. M., also of Newark Chapter No. 117, R. A. M. 
Mr. Gaslin's grandfather, Jonathan Hedges, on his mother's side, was the son of an Earl 
of England. 

Gray, Peter, was born in County Lathrum, Ireland, December 25, 1830, was educated 
in the schools of his day and learned the moulder's trade. He came to the United 
States with his parents in 1842, locating first in Woonsocket, R. I., and in 1849 came to 
Newark, before railways were built and when this town was a mere hamlet. February 
24, 1852, he married Mary Lally, formerly of Kings county, Ireland, and they had six 
children : Elizabeth, who died young ; James, who was a clerk in the post-office six 
years, and died aged twenty-eight years; Maria, Sarah, Anna, and Maggie. Maria is a 
school teacher, who resides at home ; Sarah married Emmett Ryan, formerly of Phelps, 
and they have two daughters, Marie and Emily ; Anna is a clerk in S. B. Van Duser's 
drygoods house ; Maggie married Rainsford W. Searle, and they have one son, Frederick. 
They reside in Buffalo. Mr. Gray is a retired business man, of the firm of Wilber, 
Gray & Garlock. His father, Michael, was born at the old home in Ireland, and mar- 
ried Margaret Donohue, by whom he had five sons : Michael, Thomas, Patrick, Dunn, 



284 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

and Peter. They came to the United States in 1842. where the father died about 1848, 
and the mother in 1859. The family are members of St. Michael's Church, of this 
place. 

Getman, George W., was born in Columbia, Herkimer county, December 18, 1845, 
was educated in the district schools, and finished at West Winfield Academy, after 
which he taught for two years and then entered the employ of Y. G. Burrilland learned 
the profession of druggist, removing to Lyons in April, 1869, and established the business 
of retail drugs and wholesale and retail essential oils, of which he is one of the largest 
buyers and shippers in Wayne county. At the age of twenty-three he married Fannie 
Taylor, of Herkimer, and they have three sons, George, Frank, and William, and two 
daughters, Fannie and Marion. He is a Republican in politics, has been trustee of the 
village, and is also interested in school and religious matters, having been an elder two 
years in the Presbyterian church of Lyons. Our subject is thoroughly identified in ad- 
vancing the best interests of his town, where he is recognized as a man of sterling 
character and high worth. 

Gilbert, Joseph, was born in England April 19, 1859, and came to the United States 
with his parents in 1871, locating in Manchester, Ontario county. He was educated in 
the common schools of that town, Canandaigua Academy, and Rochester public schools. 
He taught several years, afterward read law in M. Hopkins' law office in Palmyra 
one year, and came to Newark and entered the office of Judge Norton, where he re- 
mained until 1892, when he was admitted to the bar in Rochester in the class of 1892. 
He then formed a co-partnership with Colton W. Estey, under the firm name of Gilbert 
& Estey, and are doing a successful law business at Newark. Mr. Gilbert is a member 
of Newark Lodge No. 83, F. & A. M. November 9, 1882, he married Emily M. Tilden, 
of Manchester, and they have five children : E. Bernice, Frank W., Allyn T., Lewis A., 
and Walter C. Colton W. Estey was born in Seneca, Ontario county, August 19, 1867, 
and was educated in the common schools, Phelps High School and Genesee Wesleyan 
Seminary at Lima. He taught two terms, and then entered the law office of ex- 
Senator Edwin P. Hicks, of Canandaigua. He afterward went to Michigan, where he 
took the regular law course in Michigan University, was admitted to the bar in the 
spring of 1892. He then returned to this State, entering the law office of Judge 
Norton, as clerk, and was admitted to the bar six months later in Rochester, N.Y., 
and formed a co-partnership, as above stated. 

Garlock, Abram, was born in Arcadia February 26, 1860. He was educated in the 
Union School and Academy at Newark, is a farmer, cider, and cider brandy manu- 
facturer. Mr. Garlock's father, Peter, was born in Phelps, Ontario county, in 1833. 
His education was obtained in the district and Phelps Academy, and follows the same 
business as our subject. He married Maria Yan Devort, of Phelps, and they have 
eight children : William M., who died aged fifteen ; Ellen G., now Mrs. Lincoln ; Abram. 
as above ; Thomas Y., who is in Custer City, S. D., a hardware and general store mer- 
chant; Charles H., who is in Phelps in business with his father; Kate is a teacher in 
the Union School in Lyons ; Alfred M. is clerk with his brother, and Jessie M., who is a 
student at Phelps. The ancestry of the family is Dutch. Mrs. Garlock died in the 
spring of 1888. 

Graham, Nelson R., was born in Rose November 19, 1844, son of Henry and Eliza 
Graham. He was reared on the homestead and educated in the common schools, Wol- 
cott Academy, Lyons Academy, and Port Byron Academy, and engaged in farming. 
He now owns 150 acres and follows general farming. He was postmaster under Cleve- 
land three years. He married twice, first, in 1866, Susan E. Genung, a native of 
Galen and daughter of Benjamin and Jane A. Genung, of Dutchess county, who came to 
Galen and afterward settled in Rose, where Mr. Genung died, and his wife is now 
living in Clyde. Mrs. Graham died April 26, 1892, and September 15, 1892, he mar- 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 285 

ried Florence E. Lovejoy, a native of Rose, and daughter of Silas and Eliza Lovejoy. 
Mr. Graham and wife have had one daughter. Susan E. 

Gulick, Amos, was born in Washington county in 1820, and is a son of Amos Gulick, 
sr., who came to Sodus in 1828 and a few years later took up a farm in the south part 
of the town. He married Mary Odell, and they had eight children : John, Mary, 
Hannah, Amos, Eliza, William, Jesse S., and Nancy. John died in Lyons ; Mary mar- 
ried William Sebring, of Lyons; Hannah married Samuel Leighton, of Sodus, and 
settled in Michigan; Eliza Married Charles Nelson, of Sodus; William settled first in 
Sodus and later in Michigan, where he died ; Jesse S. settled on the homestead, where 
he died; Nancy married Dudley Thornton, and settled in Lyons. Amos Gulick has 
always lived in Sodus, and is a prosperous farmer. He is a leading member of the 
Free Will Methodist church at Alton and has been a steward and class leader many 
years. He married Mary E. Lord, and their children are: Mary A. (Mrs. Calvin 
Mitchell, of Arcadia). Martha J. (Mrs. Albert McMullen, of Sodus), and Charles, who 
resides at Fairville. He married Aurelia Friedenburg, of Arcadia. 

Grenell, Herman, was born in Galen March 9, 1843, son of Herman and Lydia (Cobb) 
Grenell, he a native of Massachusetts, and she of Phelps, Ontario county, and came to 
Galen when Mr. Grenell was eight years old, with his parents, John and Lucy Grenell, 
natives of Massachusetts. Mr. Grenell died in April, 1885, and his wife in 1890. Sub- 
ject was reared on a farm and e'ducated in the common schools. He has always been a 
farmer, and owns seventy-five acres in Galen and 200 in Rose. He married, in 1865, 
Marion C. Griner, a native of Clyde, and daughter of Barney and Phoebe Griner, early 
settlers of Clyde, where they died. Mr. Grenell and wife had three children : Eugene, 
who married Ida Glove, by whom he has one child, Florence ; Lydia wife of Edward 
Luffman, who died aged twenty-two years, leaving one child; and Ada, at home. 

The Gaylord Family, — This family traces its ancestry back to the French Huguenots 
who settled in Englaud. Dr. Levi Gaylord, the first of the family to settle in Wayne 
county, was a son of Chauncey who came from Bristol, Conn., and settled at Otisco, 
N. Y. He was a member of Washington's staff in the Revolution. Dr. Gaylord was a 
graduate of Yale, came to Sodue in 1823, and engaged in the practice of medicine. He 
was known throughout the State as one of the leading Abolit'onists and temperance 
workers of the day. He married, first, Dotia Merriman, by whom he had one- son, Levi 
M., who studied medicine and located in Sodus where he died in 1890. Dr. Gaylord 
married, second, Artimesa Squires. She studied medicine, and for many years enjoyed 
an extensive practice. Dr. Gaylord died in 1852 and his wife in 1893, aged nearly 
ninety-five. Their children were: Willis T., Charles D., Orrin F., Dotia C, Artimesa 
G., Cornelia M. and Sarah S. Dotia married S. P. Hulett ; Artimesa married Alfred P. 
Crafts and settled in Wolcott ; Cornelia married Prof. S. D. Hillman of Carlisle, Pa.; 
Sarah married a Mr. West of this town; Willis T. on arriving at manhood became a 
clerk, and in 1851 engaged in the dry goods trade in Sodus, and throughout his long 
and successful business career has maintained a reputation for the utmost integrity. 
He is a prominent member and officer of the Presbyterian Church, with which he has 
been identified over forty years. He married first, Elizabeth Langdon, and had two 
children : Carlton D. and Elizabeth H, In 1864 he married, second, Mary Preston, by 
whom he had three children : only Willis T. surviving. Charles D. Gaylord moved to 
Lyons on arriving at manhood, where he held a clerkship. In 1855 he went to Mil- 
waukee, where until 1861 he conducted a hardware business. Returning to Sodus he 
engaged in the same line until 1881, when he retired and was succeeded by his son, 
Frank D. In that year, with S. P. Hulett, he established the banking house of Hulett 
& Gaylord, which partnership was severed by the death of Mr. Hulett in 1884, and 
Mr. Gaylord has since continued the business alone. He was supervisor in 1876, is a 
member of Sodus Lodge No. 392, F. & A. M. and of Wayne Chapter, and also belongs 
to the R. T. of T., and has been a prominent member and officer of the Presbyterian 



286 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY 

Church for over twenty years. In 1857 he married Jennie R. Gay lord of Lima, and 
their children are: Frank D., Charles F. and Dora T. Orrin T. Gaylord settled in 
< ►swego and was a partner for several years with Irwin Sloane & Co. and later a mem- 
ber of the firm of Gaylord, Downey & Co., extensive grain dealers of that city. 

Gulick, Charles L., was born in Sodus, Wayne county, September 13, 1848, was edu- 
cated it) the common schools, and has always followed farming. January 1, 1872, he 
married Amelia M. Fredenburgh of Arcadia, by whom he had four children : Ollie M., 
Benjamin A., who died aged thirteen; Kingsley S. and Seaman EL Mr. Gulick's father, 
Amos, wa< born in Columbia county May 10, 1820, was educated in the schools of his 
day, and was also a farmer. November 3, 1845, he married Mary E. Lord of Sodus, 
and they have three children, Mary A., Charles L., as above and Martha J. The par- 
ents are now residing at the old home in Sodus. Mrs. Gulick's father, Benjamin F. 
Fredenburgh, was born in Columbia county June 1, 1S29, and came to this town with 
his parents when a child. He married Adelia Van Inwagen, formerly of Tompkins 
county and they had four children: Esbon K., Aurelia M., as above; Milton E., and 
Ellsworth II., who died in infancy. Mr. Fredenburgh died in 1891. 

Gifford, John P., was born in Saratoga county January 20, 1833, was educated in 
the common schools, and has always followed farming. March 17, 1868, he married 
Sarah W. Spier of Lyons, and they have four children : Rowland S., Helen A., Emma 
M. and Evelyn. The son is a farmer with his father; Emma M. is a student in the 
State Normal School at Geneseo; Helen A. is a teacher in the Union School and Acad- 
emy at Newark, and Evelyn attends the district school. Mr. Gilford's father, Rowland 
S., was born in Columbia county in 1801, was educated in the schools of his day and 
married Mahala Conant of his native county. They had two children : James W., who 
is a farmer in the town, and John P., as above noted. He died in 1858, and his wife 
in 1887. Mrs. Gifford's father, Daniel Spear, was born in Columbia county in 1809. 
He married Sarah Bristol of his native place, and they had five children. He died in 
1867, and his wife in 1885. The ancestry of the family is English. 

Galusha, Robert M., was born on the homestead, three miles west of Newark village 
August 25, 1812. He was educated in the common schools, and was a farmer until he 
went to the war. October 5, 1861, he enlisted in Company F, 8 h Calvary, N. Y. S. 
Volunteers, and was engaged in all the battles with his regiment until he was honorably 
discharged on account of disability January 15, 1863. He re-enlisted January 5, 1864, 
in Second Mounted Rifles, was wounded before Petersburg, and was honorably dis- 
charged in August, 1S65. Upon his return home he became a clerk in a general hard- 
ware store in Rochester for six years. He married twice, first September 5, 1866. 
Delia M. Orcott, by whom he has three children : Georgiana, who married John Lippett 
and has one child, Charles F.; Fisher M. and Charles F., who married Belle George of 
East Newark. For his second wife Mr. Galusha married Nettie De Boufer, formerly of 
Holland, and they have two children : E. Fidelia and Hiram H. Subject has been a 
farmer for twelve years, and now resides on the homestead. Mr. Galusha's father, 
Abram F., was born in Florida, Montgomery county, August 5, 1808. He was edu- 
cated in the common schools and came to Western New York in 1827, and located first 
in Lockport, N. Y., where he remained until 1831. February 8, 1831, he married 
Esther McCullum of Manchester, Ontario county, and they had five children ; Mariette, 
Susan F., Hiram M., Robert M. and Esther F. He moved to Sodus in 1832, and to 
this homestead in 1836. He died January 4, 1894, and his wife September 25, 1875. 

Gordon, Hiram, was born in Phelps December 18, 1815, the seventh of ten children 
of William and Phoebe Gordon, he of Saratoga county, and she of New Jersey. They 
came to Benton and then to Phelps, and in 1818 came to Galen, where Mr. Gordon died 
in 1830, aged fifty-five, and his wife in 1852, aged seventy-four years. Subject was 
reared on a farm and educated in the common schools. He followed farming till thirty 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 287 

years old, when he went into a glass factory and worked in Clyde eight years, Redwood 
eleven years, and Oswego six vears. He then came on the farm he owns of seventy- 
five acres in Rose, where he follows general farming. He has been a member of the 
M. E. Church many years. He has married twice, first Clarinda Kirkland, by whom 
he had three children, one died in infancy; Martha and Harriet, both deceased. Mrs. 
Gordon died in 1855, and in 1857 he married Anna Arnold, who died in 1889. 

Granger Sprague S., was born in Sodus April 10, 1849, a son of Thomas J., who set- 
tled in the town of Sodus when a young man, the land then being unbroken forest. He 
cleared and brought under cultivation several farms, and in 1869 came to Sodus village 
to reside, where he was for many years engaged in the manufacture of fanning mills. 
He belonged to the Masonic fraternity, Sodus Lodge. He married Sativa Negus, and 
had these children : George, who settled in Sodus, where he is engagpd in the manu- 
facture of fanning mills, etc., and who married Lama Pulver; Harriet A., who married 
Hezekiah Lake; Samuel, who died young, and Sprague S., who settled in Sodus and 
established a lumber yard, carried on a saw and planing mill, and was engaged in the 
manufacture of fanning mills, sash, doors and blinds, etc., carrying on for several years 
an extensive business. He was also engaged in basket manufacturing. He takes a 
keen interest in political affairs, having served as commissioner of highways, etc. He 
is a member of Sodus Grange, No. 392, F. & A. M., and Wayne Chapter. In 1872 he 
married Alice E. Wride of Sodue, and they have one daughter, Bessie W. 

Goseline, Peter, was born in Phelps April 5, 1835. His father, Joseph P., was a 
prominent farmer in his town. Peter was educated in the common schools, to which 
he has added through life by reading and close observation. At the age of twenty-two 
he married Hannah J., daughter of John Lawrence of Galen, and they are the parents 
of two children: James L., and Mrs. Lilly M. Miller. In 1869 he bought the John 
Roys property of fifty-four acres, raising fruit, hay, grain and stock. Our subject is 
identified in advancing the best interests of his town and in the leading events of the 
day, taking an intelligent interest in educational and religious matters, and is recognized 
as a man of sterling integrity and moral worth. 

Field, Warren A., was born in Sodus Point in 1840, and is a son of Rodolphus, whose 
father was Wells Field. This family traces its ancestry back to Sir John Field, who 
came from England to Plymouth, Mass., in 1620. Rodolphus served in the war of 
1812, being at the battle of Plattsburgh, etc. At the close of the war he settled in 
Utica, and in 1818 removed to Sodus, where he died October 11, 1880. In 1815 he 
married Rachael, daughter of Aaron and Susan (Watkins) Williams of Utica, by wbom 
he had these children : Lurancy, William W., Elizabeth, Charles, Morris, Oliver C, 
Mariah, Cleason, Catharine C, Warren A., Mary and Rodolphus, besides two who died 
young. Warren settled in Sodus Point, and at the age of fifteen years became a sailor; 
and with short exceptions, he has spent his life in this service on the lakes. He is 
captain and owner of the steamer Sunbeam, and has also real estate interest at Sand 
Point. For several years he conducted a store at Sodus Point, and was also partner in 
a planing mill there. He is a member of Sodus Bay Yacht Club. He married Almina 
Harroun, and they have two children : Alvin and Cora, wife of Aaron Shufelt of Sodus 
Point. 

Fish, Capt. Chauncey, was born in Williamson, January 22, 1828. He is the second 
of nine children of Thomas and Sarah (Gallop) Fish, he a native of Amherst, born 
March 7, 1795, and she born July 13, 1778. They came to Williamson in 1810. Mr. 
Fish was in the War of 1812. Chauncey married March 27, 1844, Phoebe J., daughter 
of John and Phoebe Cottrell, of Williamson, N. Y., and they have nine children : Myron 
M., John J., Mary E., William W., Delphine, Thomas J., Charles W.. Recruit L., and 
Myron E. Myron M. was killed in the battle of Winchester, Va., September 19, 1864. 
John J. was also in the late war and died in 1869. Mr. Fish enlisted in Company B, 



288 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Ninth N. Y. Heavy Artillery, August 6, 1862, and served three years. He was first 
sergeant when the company was organized and held the positions of second lieutenant, first 
lieutenant, captain and major by brevet. He was at Cold Harbor, Monocacy Junction, 
Winchester, Ya., Cedar Creek, Ya., Sayler Run, Ya., Appomatox. Mr. Fish is a mem- 
ber of G. A. R., Myron M. Fish Post No. 406, Department of N.Y., and is a member of 
the M. E. Church. 

Frey, Philip, was born in Alsace, France (now Germany), May 18, 1831, and came to 
the United States with his parents in June, 1846, locating first in Geneva and then set- 
tled in Lyons. He was a cooper by trade, but is now a farmer. July 16, 1859, he 
married Catherine Correll, of Huron, and they have had six children: Emma B., 
George P., Carrie S., all deceased ; William L., Daniel L. C. and Belle Y. They reside 
at home. George died March 10, 1891 ; Emma B., died October 15,1893; and Carrie 
S., July 29, 1867. Mrs. Frey's father, Frederick Correll, was born in Germany and 
married Susan Hoover. They had eight sons and three daughter. They came to the 
United States in 1841. . He died in 1859, and his wife in 1874. The family are mem- 
bers of the Presbyterian Church at Fairville. 

Finley, Luther, was born in Walworth, Wayne county April 29, 1824. His parents 
moved to this town when he was nine years of age. Upon the death of his parents he 
came to reside with his sister, where he attended school. At the age of nineteen he 
began business on his own account, owning a stage route from Phelps to Palmyra, do- 
ing much of the driving and managing of same. At this time he formed a co-partner- 
ship with a Mr. Ingersoll in the livery business at Phelps, which continued seven years. 
In 1841 he came again to Newark and began to run omnibuses for passengers and bag- 
gage to what is now known as the N. Y. C. & H. R. R. R. station at Newark, carrying 
the U. S. mails since he was nineteen, which now extends to three railroad lines and 
stations. In 1853 he married Mary W. Gould, of Phelps, Ontario county, and they had 
three daughters, Ella S., who married W. W. Wheatly, of New York; Minnie, who 
died at the age of two years; and Laura B., who is house- keeper for her father. Mr. 
Finley's father, Nathan, was born at the old home in 1793. He married Abigail South- 
worth of his native place, and they had four children, Cordelia, Laura, Luther, and Ann 
E. He died in 1833 and his wife February 26, 1878. 

Frey, Leonard, was born in Wurtemburg. Germany, May 11, 1833. He was edu- 
cated in their schools, learned the blacksmith's trade, and came to the United States in 
1856. He married twice, first Catrina Roesch of his native place, by whom he had six 
children. Two are deceased, the others are : Charles, a produce dealer and married 
twice, first Mary Fuller and had two daughters, Ora M. and Lillie; and second Grace 
Jenkins; Lois, Leonard, jr., who is a cigar manufacturer and married Betsey Rikeman ; 
and Frederick, who is also a cigar maker. Mrs. Frey died April 7, 1888, mourned by a 
bereaved husband and family. He married second November 30, 1891, Mrs. Minnie 
(Huss) Young. She had three children by her first marriage, Emma, Frederick and 
Charles, who died August 30, 1894, aged ten years. Mr. Frey carried on blacksmithing 
several years, and has been a hotel keeper thirteen years. He erected a fine hotel at 
East Newark last spring, which he is now conducting. 

Fisk, H. Hudson, was born in Arcadia, two and one-half miles south of Newark July 
19, 1849, was educated in the common and Union Schools and Academy of Newark. 
The early part of his life was spent on the homestead farm. He also taught school 
several years, and was principal of the Union School and Academy here six years. In 
November, 1885, he became a newspaper man, purchasing the Newaik Union, which 
he has conducted since with success, as proprietor, editor and publisher. Mr. Fisk's 
father, Lonson, was born in Saratoga county February 11, 1811. June 14, 1832, he 
married Adelia Wells, of the town of Manchester, who was born March 1, 1812. They 
had nine children, George W.. Samuel, Willis P., William H., A. Judson and H. Hudson 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 289 

(twins), Jennie, Frances A., and Belle. Mr. Fisk died December 19, 1885, and his wife 
July 27, 1888. The family came to reside in this town in 1823. 

Filkins, William J., was born in Columbia county, August 8, 1818. His father was 
Jacob Filkins, a son of Isaac, a native of Holland, who came to America soon after the 
close of the Revolution, and settled in Rensselaer county, N. Y. Langdon and John, 
sons of Isaac, served in the war of 1812, one of them being a captain. Jacob came 
from Columbia county in 1821 to Yates county, settling in Benton, and the next year 
moved to Barrington, where he remained until 1828, then came to Wayne county, 
buying a farm in the town of Sodus, and becoming one of the most prosperous farmers 
in the town. He died in Sodus in 1854. He was a man of strict integrity and of sound 
judgment, taking an active part in political affairs and holding various offices in the 
town. He married Sarah Stinehart, and their children were : Elizabeth, who married 
Madison Stever, of Arcadia; Catharine, who married Peter A. Whitbeck, of Arcadia ; 
Alonzo, who settled in Montgomery, 111.; Francis, who settled in Phelps, where he died 
June 23, 1889 ; Edwin B. Filkins was born in Columbia county in 1826, settled on the 
homestead in Sodus, and married Elizabeth A., daughter of James S. R. Sanford, of 
Palmyra, and they had two children : Chloe, who married Irving Waterbury, of Newark ; 
and Louisa, who died in early womanhood ; William J. Filkins settled in Sodus, near 
the old home, and married Mary, daughter of George Van Hoesen, of Arcadia. Their 
children are : G-eorge H., of Lyons, who married Hannah Mackey ; Caroline, wife of Dr. 
T. L. St. John, of Center Brunswick, Rensselaer county ; William F., of Sodus ; and 
Emma E., wife of Herbert Lincoln, of Arcadia. William J. has always taken a prom- 
inent part in local politics, and has served as superintendent of schools for two years, 
as teacher for seven terms, assessor, overseer of the poor, etc. He is a prominent and 
active member of the M. E. church of Sodus, with which he has been connected for 
over forty years. He is also a charter member of the Grange at Sodus, of which he has 
been lecturer and master. For several years he was a director of the Fire Relief Associa- 
tion of Wayne county. 

Fleming, William, was born in Dansville, Pa., August 8, 1815, and came to this town 
with his parents at the age of seven years. His education was obtained in the common 
schools, and he has had several occupations, but has followed farming and fruit-growing 
chiefly. In 1837 he married Catherine Rowe, of this town, who died in 1872. For his 
second wife he married Mrs. Louisa M. Morgan, who died in 1874. His third marriage 
was in 1875, to Mrs. Evelin Hooker, of Lyons, and they have one daughter, Clara M., 
who married Charles Daley, of Syracuse. Mr. Fleming has resided in this town seventy- 
two years. Mrs. Fleming's first husband was Thomas Hooker, of Lyons, who enlisted 
immediately after his marriage in Company D, 111th N. Y. Vols., and died in Ander- 
sonville prison in 1864. 

Emery, Walter, the first of the family to settle in Wayne county, came from Penn- 
sylvania to Huron in 1832 and engaged in farming. He afterward removed to Sodus 
and was manager of the Shaker tract for several years. He now resides at Alton. 
He was deputy sheriff under Sheriff Paddock, and for six years highway commissioner. 
He is a leading member and one of the founders of the M. E. church at Alton. He 
married Arloa Craig, and they have two sons, George, and Charles, who resides at 
Alton and was postmaster there during Harrison's administration. He has taught school 
at Alton since 1885, and married Ada Bockhoven. George has been principally eDgaged 
in teaching, having taught every winter since 1869, twenty-three consecutive terms at 
Alton. Since 1885 he has been principal of the school at Sodus Point. He was ap- 
pointed postmaster at Alton in 1877, and held the same for eight years, assessor one 
term, justice of the peace since 1878. He was deputy sheriff during Parshali's term, 
and in 1885 was a prominent candidate for county superintendent of the poor. In 
1893 he was appointed clerk of the Legislative Investigating Committee at Albany, and 



290 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

in 1890 was appointed inspector of customs at Sodus Point, which office he held until 
1894. For seven years he was in the mercantile trade at Alton. He is a member of 
Sodus Sodus Lodge No. 504, I. 0. 0. F., and married Alice Philo, of Sodus. 

Eggleston, Henry, was born in Phelps, March 22, 1842, and received his education in 
the common schools and the Union School of Phelps. April 22, 1861, he enlisted in 
Company H, 33d N. Y. Inf., and May 5, 1862, was taken prisoner and sent to Libby 
Prison, from which he was paroled on March 22, and honorably discharged from the 
service. About 1865 the family moved to the town of Arcadia, and January 11, 1867, 
he married Helen Daniels, of Arcadia, by whom he has two children, George W., and 
Lillian. The former is a clerk in the wholesale department of Barnes, Hengerer& Co., 
of Buffalo, and the latter has for the past three years been in the employ of the First 
National Bank of Newark, first as clerk, then assistant cashier, and on December 1, 
1893, she was appointed notary public by Governor Flower. Chauncey, father of Mr. 
Eggleston, was born January 11, 1811, and married Betsey Greer, of Cayuga county. 
Of their nine children seven survived: Casadana, Henry, Jesse W., Parmelia, Oliver A, 
Minnie, and Marshall The father died in 1889, and his widow survives, residing with 
her son. Mrs. Eggleston is a daughter of George W. Daniels, born in Arcadia in 1823, 
who married Rhoda Ennis, by whom he had two children, Hiram and Helen. He died 
in 1876. Elisha Eggleston, our subject's grandfather, served in the Revolution. Henry 
Eggleston is a member of the G. A. R., Vosburg Post, and Mrs. Eggleston is a charter 
member of the Woman's Relief Corps. 

Drake, Harry R., was born in East Newark, N.Y., April 20, 1851, was educated in 
the Union School and Academy, and taught school for several years. He has also been 
engaged in the grocery trade, and is now a manufacturer of eyelet ended wood pulp 
butter dishes, paper boxes, egg case fillers, etc. In 1870 he married Eliza Mumford, and 
had one daughter, Frances E., now Mrs. L. G. Baldwin, of Newark. Mrs. Drake died 
in 1874, and he married, in 1880, Mary A. Fowlerton, of Wolcott. They have two 
sons: Albert R. and Charles H. Mr. Drake's father, Leroy, was born in the town of 
Lyons, July 20, 1829, and during his later years sold canal supplies at the upper lock. 
He married Eliza D. Lamereaux, of East Newark, and they had two sons : Harry R., 
and Nelson D. Mr. Drake died in 1864, and his widow married, second, Frank H. 
Spoor, who is now an engineer, and was a soldier in the late war, having enlisted in 
1861 in the Sturgis Rifles, in Chicago, 111. He was honorably discharged in 1865, at 
the close of the war. after having been twice wounded. Mrs. Spoors sister, Sally 
Lamereaux, married Reuben Berry, who was born in Columbia county, and came here 
with his parents when two years old. In early life he was a farmer, and earned a com- 
petency. Both he and wife are living, and devote their time to many kind deeds, 
smoothing the way for those less fortunately situated than they are, Aunt Sally's name 
being a household word in town. The Lamereaux family are of French extraction, 
having descended from the Huguenots, who came here in the seventeenth century. 

Dillenbeck, John, was born in Steuben county, N. Y., December 4, 1838, and moved 
here in 1856, and the family two years later. He was educated in the public schools 
and became clerk in a general store. In 1868 he began business for himself, having 
bought his brother Adam's general store at East Newark. He also has a farm and is 
building a modern malt house with a capacity of 100,000 bushels. He has been post- 
master thirty years, also president of the village one year. He was married twice, 
first, in 1866, to Ella Todd, of Albany, who died in 1868, and in 1869 he married 
Augusta Belden, of Arcadia. They had one son, John A., jr., who died at the age of 
four years. Mr. Dillenbeck's father was Michael, born in Palatine, Montgomery 
county, in 1806. He was a farmer, hotel keeper, and contractor and builder. He 
married Phoebe Neir, of that county, and they had seven children : Michael, who died 
in infancy; Henry, Joshua, Margaret. Adam, John, as above, and Arie. Mr. Dillen- 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 291 

beck died about the year 1840, and his wife in 1887. The ancestry of this family is 
German and Scotch. 

Dewey, James S., was born in Chittenango, Madison county, September 6, 1835, 
and was educated in the public schools. He moved with his parents to Waterloo, 
Seneca county, when a boy, and was a wagon wheel finisher by occupation. He en- 
listed twice, first April 26, 1861, in Company G, 33d Inf., N. Y. S. Vols, serving two 
years. After his discharge in June, 1863, he re-enlisted in Company K, 1st Veteran 
Cavalry, N.Y.S.Vols., and participated in all the battles, was honorably discharged July 
20, 1865, at Camp Piatt, West Virginia. In July, 1863, he married Helen Baber, of 
Waterloo, and they have two daughters: Haitie L. and Bertha R. Mr. Dewey's 
father, Henry, was born in Wellsville, Oneida county, in 1811. He married twice, first, 
Mary Ann Sherman, of his native place, and they had one son, James S. r as above. 
Mrs. Dewey died and he married again and moved to Waterloo. Mr. Dewey's grand- 
father, Sherman, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. Mr. Dewey is assistant 
engineer in the State Custodial Asylum at Newark, and a member of Vosburg Post 
No. 99, G.A.R., department of New York. 

Dickson, William, was born in Hopewell, Ontario county, was educated in the com- 
mon schools, and is a farmer. December 19, 1863, he enlisted in Company F, 2d 
Mounted Rifles, N.Y.S.Vols , was wounded before Petersburg and wounded a second 
time in the explosion of the mine, losing his right arm. In March, 1867, he married 
Christina Weaver, of this town, and they have two children: Etta, who married 
Franklin W. Rasch ; and William T., a farmer with his father. Mrs. Dickson's father, 
Jacob Weaver, was born in Halltown Springs, Dutchess county, in 1812, and came to 
Sodus with his parents when a boy. He married Sylvanna Hiscroadt, of his native 
county, and they had eight children : Homer, Lydia, Lewis, Christina, as above ; Esther, 
Jacob, and twins not named. Mrs. Dickson's brother, Lewis, was a soldier in Company 
F., 2d Mounted Rifles, and died in the service at City Point. Mr. Weaver died March 
16, 1890, and his wife March 3, 1886. Mr. Dickson was honorably discharged from 
Mount Pleasant Hospital, Washington, D.C., February 17, 1865. He is a member of 
Vosburg PostlSlo. 99, G.A.R., department of New York. William T. is a member of 
E. K. Burnham Camp No. 14, S.O.V., Newark. The ancestry of the family is Scotch 
and German 

Dufloo, William, was born in Holland in 1850, son of William, sr., who came to 
America in 1852 and settled in New Jersey, where he lived until 1857, when he came 
to Rochester and the following year settled in Sodus, where he died in 1868. He 
married Catherine Israel, and their children were : Catherine, who married Charles 
Shepard, of Sodus; Frances, who married Peter Clicqumnoi, of Williamson; Sarah, 
who married Josiah Buckler, of Sodus ; Josephine, who married William Harris, of 
Lyons ; Bigelow, who is a farmer in Sodus, he married Emma Weeks ; Delia, who mar- 
ried John Nolan, of Pennsylvania, and resides at Groton, N.Y.; and William who is a 
farmer. He is a member of Sodus Lodge No. 392, F. & A. M., and Sodus Grange. 
He married, December 25, 1871, Magdalene Buckler, and their children are: Willis 
W. ; Elizabeth, Ada B., Florence C. and J. Roscoe. 

De Right, Samuel H., was born in Williamson, Wayne county, October 13, 1849. 
Edwin De Right, his father, was a native of Holland and came to America about 1840 
and settled in the town of Williamson. He is a prosperous and thrifty farmer, owning 
a farm of 280 acres. About 1880 he settled in Marion where he died in 1891. He was 
a prominent member of the Presbyterian church of Marion. He married Margaret Laco 
and their children were : Adrian, who settled on the homestead and was engaged in 
farming until 1893, when he settled in Williamson village. He married Mary Leroy ; 
Harmon M., wno married Mary De Lass ; Daniel, who settled in Marion and is a farmer. 
He married Libbie Brown ; Jesse B., who is a carpenter and builder in Williamson and 



292 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

married Sarah Hise ; Henry, who settled in Marion and is a farmer; and Samuel H., 
who settled in Sodus in 1868 and in 1873 purchased the James Case farm north of Sodus 
village ; and is one of the thrifty and enterprising farmers of the town. He is a mem- 
ber of Sodus Lodge No. 392, F. & A. M., Sodus Grange and the Sodus Presbyterian 
church. He married in 1871 Mary J. Qbine, and their children are : Maggie M., Katie 
B., Nellie and Samuel J. 

Chapman, William A., was born in Onondaga county, September 13, 1827, a son of 
Simeon B. Chapman, who was a native of Connecticut, coming to Onondaga county in 
1806, at the age of twelve years. He there took up farming, where he owned 300 
acres, and died in this county at the age of seventy-two. In 1821 he married Hulda A. 
Beach, of Onondaga county, and of their eight children our subject was the third. 
William A. has spent his life in farming, and now owns 111 acres of cleared land. He 
makes a specialty of sheep raising, and also owns some blooded stock in Merino sheep. 
In 1885 he married Jane Moses, and they have had five children, one being deceased, 
Mrs. Sawyer. Mr. Chapman is a Republican. 

Champlin, George W., was born in Sodus in 1817, and is a son of Charles Champlin. 
They trace their ancestry back to Colonel Champlin, who came from France in an early 
day and settled in New England. Charles Champlin came from Vermont about 1815 
and took up 100 acres of land southeast of Sodus Centre. He died in 1819. He mar- 
ried Eunice Abbey, and had four children : John, who died in Sodus unmarried ; Charles, 
who settled at Williamsonville, Erie county, where he died leaving two sons, Charles and 
John, both of whom are physicians ; George W. and William, who are farmers and 
settled on the homestead. William married first Caroline Johnson and they had two 
sons George and Frank ; and second Sarah Whiting, by whom he also had two sons 
John and Willis. George W. Champlin married Mary, daughter of Jonas Whiting, and 
their children are: William W., Ella A. (Mrs. W. A. Thorne, of Rochester, N. Y.) ; 
Jennie E., Edwin A., who settled in Charlotte, N. Y. ; and Charles E. Jonas Whiting, 
the first of the family in Wayne county, was a son of John Whiting whose father came 
from England. Jonn Whiting settled in Phelps in an early day. Jonas came to Huron 
about 1825, and purchasing a farm erected a saw mill and cloth dressing establishment, 
which he carried on for many years. Later in life he settled in Sodus, where he died. 
He married Sarah A. Guest and their children were : Mary, who married George W. 
Champlin, of Sodus ; Caroline, who married James Hewson, of Huron ; William settled 
at Wallington, and for many years was in the mercantile trade, and with Lewis Bates 
was engaged for a time in the produce business. He died in 1873 ; John and Jonas 
both died in the army during the Rebellion ; Charles settled at Geneva ; Sarah married 
William Champlin, of Sodus ; Cordelia married William McDowell, and Elizabeth mar- 
ried G. Washington Dennis. 

Cull, William C, was born in Arcadia, January 28, 1836, was educated in the com- 
mon schools, and is one of the town's best farmers. He married twice, first Celia Krune 
formerly of Columbia county, who died November 26, 1867, and December 15, 1869, he 
married second Mrs. Phoebe (Penoyer) Wilcox, of this town, formerly of Columbia 
county. They have three children : Adelbert P., who is the farmer at home ; Herschel 
J., who is a student in the Cazenovia Seminary, and Eunice M. Mrs. Cull had one 
daughter by her first husband, Louisa M., who is a dressmaker at Sodus. Mr. Cull's 
father, Charles, was born in Tusksbury, England, May 24, 1799, and was a carpenter 
and joiner by occupation. November 4, 1820, he married Mary M. Buckle in Worcester, 
England, and they had six children : Charles, Thomas, Mary M., James, Philip T., and 
William O, as above. The family came to the United States as early as 1832. He died 
February 26, 1879, and his wife October 8, 1881, aged eighty-eight" years. Mr. Cull is 
the only survivor of his father's family. Mrs. Cull's father, John Penoyer, was born in 
Columbia county May 5, 1802. He married Eunice Sims, of his native place, by whom 
he had five children. The ancestry of this family is English, Scotch and Dutch. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 293 

Carpenter, Orville, was born in Sodus in 1820. and is a son of Silas Carpenter,, whose 
father came from Germany aud settled at Oppenheim, Rensselaer county. In 1812 
Silas Carpenter removed to Wayne county and settled in Marion, where he purchased 
a tract of land. He soon removed to Sodus, settling north of the Ridge and a year or 
two later took up a farm south of the Ridge, where he spent the remainder of his life. 
He married Phoebe, daughter of Edward Penny, a Revolutionary soldier, and their 
children were Asahel, who settled in Pennsylvania; Edward, who removed to Michi- 
gan early in life ; Minerva, who married Nelson Winston and settled in Pennsylvania; 
Robert settled in Sodus and is a farmer. He married Betsey Brown ; Charles settled 
on the homestead and was a farmer. He married Bathia Skinkle ; Harriet married 
Charles Allen of Sodus ; Phoebe married a Mr. Skidmore and settled in Michigan ; 
Cornelia married a Mr. Johnson and also settled in Michigan. Orville Carpenter settled 
in Sodus where he has always lived. He has held the office of poormaster, has been 
for over forty years a member of the Christian Church of Marion, and is a member of 
the Sodus Grange. He married Emeline, daughter of Samuel Snyder of Sodus, and 
they had two children Francis E. and Mary, Mrs. James Town of Sodus. 

Cullen, Thomas, was born in Ireland in 1832, and came to Galen when about twenty- 
one years of age. He owned several farms in Rose, and finally settled on the farm 
where the family now reside in 1870, where he died in 1884. He married in Galen 
Mary Dunn a native of Ireland, by whom he has eight children, of whom four are liv- 
ing : Thomas, born in 1867, educated in the common schools and follows farming ; Will- 
iam, born February 28, 1869, educated in the common schools and Rochester Business 
College. He is a farmer and resides at home ; John, born July 3, 1871, educated in the 
common schools and resides at home. The family owns 100 acres, and follows general 
farming. 

Cronise, John S., was born in Arcadia, May 22, 1825, was educated in the Union 
School and the Academy, and his early life was spent on his father's farm till the age 
of twenty, when he went to Virginia, and managed a general store for his cousin in 
Martinsburg, and another in Shepardstown. Returning to his native county he became 
a clerk for Remsen and Polemus, of Lyons, remaining four years. In 1854 he opened 
a hardware store at Newark, in company with A. T. Cressy, the firm being Cressy & 
Cronise, which continued nine years. His wife's father, Joseph A. Miller, bought Mr. 
Cressy 's interest, and the firm became Miller & Cronise. In 1884 the business was sold 
to Frank Garlock, and he then retired from active business. In 1853 Mr. Cronise mar- 
ried Maria A. Miller. Their children were : Mary L., Florence M., Joseph A., and two 
who died in infancy. Mrs. Cronise died March 28, 1877, and he married, second, Anna 
A. Reed, of Newark. Henry, his father, was born in Frederick City, Md., July 20, 
1789. and came here at an early day. Their mode of conueyance was a covered wagon 
and a team, and Mr. Cronise carried a rifle and hunted, thus furnishing provisions for 
his family along the route. His marriage occurred February 14, 1813, to Polly Sover 
hill, of this town, by whom he had eight children: John 1st, who died aged eight; 
Sally M., Simon, Henry, Susan E., John S., Catharine R., deceased, and Samuel. He 
died June 16, 1870, and his wife June 6, 1877. 

Crothers, Charles L., is a son of the late Lyman Crothers, who was born in Phelps, 
March 23, 1814, educated in the common schools, and married, January 12, 1858, S. 
Jane Ridley, of the town of Phelps, by whom he had five children : Clara, Charles L., 
Elmer, Homer A. and Mary A. Charles married Jennie Nicholoy, of Newark ; Mary 
married William McCoy, of Syracuse. Lyman's father, William, was born in Scot- 
land in 1784 and came to the United States at the age of thirteen. He married Eunice 
Dunham, formerly of Massachusetts, and they had six children : Louisa, Lyman, 
Sophia, Amanda, Oliver and Albert. Mrs. Crothers'sfather,Elihu Ridley, was also born 
in the town of Phelps about 1810, and married Betsey Harmon of his native town, by 



204 LANDMARKS OP WAYNE COUNTY. 

whom he had nine children : Nathan S., Jane, David, Lydia, Charles, Mary, Charlotte, 
Emma and Eva, the two latter twins. Mr. Ridley died in 1860 and his wife in 1888. 

Budd, Gilbert, of Macedon, was born in the town of Sodus, February 5, 1818. His 
father, John I. Budd, was a native of Rensselaer county, his occupation being farming. 
He married Elizabeth Speckerman, and they were the parents of nine children. Gil- 
bert Budd was the second child of this marriage. He has followed the occupation of 
his father and is engaged in farming. In 1847 he married Marian M. Clark, and to them 
was born one child — a daughter. Mr. Budd and family are faithful members of the 
M. E. Church, and liberal contributors to that as well as to other charitable organiza- 
tions, he having placed a fine bell at large cost upon the church. In politics he is a 
Republican. 

Botcher, Carl, was born in Mechlenburg, Germany, February 28, 1842, and came to 
the United States with his parents at the age of twelve years. He located first at 
Rochester, and in the spring of the following year came to Newark. November 16, 
1865, he married Kate Bloom of Newark, formerly of Germany. They have two chil- 
dren Hattie E., who married William Utter of this town, and has two daughters, 
Helen A. and Gertrude F.; and Clarence G. Botcher, a farmer with his father. Carl, 
sr., father of our subject, was born at the old home in Germany in 1807, and married 
Mrs. Henrietta Schwartz, of his native place, and they had two sons ; Carl, jr., and 
John, who was a soldier in the late war, having enlisted in the 148th N. Y. Volunteers, 
and died in the South. Mr. Botcher died November 9, 1882, and his wife November 
27, 1881. Conrad Bloom, father of Mrs. Botcher, was born in Germany in 1820, and 
married Catharine Rowe, by whom he had six children : Kate, George, Frederick, 
Elizabeth, Mary and William. He died in 1892, his widow surviving. 

Burnett, the late Daniel, was born in Arcadia January 26, 1837, was educated in the 
public schools and Sodus Academy, and was always a farmer. November 15, 1863, he 
married Catherine M. Whitbeck of Sodus, by whom he had two children : W. Herbert, 
who is the farmer for his mother, and Inez E., who married William H. Ryder. Mr. 
Burnett died March 21, 1877, mourned by a bereaved wife and family. He was a mem- 
ber of the M. E. Church of Fairville. Mrs. Burnett's father, Andrew T. Whitbeck, was 
born in Kinderhook, Columbia county, in 1808. He was educated in the schools of his 
day, was a mechanic and farmer by occupation. He married Camelia Miller, of his 
native place, by whom he had four children : Norman, John H., J. Franklin and Cath- 
erine M., as above. They came to this county in 1834. Mr. Whitbeck was a leading 
member of the M. E. Church, one of its stewards, and an efficient class leader. He 
died February 20, 1858, and his wife August 5, 1876. 

Barclay, William, the pioneer of the family in Wayne county, was of English descent. 
He came from Staten Island prior to 1811 and settled in the town of Lyons. He 
served for a time in the war of 1812. He married Martha Purlee, and they had sixteen 
children. Abraham Barclay of Lyons and Henry of Sodus are the only ones living in 
Wayne county. Barton Barclay, a brother of Abraham and Henry, settled in Lyons, 
where he died, and another brother, Peter, settled in Sodus where he died. Henry 
Barclay was born in Lyons in 1811. He learned the carpenters' trade, and followed 
that business during his early life. He resided there until 1863, when he purchased a 
farm in the southwest part of the town of Sodus, where he has since been engaged in 
farming. He married Abbie Rossiter, and they had five children : Wallace, Melbern, 
Agnes, Mary J. and Lucy. Wallace settled in Sodus and is a farmer. He married 
Elizabeth Wright; Melbern settled in Sodus and is also a farmer. He married Martha 
Milham; Agnes married Horace Welch and settled in Arcadia; Mary J. married Martin 
Milham and settled in Marion; Lucy married Erastus Brownell and settled in Arcadia. 

Barless, R. C, M.D., was born in Hoosac, N. Y., October 19, 1833, son of Andrew 
and Jeanette Barless, he a native of Milton, Saratoga county, and she of Arlington, Vt., 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 295 

who came to Rose in 1865, where he died January G, 1873, and his wife July 4, 1876- 
He was a tailor by trade. Subject was reared in Arlington, Vt., and educated in that 
place, White Creek and Sandy Creek, and began the study of medicine with Dr. A. L. 
Thompson of Sandy Creek, Dr. Miller of Alexander, Genesee county, and also with G-. 
D. Wheaton of Rose ; and took a course of lectures at Jefferson Medical College at 
Philadelphia Pa. He enlisted August 22, 1862, in Company H, 9th N. Y. Heavy Artil- 
lery as a member of the band, but acted as a physician. He was at Cold Harbor, Mon- 
ocacy and Winchester. He returned to Rose, where he has since practiced his profes- 
sion. He has been town clerk and justice of the peace, and is a member of the G. A. 
R., Sherman Post, No. 401. He married July 6, 1855, Helen J. Thompson, a native 
of Sandy Creek, and daughter of A. L. and Caroline L. Thompson, he a native of Scho- 
harie county, and she of Hoosac, N. Y. He died in Troy in August, 1891, and his wife 
February 17, 1853. Subject and wife have these children : Carrie, wife of M. Moulton 
of Lockport, N. Y.; A. James, who died in infancy ; Charles J. and Clayton L. (twins), 
born July 17, 1867, educated in Rose Union Schools, editors of Farmers' Counsel and 
Times. Clayton J. married Jennie, daughter of Eugene Hickok, and they have one 
daughter, Musett Adele. Mrs. Barless, wife of Clayton, died January 8, 1889. Clay- 
ton married Lena Markham, by whom he has two children, Carrie M. and Gladys ; 
Arthur T. who married Rose B. Colburn, and has one child, Mildre L., they live in 
Sandy Creek; Elmer R., a piano tuner, at home. Subject has been a practicing pen- 
sion attorney fourteen years. 

Belden, Samuel P., was born in Sodus in 1831, and is a son of Riley Belden. He 
came from Vermont about 1828 and for a year or two made his home in Sodus, prac- 
ticing his profession of dentistry in Syracuse. He then removed to Michigan and a few 
months later returned to Sodus, where he spent the remainder of his life practicing his 
profession. He was a member of the Sodus M. E. Church and was one of the charter 
members of Sodus Lodge F. & A. M. No. 392. He marrie I twice, first Louise Pullman 
and they had one son, Samuel P.. and second Laura Carter, by whom he had two sons, 
Riley B" and Francis W. Mr. Belden died in 1869. Riley B. Belden settled in Sodus 
where he died. He was for several years engaged in teaching and afterward in the 
fruit and produce business. Francis W. settled in Penn Y^an. Samuel P. Belden set- 
tled in Sodus and is engaged in farming and fruit growing. He is a member of the 
Sodus Lodge F. & A. M. He married Elizabeth A. Wares and their children are, Jen- 
nie L. (Mrs. Charles W. Pease, of Williamson), and Mary D. 

Bartleson, Peter, was born in Holland in 1840, came to America in 1868, and settled 
in Sodus village. In 1884 he purchased a farm at Sodus Centre, where he has since 
lived. He is a member of Sodus Grange and Sodus Centre Presbyterian Church. He 
married in 1869 Allie Mayhen, and their children are, Cornelius, Mary, Maggie, Nellie, 
John, Peter, Kittie, Carrie, James, and Frank. Maggie married Frank Robinson; John 
married Lizzie Terncisse. 

Butts, Porter B., was born in Pompey, Onondaga county, February 25, 1838, a son 
of Lyman Butts, whose father was Jabez, of Scotch and English ancestry. Lyman 
came to Wayne county in 1838, residing in Savannah several years, then removing to 
Cortland county, where he lived till 1856, when he bought a farm in the town of Sodus 
near Joy and spent the rest of his life. He was a prominent man in the town, a strong 
anti- slavery advocate, and active in political affairs. He married Sarah, daughter of 
Pliny Porter, of Onondaga county, and their children were : Susan, who married Gen. 
A. J. Warner, and settled in Mariette, 0. ; Helen M. who married Selden Granger, and 
settled in Cleveland, 0. ; Henry H., who enlisted in the army, and died in the service ; 
George C, who settled in Mariette, 0.; Frank L., who settled on the homestead; and 
Porter P. The latter from 1857 to 1862 was engaged as a teacher in Pennsylvania, but 
in the latter year settled in Sodus, where he bought a farm south of the village, where 



296 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY 

he resides. He is a member of Sodus Grange, and of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. 
Butts married Anna, daughter of Jacob Andrews, of Sodus, and their children are : 
Watson A., who settled at Fulton ; Henry P., and Raymond K. 

Brower, Aldice W., was born near Sodus Centre December 23, 1844, and is a son of 
Myron, whose father, Peter Brower, was a native of New Jersey, his ancestors having 
come from Holland. He settled at Phelps, N. Y., ai aq early day and about 1825, and 
purchased a farm about a mile south of Sodus Centre where he engaged in farming. 
He served in the War of 1812. He was one of the leading members of the Sodus Cen- 
tral Baptist Church, of which he was deacon. He married Betsey Van Dusen at Phelps; 
and their children were, Cynthia, who married John Van Duzer and settled in Sodus ; 
John was a miller and settled in Michigan, but later returned to Sodus where he died, 
Aaron settled in Sodus ; Jane married Thomas Hopkins, of Sodus. Myron Brower settled 
in'Sodus and was a farmer. He married Mary Taylor, and they had these children, Aldice 
W.. Mary E., who married Walter Thornton of Sodus, and Bell, who married Charles 
Steel. Aldice W. was engaged in farming until 1872, when he became agent of the 
railroad at Sodus Centre, which position he still holds. In 1881 he built a warehouse 
there, and has since engaged in produce business. He has been justice of the peace 
four years, and for several years has been notary public. In February, 1873, he was 
appointed postmaster at Sodus Centre and held that office till July, 1893. He is a 
member of Sodus Lodge No. 392 F. & A. M., Wayne Chapter and Zenobia Com- 
mandary, No. 41 of Palmyra. In December of 1863 he enlisted in the 9th N. Y. 
Heavy Artillery and served until the close of the war. He is a charter member of 
Dwight Post G-. A. R. of Sodus. He married in 1869 Urania Dennis, of Sodus. 

Boyce, Isaac, was born in Rose Junly 27, 1837, son of Stephen and Mary A. 
Boyce, he a native of Madison county and she of Wayne county. The paternal 
grandfather of subject was Robert Boyce, a native of Jefferson county and one of the 
early settlers of Wayne county, where he died. The maternal grandfather, Nathan 
Jeffers, was one of the first settlers of Rose, where he died. The father of subject 
came to Rose when he was sixteen years of age and here resided until 1859, when he 
went to Michigan where he now lives. Mrs. Boyce died in September, 1891. Subject 
was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools. He has always been 
a farmer, has 128 acres, and follows general farming. Mr. Boyce married in 1871 
Laney, daughter of Peter Ream, of Rose, and they have two sons, Charles and John 
both of home. 

Brant Family, The. — The first of this family to settle in Wayne county was Peter, 
who came from Columbia county in an early day and settled near Sodus Ridge, later 
buying land just west of Sodus Center. He served in the War of 1812, was a prosper- 
ous farmer, and took an active interest in local affairs. He married Jane La Farge, and 
their children were: John, Margaret, Egbert, and Mary. Margaret married John Meirs, 
of Sodus; Mary married Randall Aiken, of Sodus ; Egbert settled in Sodus, and was a 
farmer. Later he removed to Lyons, where he died. John Brant settled on a farm 
west of Sodus, where he spent his life. He married Esther Underdonk, and their chil- 
dren were ; Flora, deceased, who married C. T. Bennett ; Jennie, Myron, Frank, John 
and Louise (Mrs. Riley Marchant, of Lyons). Myron is in the hotel business at Rose 
Valley ; Frank and John reside on the old homestead and are farmers. Andrus Under- 
donk was among the earliest settlers of Sodus, whence he came from Rockland county, 
prior to 1812. He was a prosperous farmer and an upright citizen. He married Maria 
Smith, and had these children: Abraham, John, Betsey, Esther, Maria and Sarah. 

Blackmar, Ransom and Esbon, came to Newark in the fall of 1826. The former died 
December 31, 1841, and Esbon November 19, 1857. A. T. came in 1833 and Orrin in 
the spring of 1835. Their father, Abel, died March 18. 1843, and their mother February 
14, 1861. The- family ancestry is from England. Sir Henry Blackmar came here and 

f 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 297 

bought about one-third of the State of Rhode Island and part of his descendants after- 
ward settled in Connecticut, from which place they removed to Greene county. When 
Ransom and Bsbon came to Newark they engaged in general merchandise buying grain, 
boat-building, and shipping grain on the canal. Their first boat was named the R. E. 
Blackmar; the county was settled by eastern people, and when they visited relatives in 
the East it was customary to go in neighborhood parties, and go with some favorite 
captain of the boat which they selected and have a good social time, as the forward 
part of the canal boats were finished in cabins for passengers, the back of the boat for 
cooking and the accommodation of the crew, and the center for freight. The capacity for 
grain was about 600 bushels and Albany was the chief market in the Ea*t. Colonel 
Bartle was then doing business in Newark (formerly called Miller's Basin) associated 
with Mr. Norton, of Phelps, under the firm name of Bartle, Norton & Co., who had ex- 
tensive mills and shipped their flour at Newark. Most of the farmers who first settled 
in Arcadia had little means, and usually came with a young wife and children to seek 
their fortune in what was then known as the far west. They took up land from the 
land office in Geneva, making a small payment and trusting to their industry for a future 
home. The merchants and grain buyers had their nearest banking accom'modat'ons at 
the Geneva Bank, at Geneva, and the merchants were the father bankers for the 
farmers, making them loans to pay their interest and payments at the land office, and 
selling them dry goods and groceries on one year's time until they could plant and har- 
vest crops. The most of the land on which Newark is located is shown by title deeds 
to have at one time belonged to some member of the Blackmar family, and to Esbon and 
Horace Blackmar, a cousin and partner in business, is due the surveying, mapping and lay- 
ing out of many of the streets of our village. Esbon Blackmar, was several times supervisor 
of the town and twice represented the district in the State Legislature, and one time as 
member of Congress ; and we will add, one of the town's honest, honored, efficient and 
useful citizens. Orrin and i dwin are still doing business in Newark. The enterprise, 
sterling integrity, and Christian sentiments of the first business men in Newark, and the 
farmers first settling Arcadia are clearly represented in their descendants. 

Barnes, John W., M. D., was born in Clayville, Oneida county, was educated in the 
public schools, in Saquoit Academy, also in West Winfield Academy. He studied 
medicine and surgery seven years in the Homeopathic Medical College of Chicago, 
graduated in 1887, also the Rush Medical College of Chicago, from which he graduated 
in 1888. He was also in Cook County Hospital in that city about two years. He is 
justice of the peace and is one of the coroners of the county. Dr. Barnes has an ex- 
cellent practice in this region, and is called in council with the best physicians in the 
county. He began to piactice medicine in Port Byron, and came to Fairville in 1890. He 
married Maude Courtwright, of Port Byron, and they have one daughter, Ethel B. Dr. 
Barnes' father, John T., was born in Nottingham, England, in 1830, and came to the 
United States with his aunt when ten years of age. He was educated in the district 
schools, and is a farmer and hop grower by occupation. He is also a dealer and 
speculator in hops. He married Serepta Waldro.i, of Oneida county, by whom he had 
six children : Cora B., and Nellie M., deceased ; Francis G., John W., as above; William 
E., and Frederick R. They are now residing at their home in Oneida county. 

Blossom, William H., was born in Hopewell, Ontario county, November 24, 1845 
He was educated in the common schools and was a clerk in his father's store at Port. 
Gibson in the early years of his life. December 26, 1875, he married Annie Hook, of 
Mumford, Monroe county, by whom he had two daughters, Eliza F., and Nellie M., 
both students at the Union School and academy. His father was born in Amsterdam, 
Montgomery county, in 1806, and received a collegiate education. In early life he was 
a farmer, and afterwards a merchant. He married twice, first, Magdalena Post, of 
Seneca county, who died, and he married second, Polly Benham, of Hopewell. They 
had six children: Joseph, Magdalena, Delana, Eli, William H., and Samuel. Mr. 
n 



298 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Blossom's father died October 18, 1893, and his mother resides with him on Main street. 
His grandfather, Joseph Blossom, was a soldier in the French and Indian war, and 
brought home a scalp of his own taking. Mr. Blossom's place of business is the store 
on Palmyra street, where he keeps a first class restaurant. He came to reside here in 
1876. 

Bennett, Clark T., was born in Niagara county in 1856. His father was Orrin S., a 
son of Thomas Bennett, who came from Vermont in an early day and settled in Barre, 
Orleans county. In 1873 Orrin S. removed to Wayne county and settled in Sod us. 
He was a carpenter by trade, which he followed for some time, and later engaged in 
farming. He married Salome Baldwin, by whom he had two sons, Claik T. and 
Orlando. Orrin S. died in 1893. Orlando Bennett settled in Sodus Point. On arriving 
at manhood our subject was engaged in fanning for several years, but since 1882 has 
had charge of the mercantile business of E. B. Mathes at Sodus Centre. In 1880 he 
married Florence, daughter of John Brant. She died in 1887, leaving two children, 
Ross and Lulu. In 1888 Mr. Bennett married Helen Proseus. 

Brewer, Fred J., was born in Williamson, this county, August 2, 1857, and was edu- 
cated in the district schools, working summers and attending school winters, thus earn- 
ing money to defray his expenses at the academy at Sodus, which he attended winters. 
He learned the blacksmith's trade with his father, and shod his first horse when four- 
teen years of age. He worked in partnership with his father two years, then December 
14, 1883, he came to Newark and began business on his own account in 1884, in company 
with his brother Gecrge O, in the Robinson stone shop on Union street, under the firm 
name of Brewer Brothers, which continued till the death of his brother, October 10, 
1892. In 1887 they purchased the said location, and in 1893 he erected the Brewer 
Block in the same location. June 18, 187! i, he married Ella A. Craggs, of his native 
town, and they have had four children, two sons and two daughters: Florence E., 
Jessie M., James O, and Glen A. Mr. Brewer's father, Aaron, was born in the town 
of Williamson, January 4, 1832, was a blacksmith by trade, and married Sarah Cole, 
by whom he had two sons, Fred J., and George C. The ancestry of the family is 
Dutch and English. 

Burleigh, Emor E., was born on the homestead, east of Newark, June 24, 1847. His 
education was acquired in the Union School and Academy and in Eastman's Commer- 
cial College at Poughkeepsie. His occupation has been salesman and bookkeeping, and 
is now confidential clerk and bookkeeper for Blaekmar & Allertch, produce dealers. 
He has been assessor ten years, and has been re-elected for three years, and has been 
president of the village one term. February 16, 1881, he married Clara L. Carr, 
formerly of Oswego county, and they have one daughter, Fiances C. His father, 
George F., was born in Columbia county September 25, 1822, and came here with his 
parents when three years of age. He was educated in the schools of his day, and has 
always followed farming. November 9, 1844, he married Augusta F. Miller, formerly 
of Cayuga county, and they had two sons : Emor E, as above, and William H, who 
married Eva Ridley, by whom he has one son Ray R. The grandfather, Abner, was 
born in Columbia county in 1790. About 1812 he married Mary Hauser, of that 
county, by whom he had five children. The family came to this town in 1825. The 
first known of the Burleighs in this country was three brothers who came from 
England, one of whom fought for the Americans in the Revolutionary war. Mrs. 
Burleigh's father, Caleb L. Carr, was born in Columbia county and came to Williamson 
when a boy. He married Frances C. Baker, of Sodus, and had three children. He 
died in 1868 and his wife survives, residing here. Both sides of this familv fought in 
the war of 1812. 

Amerman, Albert, was born June 28, 1830, studied six years in the New York City 
University, and graduating from the grammar department, has been an accountant all 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 299 

his life, until his retirement some years ago. In 1857 he married Annie Hunt, of his 
native city, and they had two sons: Charles E., a member of the Brooklyn Trust Com- 
pany, and John J., who is in the auditing department of the Grand Central Station in 
that city. Mrs. Amerman died in 18(15, and our subject married, second, June 18, 1869, 
Elethia E. Culver, of Arcadia, and they had one daughter, Alethia E., who died aged 
four years. Caleb, father of Albert, was born in New York city in 1800, where he was 
a clerk in the Merchant's Exchange Bank for sixty years. He married Susan Brower, 
of Westchester county, and they had seven children: Susan, Albert, Mary, Hannah, 
Frances, Charlotte, and Jacob. Mr, Amerman died in 1890 and his wife in 1891. The 
father of the latter was W. Norman Culver, born in this county December 20, 1814, 
who married Elizabeth Brown in 1838, and had one daughter, Elethia E., as above 
noted. Mr. Culver died in 1872, and his wife in 1889. 

Allerton, Byron, was born in the town of Amenia, Dutchess county, September 22, 
1822. He was educated in the public schools. His early life was spent on his father's 
farm. The family came to the town of Benton, on the lake, Yates county, except 
Byron, who had already begun as a boy the drover's trade from Dutchess county to 
New York. In 1844 he came to Newark and became clerk for his brother Orville H. 
in his general store two yea-s. He then began to trade in sheep, driving them to 
Dutchess county, making money in the transaction. In the fall he shipped sheep to 
New York in company with his uncle, a Mr. Hurd. He loaded the first car of sheep on 
the Auburn branch of the N. Y. C. & H. R. R. R. About this time he became blind, 
which continued about seven years. After this he became merchant with his brother 
for seven years, when the co-partnership was dissolved by mutual consent. He then 
went to Pittsburgh, Pa., where he conducted a hotel at the stock yards called the 
Eastern Exchange, which continued a year. He then returned to Newark and bought 
the heirs' interests in the homestead, which he owns at the present time. In 1867 he 
married Helen Sherman, of Dover, Dutchess county, and they have two children : 
Samuel W. and Richard H. Samuel W. is a resident of Jersey city and is a dealer in 
sheep; Richard H. is a student in the academy. Mrs. Allerton died June 10, 1892, 
mourned by a bereaved husband and children. Two years after his marriage he went 
to Buffalo and was made superintendent of the Erie Stock Yards for seven years, in fact 
he has been a drover the greatest part of his life. 

Axtell, Wells H., was born in Michigan, October 10, 183S. He was educated in the 
district schools of that State, was a farmer and lumberman, and at the time of his en- 
listment was foreman of the stables of the copper mines. Augusts, 1861, he enlisted 
in Company F, 7th Mich. Inf. Yols., was honorably discharged June 11, 1863, and came 
to Steuben county on account of sickness which he contracted while in the army, and 
in May, 1864, came to this town, where he has since resided. February 23, 1864, he 
married Mary C. Hill, of Schuyler county, and they had one son, Bert R., born Novem- 
ber 1, 1869, who married Louisa Webster, of Hammondsport, Steuben county. They 
reside in Monroe county. Mrs. Axtell died March 4, 1890. She was a charter member 
of the Woman's Relief Corps, and held the office of junior vice. Mr. Axtell's father, 
John H., was born on the Atlantic Ocean. The family located in Steuben county. He 
married Margaret Morris, of that county, and they moved to Michigan, and had four- 
teen children. He died in 1858, and his wife in 1880. Mr. Axtell's grandfather, 
Henry, and five brothers were soldiers in the war of 1812, and the French and Indian 
war seven years. Mr. Axtell is a member of Yosburg Post No. 99, G. A. R., Dep't of 
N. Y., and of Newark Lodge No. 116, A. 0. IT. W. 

Andrews. Asa F., was born in Fabius, Onondaga county, in 1849. His father, 
Orcemus, was a son of Ebenezer Andrews, who was a native of Yermont, and one of 
the early settlers of Onondaga county. Asa F. settled in Wayne county in 1882 and 
engaged in the drygoods and grocery trade at Joy, town of Sodus, which he has con- 
tinned until the present time. He was appointed postmaster at Joy under President 



300 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Harrison's administration, which office he has held five years. Mr. Andrews is a mem- 
ber of Sodus Lodge No. 392, F. & A. M. His first wife was Alnora Steele, of Chen- 
ango county, and after her death he married in 1891 Margaret Sauer, daughter of 
Martin Sauer, of Sodus. 

Allerton, Henry R. — The late Samuel W. Allerton was born in the town of Amenia, 
Dutchess county, December 8, 1785. His education was received in the schools of that 
day, also in a select school under the tuition of the Rev. Dr. Barnett. a Presbyterian 
minister of his native place. His father and grandfather were professional men, phy- 
sicians, but he chose the occupation of farming. He married Hannah Hurd, of his native 
place, and they had nine children : Cornelia, Ammerelis, Henry R., Orville H, Amanda 
H , Byron, Rebecca A., Lois J., and Samuel W. He came to the town of Benton, 
Yates county, in 1842. In 1849 the family moved to Wayne county, and continued 
farming fifteen years. He lived in Newark until he died in August, 1885. only four 
months short of a hundred years. Cornelia married Walter Sherman, of Dutchess 
county ; Ammerelis married Shadrack Sherman, of that county ; Henry R., retired 
farmer, residing in the village, his sister, Mrs. Taber. in charge of his household; Orville 
H., mentioned elsewhere; Amanda H. married William Taber ; Byron married Helen 
Sherman, of Dover, Dutchess county; Rebec< a H. and Lois J. reside with their brother 
Henry R., all of them of independent means. Samuel L. married twice, first, Pamilla 
Thompson, and second, Agnes Thompson, and is a resident of Chicago. The grand- 
father, Reuben, was a surgeon in the Revolutionary war. 

Holdridge, A. J., after a life of more than ordinary interest and adventure in foreign 
lands, returned in 18G5 to his old home, for the next ten years was on shore and at sea, 
and for sixteen years has been express and freight agent at Savannah. He was born 
in Galen September 16, 1838, a son of Ambrose and Charity Holdridge. His educa- 
tional opportunities were limited, and at the age of fifteen he ran away from home and 
shipped from Greenport, L I., an board the whaler, Italy, in 1854. Off the Aleutian 
Isles in 1866 she was dismasted in a heavy storm, and after the loss of eleven men 
finally harbored in Honolulu, Sandwich Islands, and the cargo of 2,800 barrels of oil 
and 32.500 pounds of whalebone was saved intact, then visited a number of the South 
Sea Islands among the cannibals. He next shipped in the Sheffield for another 
whaling cruise, which lasted eight months, with a net result of 2,200 barrels of oil and 
19.000 pounds of whalebone. Next entering the merchant service, he visited all the 
principal ports of South America, rapidly passing, by various promotions, from a com- 
mon sailor to first mate, which position he held on board the Monterey when but 
twentv-one years of age. During the war between Peru and Ecuador he was a 
blockade runner, which was on one occasion chased all day by a Peruvian man-of-war, 
without result. At Panama, when in the passenger steamer service, he had the dreaded 
Chagres fever, and after his recovery he again entered the merchant service, visiting 
London and other points in the Old World. In 1863, while on the U. S. N. ship 
Aphrodite he suffered shipwreck off Cape Lookout, when the ship and twenty-six men 
were lost, but Mr Holdridge escaped uninjured. After the war he spent several 
seasons on the lakes, chiefly m sailing vessels, and subject to the usual vicissitudes of a 
sailor's life, sometimes an officer and sometimes before the mast. In 1889 he married 
Fannie Taylor, of Clyde. Our subject has been president of the village, trustee, 
assessor, ftc. 

John Vandenberg was born in Coxsackie, N.Y., July 31, 1827, and died in Clyde May 
14, 1894. He attended the academy in his native place and studied law, and after 
admission to the bar removed to Cleveland, N. Y,, where he soon became prominent, 
In 1855 he located in Cb/de and was in Hctive and successful practice nearly forty years. 
In the fall of 1865 he was elected to the Legislature by the Republicans, and served a 
second term by re-election. In 1876 he formed a partnership with Charles T. Saxton, 
which continued to his death. In 1879 he was elected district attorney of Wayne 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 301 

county by a very large majority, and filled the office to the entire satisfaction of his 
fellow citizens. He was a prominent member of the Bar Association and a Mason of 
high standing. Mr. Vandenberg married, in 1849, Rebecca Landgraff, of Cleveland. 
Five children were born to them. 

Burgess, Rev. A. P., D.D., was born in Herkimer county in 1845, prepared for Ham- 
ilton College, at West Winfield Academy, and received his theological training in New 
England. He received his degree of Doctor of Divinity from Monroe College in 18S6. 
He was a pastor in Mexico, Oswego county, eight years. He was seven years in 
Dennis and Duxbury, Mass., and has been pastor of the First Presbyterian church in 
Newark, N. Y., for twenty-one years. In April, 1894, his church celebrated the 
twentieth anniversary of his pastorate by giving him a reception, nearly a thousand 
persons being present. On this occasion he was the recipient of a valuable gold watch, 
and Mrs. Burgess of a costly supply of table china. Mr. Burgess has been largely iden- 
tified with the interests of his town and county. Mr. Burgess has added to his clerical 
duties a large service on the platform, in the cause of temperance, and he edited the 
Temperance Press two years while in Boston, Mass. For three years he edited the 
Watchword in Ilion, N.Y. His sons, W. C. and F. D. Burgess, are editors and pub- 
lishers of the Arcadian Weekly Gazette of Newark. 

Richards, Sidney S., was born in the town of Hamburg, Lewis county, N. Y., May 8 
1839. He was educated in the public schools, was a farmer by occupation. When he 
attained the age of twenty-one he moved to the town of Ellisburg, locating in the vil- 
lage of Bellville, and worked at the art of photography. In 1862 he enlisted in Com- 
pany E, 10th Artillery, N. Y. S. Volunteers, was honorably discharged at the close of 
the war, June 23, 1865. He first located in Carthage, Jefferson county, N. Y., follow- 
ing his chosen business. July 3, 1866, he married Louisa Sanders, of Carthage, locat- 
ing here July 16, 1880, purchasing the gallery of A. F. Brooks and his line of business. 
Two children, both daughters, namely : Mary A. and Alice E, she married L. C. San- 
ford of Newark. Mr. Richards' father, David, was born in Massachusetts December 
21, 1801, and married Eliza D. Stoddard, of Lewis county, N. Y.; they had three chil- 
dren, two sons and a daughter : Edward, jr., Sidney S., as above, and Adelia C. He 
died October 19, 1882. Mr. Richards is a member of Vosburg Post, No. 99, G. A. R., 
Department cf New York, has held the positions of commander, senior vice-com- 
mander and quartermaster. His daughter, Mary, was educated at Holyoke College, 
and is assistant preceptress in the Union School and Academy. Himself and family 
are members of the Baptist Church of Newark. 

Wilson, J., was born in St. Johnsville, Montgomery county, N. Y., May 12, 1831. 
He graduated at Union College in 1851, and was admitted to the practice of law in 
1852 ; raised a company of one hundred and seven men at his own expense and served 
as captain, part of 1861 and 1862 ; for twenty years was principal of some of the lead- 
ing academies of the State ; since January, 1869, has been editor of the Newark 
Courier, one of the most popular county weeklies in the State. October 23, 1874, he 
was nominated unanimously as the Democratic candidate for Congress, for the counties 
of Wayne, Cayuga and Seneca; and in a district usually 6,000 to 7,000 Republican, he 
came within a few hundreds of being elected, with General MacDougall as his opponent, 
and without paying any attention to the canvass. In 1875 he was honored with the 
degree of Ph. D., from Union College; in 1880, was on the Democratic electoral ticket, 
as the representative of the Twenty-sixth Congressional District. He visited Europe in 
1868 and 1888. Mr. Wilson is the author of the following works: 'Errors of Gram- 
mar," 1858; "Phrasis: A Treatise on the History and Structure of the Different Lan- 
guages of the World," 1864; "A Practical Grammar of the English Language," 1870 ; 
"Truths of Religion and the Bible, as seen by the Light of the Nineteenth Centurv," 
1874 ; 'Practical Life and the Study of Man," 1882; 'Radical Wrongs," 1892. These 
works have been commended by the best men in the land, and have given him a high 



302 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

standing among literary men and editors. He is proprietor, publisher and editor of the 
Newark Courier of Newark, N. Y. 

Kelley, Charles E , was born on the homestead southeast of Newark January 28, 
1858, was educated in the common schools and at the Union School and Academy at 
Newark. He is a farmer and dealer in seed potatoes, and owns the old E. B. Kelley 
farm. February 21, 1883, he married Ada A. Burnette of Phelps, and they have two 
children: Bertha A. and Burnette F. Mrs. C. E. Kelley's father, Hiram Burnette, was 
born in Phelp-, Ontario county, April 14, 1826, was educated in the common school and 
followed farming. He married Eliza Parsons of Columbia county, and they had five 
children : Ada A., as above ; Milton P., Jennie E., Ulysses G-. and Frank II. He had 
two children by a first marriage, Andrew J. and Mary L. Mr. Burnette died in 1893, 
and his widow survives at the old home in Phelps. 

Welcher, Charles A., was bom in Arcadia October 3, 1856, and was educated in the 
district, and the Union School and Academy of Newark. His early life was spent on 
his father's farm, and he is now one of Newark's enterprising grocery merchants. He 
married Jennie E. Garlock, of Newark, and they have five children : Fred G\, Frank C , 
L. Fern, Ernest L. V., and J. Orville. Mr. Welcher' s father, J. Philester, was born on 
the homestead two and one-half miles north of the village of Newark, March 13, 1821. 
September 22, 1845, he married Abigail Lee, of Arcadia, by whom he had seven children : 
Alice, Amanda, Rev. Manfred P., Yelora E., Charles A , as above, Lucy V., and Byron 
R , who died aged fifteen years. Subject's grandfather, John, was born in Morristown, 
N J., in 1790 and came to Phelps, Ontario county, when in his ninth year, and went 
to live with Oliver Clark, of East Palmyra, until he was twenty-one years old. He then 
took up the land for the homestead from the primeval forest. He married twice, first 
Mehetabel Culver, and second Electa Jagger, of Batavia, formerly of Long Island. 

Hanby, James E.,-was born in Sodus October 31, 1853, and is a son of Charles Hanby, 
born September 19, 1809, who came from London, England, in 1832 and settled in the 
northwestern part of the town of Sodus, purchasing a tract of land. He married twice, 
first (in England) Harriet Jackson and their children were: Ann, Charles J., and Harriet 
P. His second wife was Catherine Gates, and their children were: Ann, Charles, 
Joseph G., Mary L., Catherine E., Lewis B., James E., Hannah and Esther J. He died 
June 22, 1887. James E. Hanby, settled in Sodus on the old homestead, and is one of 
the enterprising and prosperous farmers of the town. He is also a dealer in agricultural 
implements, and is a member of Sodus Lodge No. 392, F. & A. M., and Sodus Grange. 
He married in 1893 Carrie 0., daughter of Mrs. Olivia Van Slyck, of Sodus. 

Ridley, William, was bor-n in Phelps, Ontario county, January 30, 1817. He was 
educated in the district schools and has always followed farming. January 14, 1839, he 
married Elizabeth M. Tittsworth of his native town, and they have had eleven children : 
James T., William, Esther A., Morrison, Aaron, George D, Mary E., Clara and an 
infant daughter not named (twins) ; Alice and Adelbert. Mr. Ridley's father, Mathew, 
was born in England in 1781 and came to the United States when eighteen years old, 
locating in the town of Phelps. He married Delilah Sober, of the town of Arcadia, 
Wayne county, by whom he had these children: James, dead; William, as above; 
Nelson, dead; Lydia; Hiram, dead, and Delira, Mrs. Ridley's father, Richard Titts- 
worth, was born in New Jersey about 1785 and married Esther De Witt, of his native 
place. They had four children : Jane, James, Ann Jennette and Elizabeth M. He died 
in 1830 and his wife in 1848. They came to this locality about 1810. Mr. Tittsworth 
was a soldier in the War of 1812 at Sodus Point. Morrison is a professional caterer; 
James T. married Phoebe Westfall ; Willard married Pamelia Eggleston ; Aaron married 
Cornelia Morris ; Mary E, married Oliver Eggleston ; Alice married Charles Cornwell, 
and Delbert married Hattie Morris. 

Drake, Harry R., was born in Mast Newark, N. Y., April 20, 1851, was educated in 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 303 

the Union School and Academy, and taught school for several years, lie has also been 
engaged in the grocery trade, and is now a manufacturer of eyelet-end wood-pulp but- 
ter dishes, paper boxes, egg case fillers, etc. In 1870 he married Eliza Mumford, and 
had one daughter, Frances F., now Mrs. L. G. Baldwin of Newark. Mrs. Drake died 
in 1874, and he married in 1880 Mary A. Towlerton, of Wolcott. They have two sons, 
Albert R. and Charles H. Mr. Drake's father, Leroy, was born in the town of Lyons, 
July 20, 1829, and during his later years sold canal supplies at the upper lock. lie 
married Eliza D. Lamoreaux of East Newark, and they had two sons, Harry R. and 
Nelson D. Mr. Drake died in 1864, and his widow married, second, Frank H Spoor, 
who is now an engineer, and was a soldier in the late war, having onlisted in 1861 in 
the Sturgis Rifles, in Chicago, 111. He was honorably discharged in 1865, at the close 
of the war, after having been twice wounded. Mrs. Spoor's sister, Sally Lamoreux, 
married Reuben Berry, who was born in Columbia county, and came here with his par- 
ents when two years old. In early life he was a farmer, and earned a competency, 
Both he and wife are living, and devote their time to many kind deeds, smoothing the 
way for those less fortunately situated than they are, Aunt Sally's name being a house- 
hold word in town. The Lamoreaux family are of French extraction, having de- 
scended from the Huguenots whe came here in the Seventeenth Century. 

Hankenson, Edward L., was born in Newark, March 18, 1845. His education was 
obtained in' the Union School and Academy, and he then became a clerk in his father's 
store. In the year 1872 his father took him into the concern as partner, under the firm 
name of James W. Hankenson & Son, doing a retail business in clothing, hats, caps and 
men's furnishing goods. July 12, 1892, he married EllaV. Sutphen, daughter of Dr. R. 
M. Sutphen of Newark, N. J. Mr. Hankenson's father, James VV., was born in Scho- 
harie county, in 1818, and came to the town of Arcadia with his parents when two 
years of age, and was educated in the schools of that day and place. His early life 
was spent on his father's farm until the age of sixteen, when he learned the tailor's 
trade with Lathrop Bristol, of Newark, N. Y. In 1841 he began business on his own 
account, which continues until the present day. April 2, 1841, he married Nancy Good- 
win of this town, by whom he had one son, Edward L., as above noted. He has been 
a resident of the town seventy-three years. The father of James W. was Ruel. Mr. 
Hankenson was one of the originators of the I. 0. O. F. in Newark. 

Bartle. the late Warren S., was born in Junius, Seneca county, July 28, 1816. He 
came to Newark with his parents when eighteen years of age and learned the machin- 
ist's trade, after which he did business on his own account on South street. He was a 
skillful workman and inventor. October 6, 1840, he married Eliza Cambers, formerly of 
Whittlesea, Cambridegshire, England. She was born October 25, 1818, and they had 
three children : James P., who married Gertie Shumway of Newark, and has one son, 
Warren S.; Eldora L., Avbo married James S. Horton of East Newark, by whom she 
has one son, Charles B., who is a jeweler by trade; and Willie, who died in infancy. 
Mrs. Bartle's father, William Cambers, was born at the old home in England March 7, 
1775. He married Susan Sherrington of his native place, and they had ten children : 
Four sons by the name of William died in infancy ; George, who died aged twenty-five ; 
Mary A., Lucy and Eliza died in infancy ; Lucy second and Eliza second survive. They 
came to the United States in 1834, and located at Albion, Orleans county, where they 
remained many years and then went to Canada. When Mrs. Bartle's mother died in 
1857, her father came here to reside with his daughter and died in 1859. The Bartles 
trace their ancestry back to the sixth generation in the United States from Germany. 
Mr. Bartle has been organist in four churches, and has taught instrumental music since 
she was sixteen, and at her present age seventy-six, still retains a class of pupils. Mr. 
Bartle was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, which he joined in 
1845, being one of the charter members of the Subordinate Lodge Encampment. He 
passed all of the chairs in both lodges and was D. D. G. M. and D. D. G. P. He died 
August 20, 1882. 



304 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

West, George H., was born about two miles west of Newark, November 19, 1840, 
He was educated in the common schools. He was one of a family of five children, 
whose parents were Matthew W. West, who was born near Fairville, this town, June 
18, 1818, and whose occupation was that of a farmer, and his wife Mary Hughes, of 
this town, formerly of Vermont, whom he married Feb. 5, 1839. Matthew W. West 
died March 4, 1874, mourned by a bereaved wife and family. The five children were 
as follows: George H., S. Maria, Catharine, Emma J., and Lewis G. The daughters 
are dead. Their grandfather, Moses West was a soldier in the War of 1812, and other 
members of the family were in the late war. Lewis G. married Effie M. Lake of Mar- 
bletown, by whom there were two children : Edward W. and Ethel. George H. fol- 
lowed his father's occupation and November 19, 1861, he married Mary L. Lee, of 
Newark formerly of Fairport, whose father, William Lee, came from England when a 
small child and whose mother Mary Ann Hutchinson came from Vermont. They had 
two children : K. Eudora, and Charles E. January 13. 1886 Charles married Harriet 

A. Richmond, of Newark, they have three children, namely : Mary A., Mabel E., Ada 

B. Mrs. George West died October 16, 1892 and Mr. West married again March 7, 
1894, Lizzie S. Yeo, of Phelps, Ontario county, whose father was born in Devonshire, 
England, September 28, 1814, coming to the United States when a young man, locating 
at Mt. Morris, Livingston county, where he married Mary Stillson, a sister of Judge 
Norton's wife by whom he had four children: Arthur E., Frank S., M. Ella and Lizzie 
S. The family resided in Le Roy for a number of years, where Mrs. Yeo died April 
12, 1861. Mr. Yeo married a second time, Adaline Knapp, of Newark, and they lived 
in the town of Phelps, Ontario county, for twenty-eight years, where both died, Mrs, 
Yeo February 5, 1892 and Mr. Yeo April 25, 1893. Mr. West is a member of the offi- 
cial board of the Newark M. E. church. He and his family still reside two miles west 
of Newark. 

Hyde, Artemas W., was born at the old home in Hydesville, September 15, 1816. 
He was educated in the schools of that day, and was also a farmer. He was the only 
surviving son of Dr. Henry Hyde, born June 29, 1774 in Vermont, who came to this 
locality as a pioneer physician and settled amid forests and small clearings and a scant 
population in 1810. Artemas W. Hyde began life by putting into practice these prin- 
ciples of self reliance, untiring industry promptness in all business transactions, and 
care and prudence in all the details of his affairs which made him at once the successful 
and reliable business man he was. Mr. Hyde was supervisor of the town in 1864-65. 
It was said by the Fox sisters that Artemas W. Hyde was a firm believer in spiritualism. 
The family wishes this to be emphatically denied, it being a pure fabrication on their 
part. He was twice married, first, to Armeda Miles, who died in 1856. After her 
death he married Louise Peirson. He has four children living, two of them E. M. and 
John L.. sons of the first wife, and William H. and Armeda, now Mrs. P. R. Sleight, 
children of the second wife. Mr. Hyde died January 5, 1892, and his wife in Septem- 
ber of the same year. William H., the youngest son of Artemas W. Hyde, was born 
July 26, 1863 at the old home in Hydesville, where he at present resides. He was 
educated at the Union School, Cook Academy, and at Geneseo Normal School. He is 
a farmer and capitalist by occupation. He is a man of enterprise, ability and integrity, 
already well and favorably known in this and adjoining communities as a capable and 
successful financier. He married February 26, 1885, Bertha Jackson, of Lyons. They 
have two children, Bertha L. and William Henry, jr., who is the eighth Henry in the 
direct line in the Hyde family. Mrs. Hyde's grandfather, Dr. Cyrus Jackson, was a 
pioneer settler and physician of the town of Lyons, coming to that town from Milford, 
Pa., through the woods on horseback some time in 1811. He purchased the farm upon 
which he resided the rest of his long and useful life, and which is still in the possession 
of the Jackson family. Like all old time physicians he went to see his patients on 
horseback and carried his medicine case in his saddle bags. George W. Jackson, the 
father of Mrs. Hyde, was the youngest son of Dr. Jackson ; a farmer by occupation and 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 305 

an upright, conscientious Christian gentleman, who was called to his rest while still in 
the prime of his life, July 6, 1884. 

Vosburgh, William, son of Jacob, came from Dutchess county about 1845 and settled 
in the northwest corner of Sodus on the lake road, purchasing a farm of 250 acres, and 
was an extensive farmer. He married first Henrietta Trumper and second Elizabeth 
Trowbridge, and their children were: Jacob, Anna E., Margaret, Sarah C, Mary E., 
Emma, who died in infancy, Emma and Antoinette. Anna E. married Robert Watson ; 
Margaret married Thomas Youmans ; Sarah C. married Wesley T. Jolly ; Mary E. 
married Rowland Smith; Antoinette married Henry Toor; Jacob settled on the home- 
stead and is a farmer. He taught school for several years during the winter. He mar- 
ried Catherine Youmans, of Sodus, and they have five children : William, Edith A., 
Wesley, Henrietta and Geoi^e Y. 

Dickson, William, was born in Hopewell, Ontario county, was educated in the com- 
mon schools, and is a farmer. December 10, 1863, he enlisted in Co. F, 2d Mounted 
Rifles N Y. S. Vols., was wounded before Petersburg and wounded a second time in 
the explosion of the mine, losing his right arm. In March, 1867, he married Christina 
Weaver, of this town, and they have two children : Etta, who married Franklin W. 
Rasch, and William T., a farmer with his father. Mrs. Dickson's father, Jacob Weaver, 
was born in Balltown Springs, Dutchess county in 1812, and came to Sodus with his 
parents when a boy. He married Sylvina Hiscrodt of his native county, and they had 
eight children: Homer, Lydia. Lewis, Christina, as above; Esther, Jacob. Mrs. Dick- 
son's brother, Lewis, was a soldier in Co. F, 2d Mounted Rifles, and died in the service 
at City Point. Mr. Weaver died March 16. 1890, and his wife March 3, 1884. Mr. 
Dickson was honorably discharged from Mount Pleasant Hospital, Washington, D. C, 
February 17, 1865. He is a member of Vosburg Post No. 99 G. A. R., Department of 
New York. William T. is a member of E. K. Burnham Camp No. 14, S. 0. V., Newark. 
The ancestry of the family is Scotch and German. 

Van Marter, David, father of Mrs. William J. Holland, was born in Arcadia April 19, 
1819, was educated in the public schools, and in early life was a cooper, later taking up 
farming. October 30, 1853, he married Elizabeth J. Baldwin, of Lyons, by whom he 
had two children : Mary, who died in her ninth year, and Jennie M. Mr. Van Marter 
died January 4, 1887, and his wife died September 29, 1889. Jennie M. married, Sep- 
tember 16, 1890, William J. Holland, of Fairville, and they have two children : Viola 
M. and David Coles. The family are nicely situated on the Van Marter homestead. 
Mr. Holland's father, Thomas, was born about 1836, in England, and married Mary S. 
West, of Bay City, Michigan, formerly of England. Their six children were : Mary 
A-, William, John, Sarah S., Ettie D. A., who died young, Henry R., and Emma J. 
Both parents reside in Fairville. 

Van Dusen, Richard, was born in Marion, Wayne county, August 20, 1845, was edu- 
cated in the Palmyra Classical Union School and has taught school fifteen years, three 
of which he taught in the Union School of Palmyra. For the past thirteen years he 
has been conducting a fruit farm near Marbletown. August 10, 1886, he married Eliz- 
abeth Rentschler, of East Newark, and they have one daughter, Mary E., who is a stu- 
dent. Mr. Van Dusen's father, Hiram, was born in Berkshire county, Mass., June 27, 
1798. The family moved to Columbia county, N. Y., when he was a boy, where he 
was educated in the schools of his day. June 30, 1816, he married Maria Crandall, of 
his native county, and they had eleven children : Maria, Hannah, William, Henry J., 
Lucinda, Catherine, John H, Margaret, Stephen, Hannah second, and Richard. Mr. 
Van Dusen died in 1886, and his wife April 17, 1850. Subject's grandfather, William, 
was born September 6, 1772. He married Hannah Spencer and had seven children. 
Mrs. Richard Van Dusen's father, John Rentschler, was born in Germany. He married 
Mary Schanz, of his native place and came to the United States, locating at East Newark. 



306 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

They had seven children. Mr. Van Dusen was elected assessor in 1892 and is trustee 
of the district school. He is also a member of Newark Lodge No. 83 F. & A. M., is a 
member of the Knights of Honor, and a Granger. 

Hoeltzel, George, was born in Alsace, France, (now Germany) December 30, 1836. 
and came to the United States with his parents in 1840. They located in Lyons, Wayne 
county. He was educated in the district schools and is a farmer. June 27, 1867, he 
married Lena Schwab, of Arcadia, and they have three children: Albert G.. EmmaM. 
and Minnie R. August 12, 1862, he enlisted in Co. C, 9th Heavy Artillery, and was 
in the following engagements: Cold Harbor, Monocacy Junction, Winchester, Cedar 
Creek and others, and was honorably discharged May 3, 1865. Mr. Hoeltzel's father, 
Michael, was born at the old home in Alsace in 1794, and married Dorathy Rukth of his 
native place. They had seven children : Dorathy, Elizabeth, Michael, Frederick, Sally, 
Henry and George, of whom Michael, Dorathy, Elizabeth and Henry are deceased. Mrs. 
Hoeltzel's father, George Schwab, was born in Alsace, May 14, 1814, and came to the 
United States with his parents when sixteen years old, locating in this town. He mar- 
ried Magdalene Studer also of this town, by whom he had five children : Elizabeth, 
Philip, Lena, Barbara and George. Mrs. Schwab afterwards married Sallie Deetch also 
of this town, by whom he had two children, Jacob and William, the latter is deceased. 
Mr. Schwab died June 4, 1881 and his wife March 30, 1883. 

Blakely, Lamott M., is a native of Wyoming County. He attended school in Wyo- 
ming county, Koneoye, Richmond Mills, and finished his education at the East Bloom- 
field Academy, Ontario county. His first business enterprises of note were in Iowa 
and Illinois, where he became a heavy shipper of lumber from points in Iowa on the 
Mississippi River to all points below St. Joseph on the Missouri River. He continued 
in the lumber business until the breaking out of the war, which closed all traffic for 
the time on the Missouri River. At the close of the war he went into the cotton busi- 
ness at Atlanta, Ga., which he continued from 1866 to 1870 at Washington, N. C, and 
other places, including Newbern and Greenville. Later he resumed the lumber business 
and soon became one of the heaviest dealers in the South. These operations extended 
over nearly twenty years, and pine, juniper and cypress were the principal varieties 
of lumber handled. Mr. Blakely won the good will and respect of the Southern peo- 
ple during his long residence in the South, and at the present time has many warm 
friends in that section. He returned to Lyons a few years ago, where his people had 
resided since 1848. In 1892 Mr. Blakely was an alternate delegate to the National Re- 
publican Convention at Minneapolis. From the time of his return he has taken a great 
interest in the advancement of Lyons and has served as a member of the Board of 
Trustees; last March he was elected president of the village, and has been active in 
matters tending to improve the town, especially the streets and water courses. His 
administration thus far has been characterized both by public improvements and the 
economical expenditure of public money. 

Nolan, William H., was born in Oneida county May 20, 1857. His parents moved to 
Lewis county when he was seven years of age, and he was educated in the public 
schools and learned the trade of carpentry. He came to Newark in 1888, and has built 
up a successful business as a contractor and builder. March 31, 1880, he married Mary 
E. Laulee of Martinsburgh, Lewis county, and they have five children : Eva M , Grace, 
Mary, Lula M. aud Gertrude A. Mr. Nolan and family are members of St. Michael's 
Catholic Church, and are Democrats. The father of our subject, James S., came to 
Qnebec in 1838, and was compelled to leave, or take up arms against the United States, 
choosing the former. He came to Syracuse for a short time, where he conducted a 
blacksmith business many years, and afterwards removed to Lewis county. He was 
twice married, and had four children by his first marriage, James, Maiy, Margaret and 
John. He married, second, Delia Eagan, and had by her four children : William H., 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 307 

Michael G., a contractor in Buffalo; Frances, who lives in Cohoes ; and Edward, who 
died aged thirteen. James S. died in 1885 and his wife in 1880. Mrs. Nolan's father, 
Patrick Laulee, came to this country with his parents at the age of fifteen, and mar- 
ried Anna Dunn, and of their eleven children eight grew to maturity. 

Butts, Porter P, was born in Pompey, Onondaga county, February 25, 1838, a son of 
Lyman Butts, whose father was Jabez, of Scotch and English ancestry. Lyman came 
to Wayne county in 1838, residing in Savannah several years, then removing to Cort- 
land county, where he lived till 1856, when he bought a farm in the town of Sodus 
near Joy and spent the rest of his life. He was a prominent man in the town, a strong 
anti-slavery advocate, and active in political affairs. He married Sarah, daughter of 
Pliny Porter of Onondaga county, and their children were: Susan, who married Gen. 
A. J. Warner, and settled in Marietta, 0.; Helen M., who married Selden Granger, 
and settled in Cleveland, 0.; Henry H., who enlisted in the army and died in the serv- 
ice ; George C, who settled in Marietta, O; Frank L., who settled on the homestead ; 
and Porter P. (See Clark's history of Wayne county.) In 1862 he settled in Sodus, 
where he bought a farm south of the village, and has since resided. He is a member 
of Sodus Grange, and of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Butts married Anna, daugh- 
ter of Jacob Andrews of Sodus, and their children are Watson A., who settled at Fulton ; 
Henry P. and Raymond K. 

Guiick, Charles L., who was born in Sodus, Wayne county, September 13, 1848, was 
educated in the common schools, and has always followed farming. January 1, 1872, 
he married Aurillia M. Fredenburgh of Arcadia, by whom he had four children: Olie M., 
Benjamin A., who died aged thirteen ; Kingsley S. and Seaman H. Mr. Gulick's father, 
Amos, was born in Columbia county May 10, 1820, was educated in the schools of his 
day, and was also a farmer. November 3, 1845, he married Mary E. Ford of Sodus, 
and they have three children : Mary A., Charles L., as above, and Martha J. The par- 
. ents are now residing at the old home in Sodus. Mrs. Gulick's father, Benjamin F. 
Fredenburgh, was born in the town of Arcadia, June 1, 1829. He married Adelia Van 
Inwagen, formerly of Tompkins county, and they had four children : Esbon K., Au- 
rillia M., as above ; Milton E. and Ellsworth H., who died in infancy. Mr, Freden- 
burgh died in 1891. 

Weinman, Jacob, was born in Rhinefaltz, Germany, September 7, 1832, educated in 
their schools, and worked at various occupations. May 13, 1859, he married Catherine 
Menzner of his native place, and they have had eight children : Jacob, jr., who is a 
farmer in Clifton Springs, Ontario county, and married Emma Freeh of Newark, by 
whom he has three children : Carrie M., Carl F. and Ruth E ; Philip is a farmer in 
Phelps, Ontario county. He married Julia Werner and has one son, John P.; Frede- 
rick is a carpenter and builder in Newark, and married Nellie Freeh ; Theresa M. and 
Julia A. reside at home; Elizabeth O, died in infancy; Louis also died at the age of 
two years ; and Christian was killed on the West Shore Railroad near his home at the 
age of fourteen. They came to the United States in 1871. Mrs. Weinman died in 
1885, mourned by a bereaved husband and family. Mr. Weinman and family are mem- 
bers of the German Evangelical Church of Newark, and the family have resided on 
their farm twenty years. 

Graham, E. P., second son Henry and Eliza (Ross) Graham, late of Rose, was born 
September 7, 1848. Henry Graham, a pioneer settler of Rose, a prominent Democrat, 
finding in farming and horticulture his principal occupation, died in October, 1878, aged 
i seventy-six. Elmore was educated at Clyde and at Canandaigua Academy, and in 1878 
acquired by purchase a farm of 200 acres in Butler, devoted chiefly to small fruits and 
dairy products, and embellished with handsome buildings. In 1876 he married Nettie, 
daughter of Lewis Beach of Varick, Seneca county. 



308 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Robinson, Minard, was born in Arcadia October 3, 1845, was educated in the com- 
mon schools, and has always followed farming. December 27, 1872, he married M. 
Rowe of Manchester, Ontario county, and they have one daughter, Harriet E. Mr. 
Robinson's father, John D., was born in Phelps, Ontario county January 25, 1813, was 
educated in the schools of his day, and was also a farmer. He married Christina Van 
Decar who was born in Rensselaer county, and had five children ; Abram, Aaron V., 
Minard as noted, Mary and Andrew J. He died in 1877 and his wife in 1885. His 
grandfather was Minard, and his great-grandfather, John Decker Robinson, was the first 
settler in the town of Phelps. Mrs. Robinson's father, Freeman Rowe, was born in 
Wayne county in 1S27. He married Harriet A. Oderkirk of Manchester, and they had 
three children: Robert D., George F. and Alazan M. Both parents were killed at the 
same time on the N. Y. C. & H. R. Railroad March 12, 1887. 

Marble Brothers. — John W. was born in the town of Arcadia in Marbletown, Novem- 
ber 28, 1842, was educated in the common schools, and has always followed farming. 
December 25, 1874, he married Mary E. Robison, of Huntsburg, Ohio, and they have 
one son, Ray W., born April 14, 1879, who is a student in the Union 8chool and 
Academy at Newark. His brother, Warren F., was born at the old homestead Decem- 
ber 5, 1848, was also educated in tne common schools, and is a farmer with his brother 
John W. December 16, 1874, he married Josette Moss, of Huntsburg, Ohio, and they 
have one son, George B., born July 2, 1879, who is also a student in the Newark Acad- 
emy. Our subject's father, James, was born in Marbletown July 29, 1819, was educated 
in the schools of his day, and was a farmer. He married Lorinda Dusenberry, of Phelps, 
Ontario county, and their children were: John W., as noted; Elizabeth, and Warren F. 
Mr. Marble died April 21, 1891, and his wife September 29, 1887. Mrs. John W. 
Marble's father, Harry H. Robison, was born in 1792, the first white child born in the 
town of Phelps. He served in the war of 1812 ; was well educated, and taught school 
in this State, also in the South. He married twice, for his second wife Emily Durham, 
by whom he had three children : James, Harry, who died in infancy, and Mary E., who 
was born in Lima, Livingston county. He died in 1854, and his wife in 1858. Mrs. 
Warren F. Marble's father, William C. Moss, was born in Burton, Geauga county, Ohio, 
in 1808. He married Maria J. Robison, of Phelps, and they had seven children : Charles, 
Elizabeth, Ford, Josette, as noted, Marvin, Almira, and Jessie M. He died in 1870, and 
his wife survives him. 

Miller, Frederick C, was born in Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Germany, October 10, 1843, 
and came to the United States when he was twenty-one, locating in Lyons. He is a 
farmer and milk dealer. March 26, 1867, he married Sophia Mierke, of Lyons, formerly 
of his native place, and they have yiree children: Charles, who marrie'd Julia Feiock, of 
this town ; James H., who is a farmer with his father ; and Ella L., who resides at 
home. Mr. Miller's father, Christian, was born at the old home, July 2, 1805. He 
married Dora Colman, of Germany, and they had seven children : Louise, Mary, Louis, 
Jennie, William, Frederick C, as noted, and Charles. Mr. Miller died in 1873, and his 
wife in 1862. Mrs. F. C. Miller's father, Louis Mierke, was born in Mecklenburg- 
Schwerin, Germany, June 25, 1824. He married Minnie Helwie, of his native place, 
and they had eight children : Sophia, Louise, John, William, Henry, Charles, Eliza, and 
Lois. Mr. Mierke died January 6, 1888. The family came to the United States in 1862, 
locating in Lyons. 

Vorberg, Rev. Robert T., was born in Milwaukee, Wis., April 19, 1868. When a 
child his father, who was a minister, received a call to preach in New York city. Mr. 
Vorberg was educated in the public schools of Rochester, five years in Wagner College 
in that city, and three years in the Evangelical Lutheran Theological Seminary at Mount 
Airy, Philadelphia, Pa., from which he was graduated in 1892, and began to preach in 
Newark, July 1, 1892, in Zion's Lutheran church. May 17, 1893, he married Miss 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 309 

Salome A. Ungerer, of Lyons. They have one child, a daughter, Magdalena B. Mr. 
Vorberg's father, George A. G., was born in Magdeburg, Germany, August 26, 1835. 
He was educated at the Magdeburg Gymnasium, studied theology at the Friedrichs- 
University at Halle-Wittenberg, also at the university of Tubingen, and completed his 
theological studies at the University of Erlangen in March, 1860. He then taught at a 
ladies' seminary in Bremen two years. In 1863 he was sent to the United States by 
the Berlin Missionary Society as a missionary, locating and preaching in many places, to 
the German Lutherans of Wisconsin. In February, 1867, he married Emilv H., daughter 
of the Rev. George J. Kempe, of Rochester, NY. They had three sons, Robert T., 
George M., and Gustav S. He died at New York city, April 1 1873. His widow re- 
moving to Rochester with her children, where she and her sons, George M. and 
Gustav S., now reside. 

Pitts, Jesse G., was born in Chatham, Columbia county, June 7, 1823, and was edu- 
cated mostly in Kinderhook Academy. In 1845 he came to Geneva, Ontario county, 
where he engaged in saddlery and hardware business, including harnesses and trunks! 
until 1852. He then came to Newark, where he embarked in the general hardware 
business, in company with Eli Van Valkenburg, under the firm name of Pitts & Van 
Valkenburg. They sold nut in 1854, and Mr. Pitts then went on his farm north of the 
village, remaining two years. June 2, 1859, he married Helen R. Day, ^f Westfield, 
Mass., and they have one adopted daughter, Louise, now wife of Calvin P. H. Vary, a 
banker in this place. Mr. Pitts has resided in New York seven years, also in Brooklyn 
seven years, during most of this time was in the wholesale petroleum business, returning 
to Newark about 1873, where he has conducted a boot and shoe business about twenty 
years, including the manufacture of moccasins under letters patent, making about six or 
eight thousand dozen pairs annually, selling them to jobbers and the finding trade. Mr. 
Pitts' father, John W., was born at the old home in Columbia county in 1795, and came 
here at an early day. He married Polly L. Gifford, of his native" town, and had six 
children. He died in 1874, and his wife in middle life. Mr. Pitts' father was a soldier 
in the war of 1812. 

Spoor, Eliza D., was the daughter of Thomas W. Lamoreaux (see Harry R. Drake's 
personal sketch for account of both of Mrs. Spoor's marriages). Her granddaughter's 
(Mrs. L. G. Baldwin) husband is L. G. Baldwin; his father, Amos Baldwin, was born 
in Pennsylvania, April 5, 1844, and married Eliza. Whitbeck, by whom he had two 
children, Leonard G. and Ezra P. Mr. Baldwin enlisted in Company D, 50th Penn. 
Vols., and was first sergeant of his company. He was taken prisoner May 12, 1864, 
and exchanged on May 5, 1865. This regiment participated in twenty-nine general 
engagements. Leonard G. Baldwin is captain of E. K. Burnham Camp No. 14, Sons of 
Veterans. 

Tiffany, George W., was born at Austerlitz, Columbia county, February 18, 1844, and 
came to Ontario county with his parents when he was three months of age. He was 
educated in the public schools, and has always followed farming. He has also had 
charge of and settled several estates. January 24, 1867, he married Theessa Coons, of 
the town of Arcadia, and they have one daughter, Iva F., who is a student. Mr. 
Tiffany's father, Lamont, was born at Austerlitz, Columbia county, in 1808, and married 
Sophia Clark, of that county. They had ten children: Charles L., Jane, Esther M., 
George W., as noted,' Edward D., Loren R., Florence A., Sophia E., Millie E., and 
Anna B. He died in 1869, and his wife May 10, 1876. Mrs. Tiffany's father, Alexander 
Coons, was born at Red Hook, Dutchess county, July 4, 1812. He was educated in the 
schools of his day, and always followed farming. April 10, 1848, he married Deborah 
E. Ackley, of Stockport, Columbia county, formerly of Sing Sing, Westchester county. 
They had two children, one who died in infancy, and Theessa, as above. The family 
came to Newark in November, 1849. He died in 1887, and his widow resides with her 
daughter, Mrs. Tiffany. Mr. Tiffany is a member of Newark Grange. 



310 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Williams, Fletcher, was born at Bennington, Vt., June 19, 1817. His parents were 
Dr. Richard P. Williams and Lucy Fletcher. They moved to Newark, N. Y., while 
their children were young, and resided there until their death. Their children were 
Stephen K. Williams, of Newark, N. Y., of whom mention is made elsewhere; Lucy L., 
who married Samuel S. Morley, of Clyde, N. Y., and is now deceased; and Noel Byron, 
who died while a young man. Fletcher Williams married Ann Eliza Ford, daughter of 
Aaron Ford, of Columbia county. N. Y., October 18, 1840, by whom he had two 
children, a son and a daughter. Their son, A. Ford Williams, is now living at Chatham 
Center, N. Y., but their daughter, who married Rev. Walton W. Battershall, now of 
Albany, N. Y., died at Rochester. N. Y., September 25, 1872, leaving three children. 
Mrs. Fletcher Williams died at Newark, N. Y., January 29, 1851. Mr. Williams on 
June 23, 1859, married Ann Eliza Grant, daughter of Eliab T. Grant, of Newark, N. Y., 
and her death on June 27, 1861, again left him a widower. No children were born of 
this marriage. On June 28, 1865, he married his present wife, Sarah H. Rose, of Rose 
Hill, Wayne county, N. Y., by whom he has had four children, Charles R., Fletcher, jr., 
Rose, and Arthur R, all of whom are living, except the first mentioned, who died near 
Devers, Texas, March 24, 1894. Mr. Williams has been in his business life a very 
prominent factor in the improvement and building up of the village of Newark. When 
about eighteen years of age he began his business career as a clerk in the store of Esbon 
Blackmar at Newark, where he continued for about two years. He then formed a 
partnership with Abel T. Blackmar, which lasted for about two years, and after that 
with Henry Meesick he opened a general store of his own at East Newark, in which he 
continued about the same length of time. He then organized at Newark a State bank, 
the Bank of Newark, and it was in the year 1863 reorganized into the First National 
Bank of Newark, N. Y., of which Mr. Williams has ever since been president. He has 
always been the active and controlling man in each of these banks, and his was one of 
the few State banks that came through the crisis of 1857 without failure. His con- 
servative management has added much to the prosperity of the place, and in all monetary 
crises his bank has had the confidence of the public. Mr. Williams has been active in 
the support and building up of the Episcopal church at Newark, and his contributions 
to it have exceeded those of any other member. He has always been a member of its 
vestry, and for many years a warden, and for sometime was treasurer of the Diocese of 
Western New York. He has never been a politician nor held public office, though he 
has had many trusts confided to his care. He has devoted himself to his business and 
preferred not to be diverted from it, believing that the one occupation to which he has 
devoted his life fully sufficient for his time and strength. 

Cronise Family, The — Among the first settlers in Arcadia was Henry Cronise. His 
father, John Cronise, came in 1802 with Colonel Rochester from Frederick, Maryland, 
where they had been neighbors. In December, 1802, he purchased, and had surveyed 
by John Smith, two tracts of land, one of 260 3-4 acres east of Ganargua River, or 
Mud Creek, part of which is now known as the William Watters farm, south from Mud 
Mills, the other tract of 396 1-2 acres, two and one-half miles north, which became the 
Cronise homestead. For the 657 acres he paid $2,628, or four dollars an acre. His 
deed from Sir William Pulteney was received January 12, 1803. He afterwards re- 
turned to Maryland and died there September 29, 1803. After the death of John 
Cronise the first of these tracts passed to his daughter Snsannah, wife of Henry Lamb- 
right, and was known as the Lambright farm. Here the widow of John, Mary 
Cronise nee Fey, of Scotland, died December 19, 1823, at the age of seventy, being 
buried in Newark Cemetery. The second tract passed to his son, Henry Cronise, who 
came from Maryland in 1807. bringing wirh him several slaves which he soon freed, 
although most of them remained in his employ for many years afterward. February 
14, 1813, he married Mary, daughter of Samuel Soverhill who had settled in Arcadia in 
1798. About 1813 he built the frame house still standing as part of the house now upon 
the place, a part being added in 1836. In this house he lived until near the time of his 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 311 

death in 1870. Besides his farm he had at different times operated the flouring mill at 
Mud Mills, the saw mill west of his farm and another at Phelps. From these mills he 
furnished in 1840 and 1841 the bed-timbers, cross ties and upper rails (on which the 
strap iron track was spiked) for a section of the old Syracuse & Rochester Railroad 
through Phelps. He also built the Methodist church at Newark and several bridges 
across the Clyde River, and executed other building contracts. His wife, Mary S~>ver- 
hill Cronise, died at the homestead June 6, 1867, and three years later he himself died 
at the residence of his daughter, Mrs. Leggett, in Newark, June 16, 1870, at the age of 
eighty-one. Of the family of eight children who grew up here, six are still living, 
(1894), viz: Mrs. Sarah M. Demming of Oswego, Simon Cronise of Rochester, Henry 
Cronise of Chili, Mrs. Susan B. Leggett and John S. Cronise of Newark, and Samuel 
Cronise of Lyons. Simon Cronise, the third of the family in possession of a portion of 
the homestead tract, married October 22, 1840, Catherine Maria Fredenburgh, daughter 
of Martin Fredenburgh who came from Ghent, Columbia county, in 1826. Upon this 
place they resided from 1854 until her death in January, 1886, when he removed to 
Roehester, where he now resides. Of their children, Charles Theodore Cronise removed 
in 1872 to Logansport, Indiana, where he married Charlotte Butler, afterwards remov- 
ing to Pensacola, Florida, his present home, and Adelbert Cronise left the homestead in 
1873 to enter the university at Rochester, afterwards taking up the practice of law in 
that city where he still resides, although retaining this portion of the original Cronise 
tract, being the fourth in possession in the ninety-two years. 

Schaich, George, was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, November 16, 1859, where he 
was educated, and learned the business of nurseryman and gardener, at what we would 
call the experiment station, at Hoheinheim, Germany, from which he received a certifi- 
cate of efficiency, one of the highest in the class. He came to the United States Sep- 
tember 13, 1883, locating in Rochester, where he served Elwanger & Barry eight years. 
January 1, 1891, he came to the State Custodial Asylum, where he occupies the position 
of gardener and florist. Since he came here he has made much improvement, especially 
in laudscape gardening. May 21, 1885, he married Jennie E. Hess, a native of Germany, 
and they have had two children : Emily, who died aged eight months, and George W., 
born May 4, 1888. William, father of our subject, was born at the old home in Ger- 
many in 1832 and married Catrina Haussler of his native place. Their children were: 
George, Barbara, Catrina, Mary, and two died young. Conrad Hess, father of Mrs. 
Schaich, was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, 1824, and married Rose Hoss, of the 
same place. They had seven children : Mary, Jenny, Goetlib, Charles, Caroline, and two 
who died young. Both parents are dead. 

Blackmar, Ransom and Esbon, came to Newark in the fall of 1826. The former died 
December 31, 1841, and Esbon November 19, 1857. A. T. came in 1833 and Orrin in 
the spring of 1835. Abel Blackmar with his wife and youngest son Edwin came in the 
fall of 1835. Their father, Abel, died March 18, 1843, and their mother February 14, 
1861. The family ancestry is from England. Sir Henry Blackmar came to this coun- 
try and bought about one-third of the State of Rhode Island and part of his descend- 
ants afterward settled in Connecticut, from which place they removed to Greene 
county, N. Y. When Ransom and Esbon came to Newark they engaged in general 
merchandise, buying grain, boat building, and shipping grain on the canal. Their first 
boat was named the R. & E. Blackmar. The county was settled by eastern people, and 
when they visited relatives in the east it was customary to go in neighborhood parties, 
and go with some favorite captain of the boat which they selected and have a good 
social time, as the forward part of the canal boats were finished in cabins for passengers, 
the back of the boat for cooking and the accommodation of the crew, and the center 
for freight. The capacity for grain was about 600 bushels and Albany was the chief 
market in the east. Colonel Bartle was then doing business in Newark (formerly 
called Miller's Basin) associated with Mr. Norton of Phelps, under the firm name of 



312 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

Bartle, Norton & Co., who had extensive mills near Phelps and shipped their flour at 
Newark. Most of the farmers who first settled in Arcadia had little means, and usually 
came with a young wife and children to seek their fortune in what was then known as 
the far west. They took up land from the land office in Geneva, making small payment, 
and trusting to their industry for a future home. The merchants and grain buyers had 
their nearest banking accommodations at the Geneva Bank at Geneva, and the mer- 
chants were the bankers for the farmers, making them loans to pay their interest and 
payments at the land office, and selling them dry goods and groceries on one year's time 
until they could plant and harvest crops. The most of the land on which Newark is 
located is shown by title deeds to have at one time belonged to some member of the 
Blackmar family, and to Esbon and Horace Blackmar, a cousin and partner in business. 
is due the surveying, mapping and laying out of many of the streets of our village. 
Esbon Blackmar was several times supervisor of the town and twice represented the 
district in the State Legislature, and at one time represented his district as member of 
Congress : and we will add. was one of the town's honest, honored, efficient and useful 
citizens. Orrin and Edwin are still doing business in Newark. The enterprise, sterling 
integrity, and Christian sentiments of the first business men in Newark and the farmers 
first settling Arcadia are clearly represented in their descendants. 

Fisk, H. Hudson, was born in Arcadia, two and one half miles southwest of Newark 
July 19, 1849, was educated in the common and the Union School and Academy of 
Newark. The early part of his life was spent on the homestead farm. He also 
taught school several years, and was vice-principal of the Union School and 
Academy here six years. In November, 1885, he became a newspaper man, purchasing 
the Newark Union, which he has conducted since with success, as proprietor, editor and 
publisher. Mr. Fisk's father, Lonson, was born in Saratoga county February 11, 1811. 
June 14, 1832. he married Adelia Wells of the town of Manchester, who was born 
March 1. 1812. They had nine children, George W., Samuel. Willis P., William H., A. 
Judson and H. Hudson (twins), Jennie, Frances A., and Belle. Mr. Fisk, sr., died De- 
cember 19, 1885. and his wife July 27. 1888. The family came to reside in this town 
in 1823. 

Collins, T. W. — The grandfather of our subject, Thaddeus Collins, emigrated from 
Vermont in 1800, settled in Phelps, Ontario county, about three miles south of the 
present village of Phelps. He removed to Wa}'ne county about 1812 and took up a 
tract of land comprising a part of the present site of Pine Valley and extending north- 
ward a considerable distance. The house he built and in which he died is still standing 
and is at present occupied by Mrs. Closs. Stephen Collins, father of T.W., was born at 
Phelps in 1802, removed to Rose with his father in 1812 and spent the remainder of his 
days in that town. He died in December, 1892. T. W. Collins was born on his father's 
farm in Rose April 15, 1830, spent his youth and early manhood in working on the 
farm. He graduated from Genesee College in 1855, went to the Albany Law School 
and was admitted to the bar in 1857. He opened a law office at Wolcott in December, 
1857, and practiced his profession at that place for nine years. During that time he 
served as supervisor of Wolcott one year (1860), and three years as member of Assem- 
bly, the last year (1865), holding the position of chairman of the committee of ways and 
means. In 1866 was elected county clerk of Wayne county, and removed to Lyons in 
December of that year. In 1872 went off with the liberals, ran for elector on the 
Greeley ticket and was defeated. In 1879 was elected judge and surrogate of Wayne 
county and held the office for a single term, since which he has been practically out of 
politics and engaged in the practice cf law. 

Kelley, Clarence M., was born on the old homestead south of Newark, September 20, 
1850, and was educated in the common and the Union School and Academy. In early 
life lie learned the machinist trade at H. C. Silsby's, Seneca Falls, and became a 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 313 

thorough workman. Taking locomotive work he pursued it in detail at Schenectady, 
Philadelphia, and for the N. Y. C. & H. R. R. R. Leaving the locomotive cab in 1876 
he went to the Black Hills and Big Horn region, prospecting and mining, and for four 
years remained there testing many claims. He came back to the East with the intention 
of settling in Newark, but was induced to take charge of the Bignall Manufacturing 
Works at Medina, which employed seventy men. This he left in 1885, and came back- 
to Newark to succeed his father in business, purchasing the Eagle Foundry site on 
Union street and erecting the present Kelley block. With his own private purse he led 
the work of establishing grade, laying walk, and curbing Union street in front of his 
premises. He has added to his business house furnishing goods and carriages, and by 
liberal dealing has made his business a success. October 7, 1880, he married at Medina 
Rasena Randolph. Mrs. Kelley's father, Rev. Webster Randolph, was born in Vermont. 
He located in Newark and was instrumental in building the present Universalist church. 
He married Eliza Vose, of Boston, and they had three children, B. Howe, Rasena, and 
Caroline, who died in infancy. Mr. Randolph died in October, 1893, and his wife in 
January, 1882. Mr. Kelley is a member of Newark Lodge No. 83, F. & A. M., of 
Newark Chapter No. 117, R. A. M., Zenobia Commandery No. 41, K. T. 

Chamberlain, Dr. Dwight S., was born in Litchfield county, Conn., February 22, 1839. 
His great-grandfather was an officer in the Revolution, connected with General Wash- 
ington's staff. Dr. Chamberlain was educated at the Genesee Seminary and College, 
Lima, N. Y., and in March, 1862, he graduated from the medical department of the 
University of the City of New York. He then sailed to England as surgeon of a ship 
engaged in the transportation of emigrants. Returniug the following summer he entered 
the service as assistant surgeon of the 138th N. Y. Vols., later the 9th N. Y. Heavy 
Artillery, participating in the battles of Cold Harbor and Petersburg, Sheridan's cam- 
paign in the valley of the Shenandoah, the capture of Richmond and Petersburg, and 
the final engagement at Savior's Run. He was promoted to major and surgeon in 
February, 1865, and mustered out in July of that year. He took charge of the Soldier's 
Home and Hospital at Syracuse for a short time, and in September, 1865, he entered 
into partnership with Dr. Bottom of Lyons, and practiced here until the spring of 1868, 
when he began reading law. He was admitted to the bar in 1874, since which time he 
has been more or less interested in that profession. Dr. Chamberlain has been con- 
nected with the Lyons National Bank for many years, as director, vice-president, and 
finally as president. In memory of his father-in-law, the late D. W. Parshall, our sub- 
ject has erected a beautiful memorial building on William street, the upper part of which 
contains one of the finest opera houses in the State, outside the large cities. October 
17, 1868, Dr. Chamberlain married Katharine M. Parshall, and they have two sons and 
a daughter. One of the sons is vice-president of the Lyons National Bank, and the 
other is engaged in real estate and other outside matters. Both Dr. and Mrs. Chamber- 
lain are heavily interested in real estate in this town and county, owning the principal 
business places here, as well as other property, farming land, etc. He is an able lawyer, 
affable, and easily approached. 

Ream, Fred, was born near Strausburg, Germany, January 4, 1840. He is a son of 
Peter and Lena (Strang) Ream, natives of Germany, who emigrated to America in 
1849, and settled near Lyons. Peter Ream then removed to Rose, and finally settled in 
Rochester, where he died in 1891. His wife still survives him and resides with her son, 
C. W. Ream. The maternal grandfather, George Strang, was a prominent man of 
Lemberg, Germany, and was treasurer and county clerk under Napoleon during the 
French Revolution. Our subject has always followed farming. He now owns one 
hundred acres, and carries on general farming. In 1867 he married Lovina, daughter of 
Squire Mitchell, of Rose, by whom he has two daughters, Alice F. and Edith L. Mr. 
Ream has held several town offices, and at present is justice of the peace. He is a mem- 
ber of Clyde Grange. They attend and support theM. E. church. 



314 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY 

Lyman. Milo S., was born in Galen, May 18, 1826, son of Jesse and Betsey (Sedgwick) 
Lyman, he a native of Connecticut, and came to Galen about 1820, and then to Rose, 
where he settled on a farm, and finally to Rose Valley, where he died in 1863. He kept 
light house at Sodus Point for about ten years. Subject's mother died when he was five 
years of age, and he was bound out to work for Adam Learn of Galen, with whom he 
remained until he was twenty-one. He afterward worked for John Learn seven years, 
worked his farm three years, and during the time bought forty acres in Rose, on which 
he moved and erected buildings, remaining three years. He next worked by the month 
eight years, and then rented his father-in-law's farm. In 1873 he bought the farm he 
now owns, of 148 acres. No man in this town had less to start with than had Milo S. 
Lyman, few have done any better. Energy, honesty and perseverance, accompanied 
with a faithful devoted and capable wife, have placed him in the forefront of our towns- 
men. A man to be admired and emulated. He had no school advantages and is wholly 
a self-made man; what he has done every man may do. Mr. Lyman has been poor- 
master one year, has been a member of the M. E. church thirty years, and has held every 
office in the church of Rose Valley. He married in 1854 Rebecca, daughter of John 
Barnes, by whom he had one son, John W., born in February, 1857. He was educated 
in Albany Normal School (class of '79), from which he graduated with high honors, and 
taught school two years in Garrison. His health failed and he died with quick consump- 
tion in 1881. Mrs Lyman died May 18, 1892, and in April, 1894, he married Clarissa 
Webb, of Huron. He has one adopted son, George A. Barnes, son of James Barnes, of 
Huron. 

Pulver, John, was born in Schoharie, N. Y., in 1807, a son of John M., who came to 
Sodus in 1829. Their ancestors came from Holland in an early day and settled in 
Dutchess county. John M. married Rebecca Millis, and their children were: Serene, 
John, Jane, Dorcas, William, Daniel, Anson, and Jerome. John settled in Sodus and is 
engaged in farming. He married Mis. Lucinda, widow of William Ellsworth. Ami 
Ellsworth, the pioneer of the family in Wayne county, came from East Windsor, Conn., 
on foot in 1800, and took up one hundred acres of land on the lake west of Sodus Point. 
He built a log house and returned to Connecticut for his family. They endured all the 
hardships that fall to the lot of s settler in a new country. His wife was Chloe Allen, and 
in 1807, learning that she had inherited some property in Connecticut, she made the 
journey there and back on horseback alone. Their children were: Ami, Sophia, Huldab, 
Aurelia, Julia A., Levi, Ann, William, who settled on the homestead and was a prosper- 
ous and enterprising farmer. He married Lucinda Sophia Selby, of Palmyra, and died 
in 1853. 

Van Slyck, Charles D., was born in Sodus, December 6, 1859, and is a son of James Van 
Slyck, who was born in the eastern part of the State of New York in 1820, in early life 
moved to Sodus, where he died March 3, 1875. He was a farmei and a man of quiet 
tastes and never sought political honors. He married Olivia Etherington, November 17, 
1858, and their children were Charles D., Nellie E. (Mrs. E. J. Harvey), May H, and 
Carrie Olivia (Mrs. James E. Hanby). Charles D. is a farmer on the old homestead, and 
January 25, 1893, was married to Miss Eva C. Stickney. 

Field, Warren A., was born in Sodus Point in 1840, and is a son of Rodoiphus, whose 
father was Wells Field. This family traces its ancestry back to Sir John Field, who 
came from England to Plymouth, Mass., in 1620. Rodoiphus served in the war of 1812, 
being at the battle of Plattsburgh, etc. At the close of the war he settled in Utica, and 
in 1818 removed to Sodus, where he died October 11, 1880. In 1815 he married 
Rachael, daughter of Aaron and Susan (Watkins) Williams, of Utica, by whom he had 
these children : Lurancy, William W., Elizabeth, Charles, Morris, Oliver O, Mariah, 
Cleason, Catharine O, Warren A., Mary, besides two who died young. Warren settled 
in Sodus Point, and at the age of fifteen years became a sailor, and with short exceptions 



FAMILY SKETCHES. :;ir, 

he has spent his life in this service on the lakes. He is captain and owner of the steamer 
Sunbeam, and has also real estate interest at Sand Point. For several years he con- 
ducted a store at Sodus Point, and was also partner in a planing mill there. He is a 
member of the Sodus Bay Yacht Club. He married Elmina Harroun, and they have two 
children, Alvin, and Cora, wife of Aaron Shufelt, of Sodus Point. 

Sauer, Martin, was born in Germany near Bingen-on the-Rhine, came to America in 
1834, when nineteen years of age, and settled in the south part of Sodus. Two brothers, 
Christopher and John, came about the same time all settling in the same part of the 
town. Christopher removed to Illinois about 1850. John Sauer purchased a large farm 
and was one of the prosperous farmers of town. He married Eva Lang, and their chil- 
dren were : John, Henry J., Christiana, Mary and George, all of whom reside in Sodus. 
Martin Sauer purchased a large tract of land, and by industry has become one of the 
most prominent and wealth}^ farmers in the town. He married Caroline Lang, and their 
children are : Henry M., who settled in Arcadia and is a farmer. He married Mary A. 
Sauer from near Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada; Caroline, who married Nicholas 
Espenscheid, of Sodus ; Catherine, who married Adam Frey, of East Palmyra ; Mar- 
garet, who married Asa F. Andrews, of Joy ; Barbara, William, Jacob and Charles, of 
Sodus. 

Seymour, Morris J., was born in Sodus on the farm he now'occupies December 24, 
1840, a son of Orson, born in 1801, Avho is a son of Ebenezer who came from Pompey, 
Onondaga county, about 1808, and settled at Palmyra. They removed to Williamson 
and soon after to the town of Sodus. Ebenezer married Jemima Wilbur, and their chil- 
dren were: Valda, Sidney (deceased), Orson, who died in 1875; Delmer, Harland, 
Morris (deceased), Orlando, Lucmda, Jennette, Mary A. and Clarissa. Morris J. Sey- 
mour resides on the homestead and is a farmer. In 1862 he enlisted in the 160thN. Y. 
Inf., and served until the close of the war. He was wounded at the battle of Winchester. 
He is a member of Dwight Post, G. A. R., of Sodus. He married in 1870 Hannah Burt 
of Washington county. 

Pearsall, John T., was born in Huron, Wayne county, in 1856, and is a son of Henry 
who came from Saratoga to Seneca county in 1839, and about 1842 settled in the town 
of Huron and engaged in farming. He married Jane Terbush, and their children were : 
John O. (deceased), William H., Eleanor, Esther, George, Amanda, John T., Phoebe and 
Edwin. William H. settled in Huron, where he died ; Eleanor married Cyrus E. Fitch 
and seitled in Butler ; Esther married James McClure and settled in Tompkins county ; 
George settled in Wolcott, where he died ; Amanda married Frank W. Hague and 
settled in Niagara county ; Phoebe married first Anthony Curtis and second Abraham 
Griswold, and settled in Wolcott; Edward settled in Sodus; John T. settled in Sodus 
and is an enterprising farmer. He was several years excise commissioner, and in 1893 
was elected assessor. He married in 1883 Adelia L., daughter of John Bates, of Sodus, 
by whom he has two children : Leo B. and Theda J. 

Granger, Sprague S., was born in Sodus, April 10, 1849, a son of Thomas J., who 
settled in the town of Sodus when a young man, the land then being unbroken forest. 
He cleared and brought under cultivation several farms, and in 1869 came to Sodus 
village to reside, where he was for many years engaged in the manufacture of fanning 
mills. He belonged to the Masonic fraternity, Sodus Lodge No. 392. He married 
Satira Negus, and had these children : George, who settled in Sodus, where he is engaged 
in the manufacture of fanning mills, etc., and who married Tammy Pulver ; Harriet A., 
who married Hezekiah Lake; Samuel, who died young; and Sprague S., who settled in 
Sodus and established a lumber yard, carried on a saw and planing mill, and was engaged 
in the manufacture of fanning mills, sash, doors and blinds, etc., carrying on for several 
years an extensive business. He was also engaged in basket manufacturing. He takes 
a keen interest in political affairs, having served as commissioner of highways, etc. He 



31G LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

takes a keen interest in political affairs, having served as commissioner of highways, etc. 
He is a member of Sodus Lodge No. 392, F. & A. M., and Wayne Chapter. In 1872 he 
married Alice E. Wride, of Sodus, and they have one daughter, Bessie W. 

Brower, Aldice W., was born near Sodus Center December 23, 1844, and is a son of 
Myron, whose father, Peter Brower, was a native of New Jersey, his ancestors having 
come from Holland. He settled at Phelps, N. Y., at an early day and about 1830 pur- 
chased a farm about a miie south of Sodus Center where he engaged in farming. He 
served in the War of 1812. He was a leading member of the Sodus Center Baptist church, 
of which he was a deacon. He married Betsey Van Dusen at Phelps, and their children 
were : Cynthia, who married John Yan Duzer and settled in Sodus ; John was a miller and 
settled in Michigan, but later returned to Sodus where he died ; Aaron settled in Sodus; 
Jane married Thomas Hopkins, of Sodus. Myron Brower settled in Sodus and was a 
farmer. He married Mary Taylor, and they had these children : Aldice W., Mary E., 
who married Walter Thornton, of Sodus, and Bell, who married Charles Stell. Aldice 
W. was engaged in farming until 1872, when he became agent of the railroad at Sodus 
Center, which position he still holds. In 1881 he built a warehouse there, and has since 
been engaged in the produce business. He has been justice of the peace four years, 
supervisor of the town of Sodus three years, 1887, 1888, and 1889; and for several years 
has been notary public. In February, 1873, he was appointed postmaster at Sodus 
Center and held that office until July, 1893. He is a member of Sodus Lodge No. 392, 
F.'& A. M.. Wayne Chapter No. 276 and Zenobia Commandery, No. 41, of Palmyra. 
In December, 1863, he enlisted in the 9th Heavy Artillery, and served until the close of 
the war, He is a charter member of Dwight Post, G. A. R., of Sodus. He married in 
1869 Urania Dennis, of Sodus. 

Wolfe, John, was born in Mecklenburg-Schwenn, Germany, January 29, 1830, and 
came to this country in 1855. He was a cabinet maker by trade, and in December, 1893. 
established the grocery business now carried on by him, having one of the best selected 
stores in town, and keeping a line of cigars, tobacco, and imported goods. At the age 
of twenty-four Mr. Wolfe married Caroline Winters, daughter of Jacob Winters, and 
they have eight children, six sons and two daughters. Our subject is one of the active 
business men in the town, thoroughly up in all the events of the day, and recognized as 
a man of strict integrity in all his dealings. 

Howell, Veron R., was born in Marion, September 16, 1847, a son-of Hiram Howell, 
also of this county, born November 15, 1814. The family came from Orange. Hiram 
married Alma Twadell, and they were the parents of Veron R. The latter was educated 
in the common schools and finished at the Marion Collegiate Institute. He enlisted in 
Co. B, 9th N. Y. Heavy Artillery, December 15, 1863, and participated in the battles of 
Cold Harbor, Monocacy Junction, Winchester, Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek, having 
been slightly wounded at Cold Harbor. He was honorably discharged at the close of 
the war, in 1865. Returning to Marion he finished his studies, and at the age of thirty- 
five married Hattie E., daughter of Oliver Sutton, of Lyons, January 1, 1874. He was 
appointed deputy sheriff under R. P. Grost, and in 1877 removed to Lyons. In 1882 he 
was elected sheriff of his county, serving three years. In 1886 he was appointed re- 
ceiver of the firm of J. 0. Spencer & Co., of Waterloo, also executor and administrator 
of several large estates in his county. Mr. Howell is identified with the best interests 
of his town and county. 

Van Dusen, Harlan, was born in Arcadia July 26, 1846, a son of William, who came 
from Rensselaer county in 1835. The family were prominent farmers in this town. 
Harlan was educated in the common schools of his town and the Marion Collegiate 
Institute, after which he taught for three years, then studied medicine with Dr. Myron 
Adams of Rochester. He took also a course of study at the Hahneman Medical Col- 
lege of Philadelphia, and graduated from the Detroit Medical College in 1872, return- 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 317 

ing to Newark He there established a general practice and at the age of twenty-two 
married Lucy 0. daughter of B. B. Adams, of Marion, Wayne county, who have two 
children Forest E. and Harlan H. Our subject is one of the most intelligent men in 
his profession, and has also lived a very active business life, being the promoter and 
founder of some of the largest enterprises in his county. In 1859 he established the 
business of growing small fruits, making a specialty of raspberries, being the first 
grower ot the Ohio raspberries. He has now between thirty and forty acres of nur 
sery stock, small fruits, etc. 

Sautler, Edward, was born in Utica, September 4, 1865, a son of Christian who came 
from Germany in 1849. Edward was educated in the High School of Utica and fin 
ished at the business college of that place, after leaving which he engaged in' the boot 
and shoe business. February 5, 1889, he came to Lyons and established the business 
known as Hattler, Sautler, & Co., which was dissolved in 1893, and then established his 
present business, carrying one of the largest lines of boots and shoes and rubber cr 00 ds 
in Wayne county. They have the finest goods produced by the trade, and Mr Saut- 
tler is one of the leading merchants in the town, having made a high record for integ- 
rity and uprightness. & 

Smith, Arthur H., was born in St. John, N. B., July 2, 1847. He is a son of Thomas 
who came to Wayne county in 1848 and engaged in the malting business until 1884' 
when his son, A. H., became a partner with him in the business. In 1887 he sold out 
to A. H. Smith and J. K. Southen, of Boston, the stvle being the Smith Maltino- Com- 
pany, which firm continued up to 1890, when A. H. Smith withdrew and built & a malt 
house for himself. In 1892 he associated with F. H. Topping of Philadelphia the firm 
being Smith & Topping, who continued the business until it had a capacity of 200 000 
bushels. The mas built a malt house in Weedsport. He died in 1890 aged eighty-three 
years. A. H. Smith married at the age of twenty-three, Mary B., daughter of David 
O Bockoven, and they have two children, Arthur H, jr., and Mrs. Anna Wood Both 
Mr. Smith and his father have been prominently identified with the best interests of 
their town. 

Norton, Luther M., was born in the town of Groveland, Livingston county Feb- 
ruary 26, 1832, was educated in the common schools and at the Genesee Wesleyan 
Seminary at Lima. He attended in addition to this the Genesee and Wyoming Semi- 
nary at Alexander, and was a successful teacher eight years. He studied law in the 
meantime, and was admitted to the bar to practice in the Supreme Court in 1855 since 
which he has had a successful practice. He has resided in Newark since 1851 In the 
fall of 1869 he was elected county judge, serving one term. In the fall of 1891 he was 
re-elected to the same position, the term being now six years. In 1853 he married 
Sarah M. Stilson of Mt. Morns, Livingston county, and they have three children ■ Flora 
A., wife of William Palmer, of Palmyra, by whom she has two children. J. Bradley and 
Grace. Mr. Palmer is deceased. The other children are Grace M„ who was educated 
in the Elmira Female College, and is teaching in Iowa; and Willis I., who married 
Maud, daughter of William Hicks of Phelps. Judge Norton and family are members 
of the Baptist Church. 

Catlin, Charles M., was born in the town of Phelps, Ontario county, August 22 1844 
and came to this county with his parents at the age of nine years, locating in South 
Sodus. He was educated in the common schools and in early life was a farmer Au- 
gust 9, 1862, he eniisted in Co. D, 111th N. Y. Vols., and was promoted corporal ser- 
geant, then commissary sergeant. June 11, 1865, he received his honorable discharge 
and upon his return engaged in the lumber trade. He is also the proprietor of a steam 
saw mill, to both of which occupations he gives his attention. December 25 1865 he 
married Margaret A. Mitchell of this town, by whom he has six children ■ Mattie L 
wife of Frank Oderkirk : Minnie R., wife of Lyman W. Riggs ; Charles J who is in 



318 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

business with his father; Carrie B., Eugene D., and Bertie B. Mr. Catlin is a member 
of Vosburg Post No. 99, G. A. R. His father was William Catlin, born in Phelps about 
1810, who married Lucy Cummings of his native town, and they had five children : 
Caroline, Mary, Charles M., Joseph W., and Lucy (who died young). He died in 1854 
and his widow survives. Mrs. Catlin's father was Jeremiah Mitchell, born in Lyons in 
1812, who married Martha Pope of Galen, and they had seven children: Rhoda J., 
John H., Calvin, Margaret A., Albert, Jeremiah and Edward. Both parents reside in 
town. 

Mitchell, Edward C, was born in the town of Arcadia April 21, 1858, was educated 
at Sodus Academy, and is one of Arcadia's enterprising farmers. June 2. 1881, he mar- 
ried Adeline Ford of Sodus, and they have two daughters, May and Ethel. Mrs. 
Mitchell's father, Alonzo Ford, was born in Sodus, November 3, 1834. February 20, 
1858, he married Ellen N. Lester of Sodus, formerly of Wyoming county, and they 
had one child, Adeline. Mr. Ford died September 7, 1869, and his widow resides with 
her daughter, Mrs. Mitchell. 

Horn, George A., was born in Cayuga county September 22, 1853. He was educated 
in the public schools, and is a patent right dealer by occupation. He is also putting an 
invention of his wife's upon the market, an ingenuious device, or pattern for cutting 
dresses. Our subject married Mrs. Henrietta Gray nee Sherwood, who is traveling in 
the interests of her own invention. Mr. Horn's father, Lewis, was born in Kent, Eng- 
land, March 23, 1826, and came to the United States with his parents at the age of five. 
Tney located in Rose Valley, where he was educated in the common schools and is 
now salesman for his son, George A. March 25, 1850, he married Mrs. Sarah A. Bene 
diet, nee Burghdorf, of this county, and they have two sons: George A. and L. Duane, 
who married Aggie Kelley, of Grand Rapids, Mich. The family is of English and 
German descent, and residents of Newark. 

Van Dusen, John H , was born in the town of Marion, Wayne county, April 12, 1830. 
He was educated in the common schools, and follows farming. August 2, 1862, he en- 
listed in Co. A, 160th N. Y. Vols., and when his company was organized he was made 
third sergeant, was taken prisoner, paroled, and wounded in action in the right arm, 
before Bisland, La., on April 12, 1863. He was honorably discharged in 1865, and May 
10th of that year he married Mary A. McFarlan, of Watertown, Jefferson county, and 
they have five children : Clara, wife of Lawrence McMaster, who has two children ; 
Tinie, wife of Edward Haley, of Blossburg, Ba,, who has one child ; Drsue, wife of 
Arthur Wheeler, of Canandaigua ; Ida M., wife of Charles M. McCoy, of Kane, Pa. ; 
and Charles T., a fruit grower and farmer who resides at home. Mrs. Van Dusen's 
father was John McFarlan. born in Canada in 1804, who had four daughters : Margaret, 
Mary, Ethel and Kittie. He died in 1885. 

Carl, Amos D., was born on the old homestead, in the northeast part of the town, 
January 28, 1849. He was educated in the district schools and follows farming. He 
has married twice, first to Hannah J. Sebring, by whom he had four children : Nora B., 
Francis J., Earl S. and Grace. Mrs. Carl died in 1890, and February 25, 1891, he mar. 
ried Ida Cummings of Rochester, and they have one daughter, Minnie F. Mr. Carl's 
father, Samuel, was born in Maine in 1800, and came here with his parents when 
a child, the journey being made in a covered wagon. He married Jane Drake of 
this town, and they had eight children : Catharine, Amos D., Sarah J., Benjamin F., 
Joseph D., Mary, Ella and Jehiel. The father died about 1878, and his widow survives. 
Mr. Carl's grandfather, Benjamin, came here when the country was a wilderness, and 
suffered all the hardships of pioneer life. 

Travers, Mrs. Jane A., was born in Arcadia. The late George W. Travers was a native 
of Wayne county, born November 17, 1840, and was educated in the district schools. 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 319 

His early life was spent at farm work, and his mother died when he was seven years of 
age. February 4, 1866, he married Jane A. Miller, of the town of Arcadia, hy whom he 
had three children: William, who died in infancy ; Hattie M., who died in her eleventh 
year; and Nettie A., who resides with her mother. Mr. Travers was a railway con- 
ductor on the N. Y. C. & H. R. R. R. and died April 25, 1892. Mrs. Travers's father, 
Silas Miller, was born ia the town of Phelps, Ontario county about 1816. (See Edgar 
D, Miller's history in this work). 

Mitchell, Albert, was born in the old homestead in the town of Arcadia, November 6, 
1847. He was educated in the common schools and has always followed farming. He 
owns a fine farm in Ingham county, Mich., on which his oldest son is located, while he is 
farmer for his aged parents here. December 13, 1868, he married Caroline Sebring of 
this town, and they have three sons: Lyman J., Charles A., and George H. Lyman 
married Mahala Darling, of Jackson county, Mich., and they have one son, Hugh D.. 
born February 13, 1893. Mrs. Albert Mitchell's father, Philip Sebring, was born in 
Dutchess county March 2, 1809, and married Lydia Gilllet of Lyons, born in Dutchess 
county August 30, 1817, by whom he had ten children ; James, Alfred, a soldier in the 
Rebellion, who died from starvation in Salisbury Prison, North Carolina; Ira, also a sol- 
dier; Edgar, Susan, who died aged twelve; Caroline, Hannah J., who died aged thirty- 
nine • Charles A., Fannie and Sylvester. He died September 2, 1866, and his wife died 
August 15 3 1883. 

Frisbie, Alexander, was born in Canaan, Columbia county, N. Y., September 19, 1824, 
was educated in the public schools, and has followed farming. In 1851 he married 
Mary A. Lay of his native county and they had four daughters: Phoebe and Ruth 
(twins). Susan and Judith, all deceased except Mrs. Ruth Miller of East Newark. Mrs. 
Frisbie died July 28, 1888, mourned by a bereaved husband and daughter. Mr. Frisbie 
has built up his success by his own perseverance and energy, The Frisbie family came 
originally from France, they being Huguenots who fled to Wales, and from there came 
to the United States. 

Ehrhardt, George, was born in Alsace, France (now Germany), February 6, 1825, and 
came to this country with his parents when five years old in 1830, and they located in 
Lyons, this county. April 10, 1856, he married Lena Schimp, of his native town, and 
their children are as follows : Diedrich, who married Helen Baltzel, and has three children, 
Frank, Grover, and Belle; M. Jane, who married Jacob Hartman, of Palmyra, and has 
three children, Diedrich, Anna M , and Raymond ; George H., who married Mary 
Heidenreich, and has three children, Rupert, Eveline, and Edna (who {died young) ; 
Philip E., who married Elizabeth Rasche, and had one child, Raymond E. (who died 
young) ; Rosa M., who married George Baltzel, and had four children, Albertine M., 
Mabel R., Esther M., and Ruth L. Mr. Baltzel died in June, 1892; E. Belle, who is a 
teacher, and resides at home ; Louisa (deceased) ; William F., and Frederick, who are 
farmers, and living at home. Mr. Ehrhardt has owned the homestead farm since 1872. 

Sheer, the late Jacob, was born in Alsace, France (now Germany), May 30, 1826, and 
at the age of eleven years came to the United States with his parents, where he was 
educated in the public schools. They finally came to the town of Lyons, and later to the 
town of Arcadia. July 25, 1850, he married Elizabeth Ehrhardt, and they had eight 
children, four sons and four daughters: George H., who died in infancy ; Mary L., who 
married John Benning, of Lyons; Albert D., who married Louisa Kaiser, of Fairville, 
and is a postal clerk ; George E., a farmer at home for himself and his mother. He mar- 
ried Clara Austin, of this town ; and Helen A., who married William H. Welcher, now 
of Lyons ; Harold, Emma E., and Caroline D. are deceased. Mr. Sheer died February 
7, 1889. The father of Mrs. Sheer was Dederich Erhardt, who was born in Alsace, and 
married Dorothy Brock, of his native place. They had six children, Lena, Dorothy, 



320 LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 

George, Philip, Elizabeth, and a daughter. This excellent family came to the United 
States in 1830. 

Craver, Phillip H., was born in Rensselaer county, July 15, 1825, and came herewith 
his parents in 1841. He was educated in the district schools and has taught school 
winters several terms. He is a farmer by occupation. November 14, 1863, he married 
Martha Burnett, of this town. Two children were born to them, James A., a farmer at 
home with his father, and Emma, who also resides at home. The son was educated in 
the public schools and the Commercial College at Rochester. Mr. Craver's father, 
David I., was born in Rensselaer county, February 5, 1796. He was a farmer and 
mechanic by occupation. He married Elizabeth Fellers, of that county. They had 
three children, Phillip H, Charity, and Melissa. He died April 5, 1885, and his wife 
October 1, 1882. Mrs. Craver's father, William Burnett, was born in Rensselaer county, 
March 3, 1802. On August 24, 1822, he married Betsey Budd, of Columbia county, by 
whom he had eight children. 

Bennett, Clark, was born in Niagara county in 1856. His father was Orrin S., a son 
of Thomas Bennett, who came from Vermont in an early day and settled in Barre, 
Orleans county. In 1873 Orrin S. removed to Wayne county and settled in Sodus. 
He was a carpenter by trade, which he followed for some time, and later engaged in 
farming. He married Salome Baldwin, by whom he had two sons, Clark T. and 
Orlando. Orrin S. died in 1893. Orlando Bennett settled in Sodus Point. On arriving 
at manhood our subject was engaged in farming for several years, but since 1882 has 
had charge of the mercantile business of E. B. Mathes, at Sodus Center. In 1880 he 
married Florence, daughter of John Brant. She died in 1887, leaving two children, 
Ross and Lulu. In 1888 Mr. Bennett married Helen Proseus. 

Patrick, the late Isaac N., was born in Pittsford, Monroe county, November 7, 1822, 
and came to this town with his parents when three years old. He was educated in the 
district schools and was always a farmer. December 23, 1869, he married Mary Ann 
Derry, who was born April 10, 1840, in Fendrayton, Cambridgeshire, England. They 
had two children, Sarah E., who married John C. Penoyer, of Bristol, Ontario county, 
and has three children ; and Walter J., who was horn February 8, 1865, was educated 
in the district schools and at Newark Union School and Academy, and is a farmer on 
the home farm. February 7, 1884, he married Julia A. Bloom, of this town, and they 
had one son, Newton J., born April 17, 1888, who died August 7, 1893. Isaac N. Pat- 
rick died March 22, 1888, mourned by a bereaved wife and family. He was a member 
of the Masonic order. His father, John, was born March 1, 1788, and was a captain in 
the war of 1812, and a Mason. Mrs. Patrick's brother, Aldred Derry, was a soldier in 
the late war in the cavalry branch of the service, and was promoted to the position of 
captain. John Patrick was a manufacturer of plows. The Patrick family located on 
this homestead about 1828. The ancestry of this family is Scotch and English. 

Blakely, La Mott M., a native of the State of New York, was born in Wyoming 
county in the year 1830, where h's parents, who were natives of Vermont, settled in 
1817. His mother's parents were English, and his father's were Scotch. In his younger 
days he attended school in Wyoming county, and later at Honeoye and Richmond 
Mills, Ontario county, and completed his education at the East Bloomfield Academy. 
He began business in the lumber trade in Iowa and Illinois, and later extending his 
operations to the Missouri river, became a heavy shipper of lumber from points on the 
Mississippi river to all points on the Missouri river below St. Joseph, and continuing 
the business until the breaking out of the Rebellion, which closed for the time all traffic 
on the Missouri. At the close of the war he went to Atlanta. Georgia, where he 
engaged in an extensive cotton trade, which later he pursued at Washington, Newbern, 
and Greenville, North Carolina, handling at one time a large portion of all the cotton 
received at these ports. Still later he resumed the lumber trade and became one of 



FAMILY SKETCHES. 321 

the heaviest operators in the South. These operations extended over twenty years, and 
Georgetown, S. C, and Washington, and Newbern, N. C, were the principal points of 
these operations. During his long stay in the South he won the respect and good will 
of the southern people, and few, if any, has more warm friends in the sunny south to- 
day. He returned to Lyons a few years ago, where his people had resided since 1848. 
From the time of his return he has taken great interest in the advancement of Lyons. 
He has served as member of the board of trustees ; was made an alternate delegate to 
the national convention at Minneapolis in 1892, and last March was elected president 
of the village, and has been active in matters tending to improve the village, especially 
the streets and water courses. His administration has been characterized both by 
public improvements and the economical expenditure of public money. 

Grenell, Herman, was born in Galen, March 9, 1843, son of Herman and Lydia (Cobbj 
Grenell, he a native of Massachusetts, and she of Phelps, Ontario county, and came to 
Galen when Mr. Grenell was eight years old, with his parents, John and Lucy Grenell, 
natives of Massachusetts. Mr. Grenell died in April, 1885, and his wife in 1890. Sub- 
ject was reared on a farm and educated in the public schools. He has always been a 
farmer and owns seventy-five acres in Galen and 200 in Rose. He married in 1865, 
Marion C. Griner, a native of Clyde, and daughter of Barney and Phoebe Griner, early 
settlers of Clyde, where they died. Mr. Grenell and wife had three children : Eugene, 
who married Ida Glove, by whom he has one child, Florence ; Lydia, wife of Edward 
Luffman, who died aged twenty-two years leaving one child ; and Ada at home. 



INDEXES. 



Adams, William H., Gen., 115 
Agricultural fair, the first, 159 

Horticultural and Mechanical Asso- 
ciation of Galen, 163 

Society, Ontario, 160 

Palmyra, Union, 162 
Sodus, 164 
Wayne County, 160 
Aldrich, W. F., 117 
Alloway, 246 
Alton, 214 

Angell's Corners, 277 
Arcadia, cemeteries in, 364 

churches of, 377 et seq. 

first town meeting in, 358 

pioneers of, 360 et seq. 

schools of, 365 

statistics of, 363 

supervisors of, 359 

topography of, 357 
Arcadian Weekly Gazette, the, 142 
Arne, David, Dr., 129 
Arnold, George H., 120 
Ashley, Robert, Dr., 129 

R. W., 117 
Attorneys of Wayne county, 112 
Averill, E. S. , 132 
Bank, Briggs National, 271 

First National, of Newark, 373 
of Palmyra, 187 

Lyons National, 245 

of Lyons, 245 

Wayne County, 187 
Bankers of Clyde, 271 

of Lyons, 245 

of Newark, 373 

of Wolcott, 297 



Banks of Sodus, 211 
Barless Brothers, the, 145 

Romain C, Dr., 129 
Bashford, Coles, 117 
Bennett, Josiah, Dr., 128 
Bonnicastle, 425 
Bottum, Edward W., Dr., 125 
Burgess Brothers (W. C. and F. D.), 

142 
Burnham, Edwin K. , 134 
Burr, H. N., Dr., 143 
Butler Center, 435 

churches of, 435 et seq. 

first town meeting in, 428 

pioneers of, 429 et seq. 

schools of, 434 

statistics of, 433 

supervisors of, 428 

topography of, 42 7 
Camp, John H., 116 
Canal schemes, 71 
Chapin, Graham H., 115 
Churches of Arcadia, 377 

Butler, 435 

Galen, 277 

Huron, 425 

Lyons, 246 

Macedon, 344 

Marion, 392 

Ontario, 326 

Palmyra, 191 

Rose, 415 

Savannah, 356 

Sodus, 215 

Walworth, 400 

Williamson, 316 

Wolcott, 300 



134 



LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 



Civil divisions, original, of New York 
State, 1 

list, 96 
demons, Anson B., 133 
Climatology, 5 
Clyde Electric Company, 270 

fire department of, 269 

glass manufacture in, 272 

malting interest in, 274 

manufacturers of, 272 et seq. 

mineral springs in, 272 

pioneers of, 264 

presidents of, 267 

Times, the, 139 

water supply of, 270 
Colvin, Darwin, Dr., 126 
Cooper, George W. , 142 
County Poorhouse, 164 
Court, Chancery, 104 

County, 106 

house, the first, 111 

of Appeals, 102 

Special Sessions, 109 

vSupreme, 103 

Surrogate's, 107 
Courts, evolution of the, 101 
Crafts, Alfred P., Dr., 129 
Crandall, F. G., 133 

Packing Company, 189 
Crittenden, Hulburt, Dr., 131 
Culver, Charles, Dr., 130 
Curtis, E., 144 
David, William G., Dr., 130 
Democratic Herald, the, 140 
Dickson, John J., Dr., 128 
1 )istrict attorneys, 109 
East Palmyra, 190 

Williamson, 316 
Eddy Brothers (M. Allen and William S.), 

144 
Ehart, Albert M., 140 
Ely, Linus, Dr., 130 
English duplicity, 27 
Erie Canal, 67 
Fairvillle, 376 

Families, list of heads of, settled west of 
pre-emption line in 1790, 33 



Fish, H. H., 142 
Forte, Irwin A., 140 
Fruit culture, 93 
Fruitland, 326 
Furnace Village, 300 
Furnaceville, 326 
Galen, cemeteries of, 26:> 

churches of, 277 et seq. 

first town meeting in, 255 

pioneers of, 256 et seq. 

roads of, 254 

schools of, 262 

statistics of, 255 

supervisors of, 255 

topography of, 251 
Garlock Packing Company, 189 
Genesee country, the, in 1792. 36 
in 1796, 37 

Road," the "Great, 35 
Geology, 4 
Glenwood, 415 

Globe Manufacturing Company, 189 
Greenwood, William, Dr., 128 
Hall Center, 392 
Holly, John M., 116 
Huron, churches of, 425 et seq. 

first town meeting in, 420 

pioneers of, 421 et seq. 

schools of, 424 

statistics of, 424 

supervisors of, 420 

topography of, 417 
Hyde, Zenas, Dr., 124 
Hydeville, 377 
Indian remains, 13 
Indians, Cayuga and Seneca, 11 

in Wayne connty, 9 

part taken by the, in the early wars, 12 
Iron ore, 8 

Jerome, Hiram K., 115 
Jesuits and the Indians, 11 
Jewell, Ezra, 115 
Johnson, Lawrence, Dr., 130 
Joy, 214 

Judges from Wayne county, 107 
Ketchum, L. S., 118 
Kingman, Charles M., Dr., 131 



INDEX. 



325 



Kirkland, Samuel, Rev., 12 
Knowles, George W. , 134 

sr., John, Dr., 130 
Lake Bluff, 425 
Lakeside, 326 

Lake Shore News, the, 145 
Land divisions, early, 14 et seq. 

by State commissions, 25 
Lawton, Charles D. , 119 
Limestone, 8 
Lincoln, 400 

Livingston, George P., Dr., 131 
Lock, Berlin, 276 
Lummis, William N., Dr., 126 
Lummisville,425 
Lux, Albert C, 141 
Lyons Academy, 236 

Advertiser, the, 135 

Board of Trade, 245 

churches of, 246 et seq. 

Courant, the, 138 

Driving Park Association, 161 

Electric Light Company, 244 

Musical Academy, 237 

pioneers of, 223 et seq. 

Republican, the, 134, 136 

schools of, 235 

statistics of, 235 

supervisors of, 222 

topography of, 221 

village, fire department of, 244 
incorporation of, 243 
presidents of, 243 
settlement and pioneers of, 238 
et seq. 

Water Works Company, 244 
Macedon Academy, 336 et seq. 

cemeteries in, 335 

Center, 342 

churches of, 344 et seq. 

first town meeting of, 330. 

Historical and Geographical Society, 
339 

pioneers of, 332 et seq. 

schools of, 336 

statistics of, 331 

supervisors of, 330 



Macedon topography of, 329 
village, 339 et seq. 

Mann, Hiram, Dr., 130 

Map of Central and Western New York 
in 1809, 40 

Genesee lands, between 20 and 21 
Lake Iroquois, 3 
Western New York, 22 
outline, of pre-emption lines, 16 

Marbletown, 377 

Marengo, 276 

Marion, cemeteries in, 388 
churches of, 392 
Collegiate Institute, 389 
Enterprise, the, 144 
first town meeting in, 383 
Horse Trotters' Association, 164 
pioneers of, 384 et seq. 
schools of, 389 
statistics of, 390 
supervisors of, 384 
topography of, 382 
village, 390 

Mason, Clark, 119 

Masonic, 146 et seq. 

Clyde Lodge, No. 341, 149 
Galen Lodge, No. 367, 149 
Humanity Lodge, No. 283, 147 
No. 406, 159 
Macedon Lodge, No. 665, 154 
Mount Moriah Lodge, No. 112, 151 
Newark Lodge, No. 83, 150 
Palmyra Lodge, No. 248, 151 
Pultneyville Lodge, No. 159, 146 
Red Creek Lodge, No. 560, 154 
Rose Lodge, No. 590, 155 
Savannah Lodge, No. 764, 153 
Sodus Lodge, No. 392, 147 
Walworth Lodge, No. 254, 153 
Wayne Lodge, 153 
Griswold Chapter, 201, 150 
Newark Chapter, No. 117, 151 
Palmyra Eagle Chapter, No. 79, 152 
Raymond Chapter, No, 100, E. S., 154 
Wayne Chapter, No. 276, 147 
Palmyra Council, No. 26, 152 
Zenobia Commandery, No. 41, 152 



326 



LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY 



.May. William, Dr., 130 

Meadville, or Lockpit, 277 

Medical Society, Wayne County, 121 

Wayne County Homeopathic, 124 

Middleton, George H., 118 

Military Tract, the, 21 

Mormonism, 76 

Morris Reserve, the, '21 

Robert, and the London Associa- 
tion, 28 

Newark Academy, 366 
Fair Association, 164 
tire department, 372 
incorporation of, 371 
pioneers of, 867 et seq. 
presidents of, 371. 
Union, the, 142 
Weekly Courier, the, 141 

New York and Genesee Land Company, 
IT 

State Custodial Asylum, 374 

Newsgatherer, the, Macedon, 144 

Niagara Genesee Land Company, 17 

Norris Fruit Evaporator, 211 

North Huron, 424 
Rose, 414 
Wolcott, 300 

Norton, Luther M., 119 

( >dd Fellows, 155 et seq. 

Bay Shore Lodge, No. 606, 1 58 
Butler Lodge, No. 504, 158 
Clyde Lodge, No. 300, 156 
East Ridge Lodge, No. 415, 158 
Galen Lodge, No. 198(36), 156 
Lyons Lodge, No. 75, 157 

No. 317, 158 
Newark Lodge, No. 196, 157 

No. 250, 157 
North Sodus Lodge, No. 454, 15s 
Ontario Shore Lodge, No. 495, 159 
Phil Sheridan Lodge, No. 430, 15.') 
Pierian Lodge. No. 243, 155 
Wayne Lodge, No. 158, 155 
Canton Galen, No. 49, 150 
Wayne Encampment, No. 85, 157 
Component No. IT of (hand Canton 
Stebbins, 1 5s 



Olin S.. Dr., 130 

Ontario Agricultural Society, bid 

Center, 326 

churches of, 326 

Iron Company, 320 

loss of town records of, 321 

pioneers of, 321 et seq. 

schools of. 32 I 

statistics of, 325 

topography of, 319 

village, 325 
Palmyra, cemeteries of , 177 

churches of, 191 

Classical Union School, 17s 

Courier, the, 132 

I >emocrat, the, 134 

early roads of, 166 

Electric Light and Power Company, 
is; 

first town meeting in, 167 

Freeman, the, 132 

Gas Light Company, 187 

Journal, the, 134 

pioneers of, 168 et seq. 

Register, the, 132 

schools of, 17 T 

settlement of Long Island Colony in 

172 
statistics of, 1 79 
supervisors of, 168 
topography of, 165 
Union Agricultural Society, 162 
village, 179 et seq. 
business of, 190 
early days of, ISO 
incorporation of, is:; 
merchants of, 181 
presidents of, ISO 
Whig, the, 132 
Peck, Nelson, Dr., 130 
Peddie, James, lis 
Phelps & Gorham purchase, 18 
Phelps's " mill yard," 19 
Physicians, early, 121 el seq. 
Pierce, Jeremiah B., Dr., 130 
Pioneers, character and methods of, 6 
condition of, 46 



INDEX. 



327 



Plumb, S. Hiram, \)\\, 129 
Pomeroy, Charles G., Dr., 126 
Port Glasgow (Resort post-office), 425 
Pre-emption lines, the, 15 
Prices of commodities in 1801, 52 
Pultneyville, 314. 
Railroads, 74 
Red Creek, -.".is 

Herald, the, 140 
Regiment, Seventeenth, 84 

Twenty-seventh, 84 

Thirty-third, 85 

Forty-fourth, 85 

Ninety-eighth, 85 

One Hundred and Eleventh, 86 

One Hundred and Thirty-eighth, 87 

One Hundred and Sixtieth, 88 

Eighth, Cavalry, 89 

Twenty-second, Cavalry, 91 

First, Veteran Cavalry, 89 
Rice's Settlement, 425 
Roads at the beginning of the century, 53 
Robinson, Gain, Dr., 128 

Thomas, 120 
Rogers, Ryland J., Dr., 130 
Rose, cemeteries in, 411 

churches or 415 et seq. 

first town meeting in, 404 

"money diggers" in, 411 

pioneers of, 405 et seq. 

schools of, 410 

statistics of, 409 

supervisors of, 405 

topography of, 402 

Union, the, 145 

Valley, 413 
Routes, early, into Wayne county, 35 
Roys, Charles H., 120 
Russell, Allen S., Dr., 128 
"Salt Hollow," Sodus, 198 
Savannah, churches of, 350 

first town meeting in, 340 

News, the, 142 

pioneers of, 349 et seq. 

schools of, 353 

statistics of, 353 

supervisors of, 349 



Savannah Times, the, I 13 

topography of, :; Hi 

village, 354 
Settlement, the beginning of, :;n el i q. 

the first, in Wayne County, -II 
Sickness in early years, 
Sisson, William, 117 
Sherman, Fletcher J., [)r., 125 
Sherwood, Clinton R., 138 

Lyman, 116 
Shut-in-Visitor, the, 144 
Sodus Academy, 210 

Agricultural Society, 104 

Bay, 3, 43 

cemeteries in, 209 

Center, 213 

churches of, 215 et seq. 

early town meetings in, 200 

pioneers of, 202 et seq. 

Point, 212 

roads and railroads in, 1 lis 

schools of, 209 

statistics of, 198, 210 

supervisors of, 201 

topography of, 197 

village, 211 et seq. 
South Butler, 434 

Huron (Huron post-office), 425 

Sodus, 214 
Springs, sulphur and salt, 7 
" State's hundred," 25 
Stow, William S., 118 
Streams, 5 

Strong, Theron R., 113 
Surrogates, 108 

Sweeting, Mortimer F., Dr., 131 
Taft, Horatio N., 119 
Teall, Willis C, 143 
Thomas, William H., 145 
Tinsley, William T., 137 
Towns, dates of formation of, 2 
Transportation, means of, 05 
Tucker, Pomeroy, 132 
Valentine, Peter, Dr., 128 
Van Camp, sr., William, 135 
Vosburg, Hiram D., Dr., 125 

William, Dr., 131 



328 



LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 



Wallington, 213 
Walworth, cemeteries in, 399 
churches of, 400 et seq. 
incomplete records of, 395 
pioneers uf, 395 et seq. 
schools of, 398 
statistics of, 398 
topography of, 394 
village, 399 
War of 1812, 55 

effects of on Wayne county, 63 
of the Rebellion, 83 
Wayne Center, 414 

county, after the Rebellion, !M 

Agricultural Society, 160 

Alliance, the. 14:! 

area of, 8 

attorneys of, 112 

Building, Loan and Accumulat- 
ing Fund Association, 188 

climate of, 5 

dates of the formation of the 
towns of, 2 

Dispatch, the, 133 

erection of, 73 

first courts in, 110 

geology of, 4 

Homeopathic Medical Society. 
124 

Journal, the, 133 

Medical Society, 121 

natural characteristics of, 7 

newspapers of, 132 et seq. 

Preserving Company, 376 

soil of, 2 

statistics of, 94 



Wayne county streams of, 5 

Democratic Press, the, 135 

Sentinel, the, 132 
Weier, John E., 134 
West Butler, 435 

Macedon, 342 

Walworth, 399 
Western New York, condition of, at the 

close of the Revolution, ".'(i 
Wilkinson, Jemima, 31 
Williamson, cemeteries in, 312 

churches of, 316 et seq. 

first town meeting in, 305 

pioneers of, 307 et seq. 

schools of, 312 

Sentinel, the, 143 

statistics of, 306 

supervisors of, 306 

topography of, 304 

village, 313 
Williamson, Charles, 29, 35, 4",'; policy of, 

50; 159, 202 
Wilson, J., 141 

James M., Dr., 129 
Wolcott, cemeteries in, 293 

churches of, 300 et seq. 

first town meeting in, 284 

pioneers of, 286 et seq. 

roads of, 284 

schools of, 293 

statistics of, 292 

supervisors of, 286 

topography of, 282 

village, 295 et seq. 
Zurich, 376 



INDEX. 329 



PART II. 



Allerton, Oliver Hurd, 10 

Bickford, Lyman, . 13 

Blakely, Lamott M. , -37 

Botcher, Carl, 23 

Burnham, Edwin K. , 12 

Camp, John Henry, 7 

Clark, William, 16 

Cowles, George W., 26 

Dun well, James W. , 34 

Edgett, Ezra A. , - 9 

Fisher, Jacob, 28 

Ford, Charles H., 32 

Gaylord Family, the, - 36 

Green, Byram, 39 

Greenwood, Marvin I. , 33 

Griffith, Frederick W., 31 

Hopkins, M. , 41 

Hotchkiss, Hiram G., 29 

Landon, Newell E., Dr., 26 

Mestler, Nicholas, 12. 

Miller, Edgar D.,._ 14 

Parshall, De Witt W.,... 38 

Sawyer, S. N. , 9 

Saxton, Charles T., 2 

Sexton, Pliny,... 18 

Sexton, Pliny T., 21 

Sherman, Charles B., 40 

Stuerwald, John, 14 

Thomas, Orlando F. , , 15 

Williams, Stephen K. , • 5 

Yeomans, Theron G. , 23 



PART III, 

ARCADIA. 



Allerton, Byron, 299 Barnard, Walter, 34 

Allerton, Henry R., 300 Barnes, John W., Dr., 297 

Amerman, Albert, 298 Bartle, Andrew C, 24 

Axtell, Wells H., 299 Bartle, Warren S., 303 



pp 



mo 



LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 



Benton, John W., 32 

Blackmar, Ransom and Esbon, .311 

Blossom, William H., 297 

Botcher, Carl, 294 

Brewer, Fred J., 298 

Brownell, M. Alice, 30 

Bryant, Lewis J., 23 

Burgess, A. P., Rev., 301 

Burleigh, Emor E., 298 

Burnett, Daniel, 294 

Burnham, Edwin K., 24 

Carl, Amos D., 318 

Catlin, Charles M., 317 

Conklin, Clarence, 37 

Craver, Philip H., 320 

Cronise Family, the, 310 

Cronise, John S. , 293 

Crothers, Charles L., 293 

Cull, William C, 292 

Dewey, James S., 291 

Dickson, William, 305 

Dillenbeck, John, 290 

Donk, August, 43 

Drake, Harry R. , 302 

Edgett, Ezra A., 48 

Eggleston, Henry, 290 

Ehrhardt, George, 319 

Finley, Luther, 288 

Fisk, H. Hudson, 312 

Fleming, William, 289 

Frey, Leonard, 288 

Frey, Philip, 288 

Frisbie, Alexander, 319 

Galusha, Robert M., 286 

Garlock, Abram, 284 

Garlock, Frank, 118 

Garlock, James P., 58 

Gaslin, George B., 283 

Gifford, John P., 286 

Gilbert, Joseph, 284 

Gray, Peter, 283 

Greenwood, Marvin I., 282 

Groat, Richard P., 283 

Gulick, Charles L., 307 

Hamm, Moses F., 59 

Hankenson, Edward L., 303 

Hartnagel, Leonard, 278 



Hoeltzel, George, 306 
Hoffman, Frederick, 276 
Horn, George A., 318 
Hyde, Artemas W. , 304 
Hyde, William H , 276 
Jenkins, Thomas J., 275 
Jones, Albert N., 274 
Kaiser, John, 273 
Keener, Stephen N., 273 
Keir, Alexander, 274 
Keller, Jacob, 72 
Kelley, Albert E. , 74 
Kelley, Charles E., 302 
Kelley, Clarence M. , 312 
Kelley, William H., 224 
Kennedy, Thomas, 273 
Kneeland, Francis W., Rev., 273 
Langdon, Thomas, 270 
Landon, Newell E. , 75 
Leggett, Charles E., 272 
Lincoln, Theron L., 272 
Lovejoy, David W., 271 
Lusk, Christopher, 270 
McDermott, John B., 268 
McDonald, Nicholas L., 78 
Marble Brothers, 308 
Miller, E. Alvin, 267 
Miller, Frederick C, 308 
Miller, MaryL., Mrs., 267 
Miller, Samuel B. , 269 
Miller, William R., 268 
Mills, William R., Dr., 267 
Mitchell, Albert, 319 
Mitchell, Edward C, 318 
Moore, Isaac, 85 
Morse, Rollin E., 266 
Nellis, Peter E., 265 
Nicholoy, William H., 265 
Nolan, William H, 306 
Norton, Luther M., 317 
Nutten, Wilbur F., 86 
Olmstead, John H., 264 
Ostrander, Melvin, 265 
Palms, Andrew, 261 
Patrick, Isaac N., 320 
Peek, Winslow J., 262 
Phillips, Clark, 89 



INDEX. 



331 



Pierson, Henry R., 260 
Pitts, Jesse G., 309 
Pratt, Elizabeth A., 262 
Preseott, Joel H., 260 
Price, George H., 261 
Price, Seward F., 261 
Pyatt, Stephen A., 260 
Reed, JaredA., 99 
Reeves, J. Dupha, 146 
Richards, Sidney S., 301 
Richmond, Charles E., 258 
Ridley, William, 302 
Robinson, Calib R., 257 
Robinson, John N., 97 
Robinson, Minard, 308 
Rupert, Conrad, 256 
Schaich, George, 311 
Schwartz, Charles J., 256 
Schwartz, Franklin, 256 
See, Myron, 254 
Sheer, Jacob, 319 
Sherman, Durfee A., 107 
Sherman, Levi, 251 
Sherman, Wilson O., 109 
Siegrist, Alois, 108 
Smith, Daniel P., 253 
Smith, Rufus, 109 
Soverhill, Charles W., 252 



Spoor, Eliza D. , 309 
Stebbins, William H. H., 101 
Stever, Jacob E., 100 
Stuart, Charles W., 110 
Stuart, John E., 252 
Tator, Jacob, 116 
Thomas, Byron, 6 
Thurston, Albert L., 250 
Tiffany, George W., 309 
Travers, Jane A., Mrs., 318 
Van Dusen, John H., 318 
Van Dusen, Richard, 305 
Van Duser, Sylvester B., 8 
Van Marter, David, 305 
Van Tassel, Philip, 249 
Vorberg, Robert T. , Rev. , 308 
Walch, Edward, 246 
Weinman, Jacob, 307 
Welcher, Charles A., 302 
West, George H., 304 
White, Charles S., 19 
White, Patricks., 247 
Whitney, William, 248 
Wilson, J., 301 
Williams, Fletcher, 310 
Winspear, Charles W., 13 
Young, Augustus A. , Dr. , 245 



BUTLER. 



Aiken, John B., 22 
Bacon, Nathan, 167 
Bacon, Rufus J., 167 
Brewster, A. E., 167 
Bullock, F. L., 172 
Burghdorf, Adonijah, 121 
Burghduff, W. R., 167 
Calkins, Clarissa V., 189 
Cole, SalathielA., 189 
Darling, Martin, 116 
Dratt, L. H., 180 
Everhart, H. L., 176 
Everhart, W. H., 157 
Fitch, Cyrus E., 137 
Fowler, M. S.,50 
Graham, E. P., 307 



Hibbard, Fremont, 237 
Hibbard, Nettie, 68 
Hogan, Sarah A., 131 
Loveless, Elnather, 218 
Loveless, Ransom, 77 
McCourtie, John, 215 
Mack, I. T., 215 
Mack, IraW., 214 
Mathews, F. H., 83 
Mitchell, D. P., 85 
Olmstead, Ira M., 87 
Pierson, Forest R., 93 
Pangburn, George W., 121 
Pritchard, Edward, 209 
Pritchard, John, 119 
Roe, Sophia H. , Mrs. , 205 



332 



Landmarks of wayne county. 



Rosenberg, M. M., 119 
Spencer, Andrew, 197 
Sprague, John, 198 
Sweeting, Mortimer F., 154 
Taintor, C. A. L.,113 
Tyler, Henry, 195 
Upham, H. M., 193 
Vantassel, Elmer, 194 
Van Vleck, Lawrence, 193 
Yiele, Lucius H., 126 



Wadsworth, Philip, 14 
Wager, D. M., 228 
Westcott, John H., 231 
Wetherel, Darius, 232 
Wheeler, Hiland H., 117 
Wilson, George R., 229 
Wilson, Gorham J., 219 
Wilson, John, 231 
Wood, Rose E., 120 
Wood, William, 18 



GALEN. 



Baker, George O., 29 
Barnes, R. R., 25 
Barrett, George JJ., 27 
Barton, Archibald, 28 
Benjamin, William, 20 
Bishop, Alvin, 166 
Bishop, John Calvin, 25 
Bockoven, H. S., 27 
Bockoven, W. H., 124 
Bowen, Seth, 166 
Brockmyre, Chris., 166 
Brooks, Benjamin, 172 
Brown, Charles, 29 
Brown, George A., 32 
Burnett, A. C, 31 
Burnett, William, 26 
Clarke, Sylvester H., 39 
Clasby, Patrick W. , 1 1 6 
Clouse, Charles, 189 
Corrin, E. Q, 34 
Creager, William, 189 
Daboll, Homer, 46 
De Laney, Henry Suydam, 181 
Denison, Porter G., 47 
Devereaux, Albert F., 47 
Devoe, Daniel, 181 
Dickie, James, 43 
Edwards, D. L., 178 
Ely, Charles H., 134 
Emigh, David A., 179 
Everhart, Samuel, 179 
Ever, Henry, 179 
Field, A. S., 51. 



Field, W. N.,52 
Finch, Charles H., 178 
Finch, David S., 50 
Foist, George P., 176 
Ford, Charles H., 245 
Freeland, Charles D., 50 
Freeman, Frank R., 178 
Furlong, Perry B. , 156 
Gautz, Philip, 279 
Gilbert, N. B., 123 
Gillett, William, 58 
Gordon, John, 241 
Graham, Albert G., 135 
Graham, Archibald M., 223 
Greenway, George B., 57 
Gridley, Edward, 279 
Griswold, William H., 55 
Hartman, William Louis, 66 
Haugh, Frank A., 238 
Heisler, Henry, 59 
Heit, Jacob, 61 
Heit, Philip, 155 
Hinman, J. W., 136 
Howard, Frank, 134 
Hoyt, George H.,240 
Hunt, W. A., 67 
Hurley, N. A., 237 
Jordan, W. T, 218 
Kellogg, Henry, 235 
Kennedy, Charles R., 72 
Lamb, Chauncey B., 119 
Lang, Philip, 77 
Luffman, William, 134 



INDEX. 



333 



Lundy, Levi, 217 
Lux, Charles A., 217 
Mclntyre, Calvin, jr., 153 
McMath, William, 81 
Mead, John Calvin, Rev., 215 
Meade, M. W.,233 
Meade, Peleg, 80 
Mestler, Nicholas A. 234 
Millard, George F., 83' 
Murphy, Joseph E., 214 
Muth, James R., 79 
O'Dell, Margaret, 133 
Osborne, William H. , 88 
Palmer, L. H., 90 
Perry, D. H.,94 
Porter, Ellery J., 134 
Porter, George E., 92 
Powers, Israel, 120 
Redfield, Albert F., 97 
Roe, George G., 205 
Roffee, E. M., 95 
Rooke, Thomas, 95 
Ruf, John P., 99 
Sands, Edwin, 109 
Shephard, Harvey, 198 
Simmons, Henry E., 199 
Skinner, Salmon H., 109 
Sloan, Charles A., 199 
Smith, Arthur H., 317 



Smith, F. B., 107 
Smith, J. E., Ill 
Southard, Henry, 198 
Spencer, John M., 107 
Stock. John, 199 
Stow, De L., 108 
Strauss, Jacob,- 100 
Streeter, S. D., 199 
Syron, M. Barton, 134 
Terry, Fred H., 4 
Thorn, Thomas P., 195 
Tobin, William M., 196 
Traver, Asa, 4 
Traver, Henry, 196 
Van Buskirk, Jacob T., 6 
Vandenberg, John, 300 
Vosburgh, John, 194 
Vrooman, W. R., 9 
Waldurff, Peter, 15 
Watson, Garhardus L., 232 
Watson, Harvey C, 230 
Weed, Abram, 136 
Weed, Benjamin, 230 
Welch, P. J., 230 
Wells, E. B., 11 
Willoughby, S. E., 11 
Wood, Sidney W., 113 
Young, Henry, 19 
Zeluff, Charles E., 19 



HURON. 



Barnes, Harvey D., 31 
Booth, Charles R., 173 
Boyd, James, 170 
Cady, Stephen P., 186 
Cahoon, William R., 127 
Catchpole, Benjamin, 185 
Catchpole, James, 191 
Catchpole, Robert, 125 
Chapin, Joseph R., 41 
Chapin, Spencer E., 190 
Church, Adonijah, 187 
Cole, Romain H., 185 
Converse, Charles, 190 
Cosad, Frank, 135 



Creque, Arvin H., 187 
Davis, William H., 182 
Delling, Albert, 183 
Demmon, John W., 44 
Dickinson, George A., 138 
Doty, John Franklin, 182 
Dowd, JudsonH., 182 
Flint, Dwight B., 52 
Fuller, Erastus B., 51 
Gardner, Ishmael G. , 58 
Gatchell, William W., 57 
Heck, Augustus, 65 
Hendrick, Austin, 137 
Henry, William, 61 



334 



LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 



Houston, James, 67 
Kellecutt, Charles B. , 72 
Kellogg, Ethan B., 235 
Kline, Rebecca, Mrs., 73 
Klumpp, Daniel, 236 
Legg, Osborn L., 74 
McKee, Joshua, 84 
Michel, Mary, Mrs., 213 
Olmsted, William A., 210 
Palmer, William A., 117 
Pierce, Eugene H., 92 
Ouereau, George Henry, 210 
Quereau, William, 93 
Rice, Stephen D., 97 
Robinson, William H., 99 
Scott, William W., 219 
Seavey, Alvah H., Ill 



Seeber, James W., 126 
Shannon, Lester H., 201 
Sheldon, Roger, 203 
Slaght, George Ambrose, 197 
Smith, John Sled, 200 
Snyder, William H., 126 
Talcott, Benjamin A., 4 
Terbush, Sophronia, Mrs., 127 
Terbush, William Spencer, 195 
Thomas, Andrew A., 4 
Thomas, Philip, 194 
Weed, Luther, 13 
Weed, Oscar, 15 
Wells, Edward B. , 229 
Wood, Mason Garton, 128 
York, Benjamin S., 226 
York, George Dauson, 121 



LYONS. 



Alden, Hiram, 21 

Althen, Daniel, 175 

Arnold, George H., 175 

Avery, A. G.,174 

Baltzel, G. H., 169 

Baltzel, W. H., 169 

Barton, Daniel, 170 

Barton, Theodore, 170 

Barton, William, 136 

Bastian, David, 170 

Bastian, George B., 25 

Beadle, Judd, 170 

Blackburn, John A., 27 

Blaine, C. G., 169 

Blakely, La Mott M., 320 

Boeheim, F. W., & Son, 169 

Bourne, W. E., 174 

Bradley, Benjamin, 28 

Bradley, Judd B., 26 

Bradley, William, 22 

Breisch, F. L., 31 

Burnett, A. E., 174 

Carver, George L., jr., 186 

Carver, George W., 186 

Chamberlain, D wight S., Dr., 313 

Collins, T. W., 312 



Creager, John, 35 
Cronise, Samuel, 186 
David, William Glenn, 44 
Deuchler, Louis, 45 
Deuchler, Philip, 182 
Dillingham, Delos, 182 
Dunn, James, 183 
Dunn, James J., 183 
Dunning, G. W., 181 
Ellenwood, Ensign W., 114 
Ennis, Charles, 49 
Fellows, Frank L., 51 
Fellows, George F., 177 
Fisher, Charles, 119 
Fisher, Jacob, 140 
Forgham, Richard F., 54 
Forrester, H. E., 177 
Gates, A. H., 280 
Getman, George W., 56 
Gilbert, Edward F., 57 
Gilbert, John P., 56 
Goseline, Peter, 287 
Grimm, George F. , 280 
Groat, Frederick, jr., 280 
Hamra, Edson W., 62 
Hammond, Burton, 133 



INDEX. 



335 



Harding, John R. , Rev., 6C 
Hartman, P. T., 242 

Hendee, Alpheus, 132 
Hill, Edmund, 62 
Hoffman, Augustus L., 66 
Holmes, Sebastian D., 65 
Hopkins, W. A., 237 
Hotchkiss, H. G., 63 
Howell, Veron R., 316 
Jennings, Henry, 70 
Jordon, J. S., 236 
Keller, Dwight, 235 
Killick, Henry, 133 
Kinney, W. H., 73 
Knowles, George H., 234 
Koester, George W. , 73 
Lake, Luther S. , 76 
Lane, Charles, 74 
Lockwood, B.'F., 216 
McCollum, W. E. , 80 
McClelland, David, 80 
McOmber, Frank H., 83 
Mapes, George, 212 
Merchant, John, 81 
Miles, William, 83 
Miller, George F., 176 
Miller, F. L., 212 
Mirick, W. P., 212 
Moore, Charles H. , 213 
Moran, Daniel, 81 
Munn, John, 212 
Munn, Wm. H., 213 
Myers, J. C, 213 
Ostrander, L. A. , Rev. , 87 
Paine, William T., 89 
Patten, Silas, 89 
Patterson, Roger J., 209 
Parshall, Rossman J., 209 
Phillips, Clarence A. , 209 
Putney, Hubbard W., 90 



Randall, Peleg, 203 
Ray, H. C, 96 
Redgrave, Samuel C. , 225 
Reed, John Sherburne, 206 
Robinson, C. K. 202 
Robinson, John W., 204 
Rogers, Hiram C, 207 
Rogers, William G., 139 
Sautler, Edward, 317 
Schwab, Philip, 201 
Scott & Co., Samuel, 102 
Shepard, Albert, 103 
Sherman, Stephen D., 102 
Shuler, George H., 200 
Sparks, Jefferson, 201 
Stephan Brothers, 201 
Sweeting, Volney H., 106 
Taft, Newell, 106 
Taylor, E. P., 3 
Taylor, William, 112 
Teller, Daniel V., 195 
Terry, George H.,3 
Towar, Alex H., 112 
Towar, H. T, 112 
Towlerton, Charles H., 140 
Townsend, Hammond, 195 
Trowbridge, Noble P., 127 
Turner, Jennie, Dr., 5 
Van Dusen, Harlan, 316 
Van Etten, J. W., 10 , 
Van Fleet, B. D., 233 
Veeder, Major A., 9 
Westcott, Horace T. , 133 
Whitlock, Levi J., 12 
Whitman, Irvin A., 12 
Wolfe, John, 316 
York, Thomas, 122 
Youngs, L. S., 19 
Zimmerlin Brothers, 226 



MACEDON 



Alderman, George F., 17U 
Allyn, John L., 131 
Baker David C, 168 
Baker, Edward, 173 



Baker, John E., 116 
Barker, David E., 22 
Beal. Emery, 172 
Bently, Joseph W., 168 



336 



LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 



Bickford, Lyman, 30 
Blaker, Benjamin C, 23 
Blaker, Thomas R., 155 
Budd, Gilbert, 204 
Budlong, A. P., 168 
Bullis, Abraham, 168 
Chapman, Robert, 187 
Chapman, William A., 292 
Clark, C. W., 187 
Coniff, John, 188 
Durfee, Hiram C, 181 
Fogerty, Timothy, 53 
'Fritts, Aaron, 50 
Gage, Austin J., 280 
Gridley, William H., 280 
Hance, Thomas C, 60 
Harbou, James B., 68 
Herendeen, Charles B., 64, 
Hickox, William, 237 
Hicks, Frank B., 67 
Hicks, George, 145 
Hoag, Isaac R., 237 
Hoag, Myron L., 115 
llurlburt, John, 128 
Johnson, J. Irvin, 71 
Jordon, William H., 70 



Lane, John D., 234 
Lapham, O. C, 217 
Lapham, Stephen W., 76 
Lawrence, Walter, 76 
Lent, J. H., 74 
Little, Henry M., 77 
Mansfield, George, 214 
Martz, Frederick, 214 
Mead, John G., 85 
Murphy, John H., 213 
Norman, William, 211 
Patridge, Daniel, 207 
Pickering, William, 90 
Ramsdell, Frank G., 126 
Reeve, Abraham 204 
Richmond, Thomas J., 206 
Rouch, Frank, 96 
Sampson, Thomas, 104 
Servoss, E. B., 197 
Shourds, Daniel S., 102 
Smith, Gideon, 117 
Smith, Menzo, 105 
Sutphen, John M., 201 
Van Duzer, Z. A., 192 
Wilkinson, Joseph, 228 



MARION. 



Allen, Henry C, 22 
Austin, William C, 22 
Bilby, John H., 166 
Bilby, Joseph, 166 
Boss, Cornelius, 244 
Boss, John, 166 
Crane, Zebina, 189 
Croncher, William, 38 
Curtis, Daniel, 120 
Curtis, Edward, 38 
Davis, B. D., 181 
De Right, Daniel, 180 
De Right, Henry, 180 
Finn, AllenS., 177 
Ganze, Henfy A., .V.) 
( rarlock, Abram, 55 
Gibbs, Newton ()., 152 
Gilbert, Joseph,. 55 



Gilbert, William, 279 
Goossen, James, 129 
Gurnee, Isaac H, 55 
Howard, George M., 67 
Knapp, Allen, 235 
Lookup, William, 75 
McOmber, Amos, 79 
Milhan, Martin L., 215 
Morrison, Jacob, 216 
Noonan, M. D,, 211 
O'Dell, John S., 211 
Reeves, Stephen, 206 
Richards, D'., 204 
See, Andrew, 199 
Shippers, Abram, 198 
Smith, Hastings B., Ill 
Sweezy, Smith, 198 
Taber, Henry R., 7 



/ 



5' 



INDEX. 



337 



Tassell, Charles L., 196 

Van Lare, Jacob, 194 
Vanostrand, Fred L., 7 
Warner, R. K., 18 



Warner, Erotus, L29 
West, Solomon B., 232 
Wilcox, II. H., 232 



ONTARIO. 



Alborn, Edward F., 21 

Albright, John H., 20 
Allen, Charles E., 21 
Allen, F. S., 21 
Barnsdale, Thomas, 172 
Bean, Amos, 27 
Bennett, John A., 172 
Boynton, Frank M., 173 
Boynton, Lorenzo R., 131 
Brandt, J. S., 29 
Brant, Hamilton, 33 
Brockman, Lewis, 31 
Brown, R. K, 171 
Brundedge, Philip, 125 
Budd, Thomas, 171 
Casey, AW., 184 
Clark, William H., 183 
Cone, Walter L., jr., 35 
Craven, D. P., 35 
Denney Loren, 47 
Down, George A., 43 
Eaton, James E., 49 
Fewster, Charles, 51 
Fisher, Abram, 54 
Fisher, John N., 118 
Fries, William, 52 
Gardner, Amos, 58 
Gates, Melvin B. , 54 
Harrison, Edwin H., 64 
Hoag, Benjamin H., 238 
Hopkins, Burton J., 61 
Howk. John C, 140 
Huston, William, 66 
Jennings, Loren, 70 
Johnson, Russell, 149 
Jones, Harvey, 71 
Middleton, Ira, 212 
Morse, John J., 123 
Nash, C. J., 150 
Norton, G. P., 86 
Osborn, P. F., 210 



Owen, C. Wooster, 87 
Palmer. Oscar, 92 
Payne, William, 207 
Pease, Charles, 208 
Peer, T. J., 90 
Pintler, Freeman, 94 
Pound, Charles E., 93 
Pratt, J. D., 151 
Pratt, Jonathan S., 148 
Pulver, R. T., 139 
Ray, William L., 100 
Raymour, L. S., 95 
Redner, P., 97 
Riker, John, 99 
Risley, Charles M. , 202 
Sands, Alexander, 110 
Scott, Mathew B. , 200 
Slocum, Smith E., 100 
Smith, Elias, 150 
Smouton, C. H., 147 
Stanford, Daniel J., 103 
Stanford, Harvey E., 149 
Stuber, Seymour, 103 
Swadling, Stephen, 144 
Thatcher, Cyrus, 128 
Thayer, Aldrich, 5 
Thompson, Harry P., 146 
Turner, Albert, 135 
Van Der Veer, H. E. , 10 
Waldo, Horace, 228 
Wall, William, 17 
Warner, John A., 113 
Whitbourn, Joseph, 227 
Whitcomb, Flynn, 226 
Whitney, O. F., 231 
Willard, William G. , 14 
Williams, Henry, 14 
Willits, E. D., 12 
Woodhams, Owen, 227 
Woodhams, R. A., 13 
Wooster, Oscar A. , 150 



338 



LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 



PALMYRA. 



Allen, Joseph, 21 
Anderson, E. B., 20 
Beadle, M. D., 171 
Brown, Elisha, 23 
Brown, George R., 171 
Bump, William H., 171 
Button, William W., 28 
Carman, Truman, 37 
Chase, H. L., 37 ' 
Clark, James O., 34 
Clark, Samuel, 36 
Coates, John C, 185 
Cole, Frank W., 184 
Cole, Lafayette, 184 
Corning, John W., 40 
Corning, Joseph W. , 39 
Crandall, F. G., 41 
Davis, Barnet H., 45 
Edgerton, W. W., 49 
Eldridge, Lewis, 48 
Finley, Mark C, 54 
Foster, William, 177 
Frost, Samuel, 151 
Galloway, James, 142 
Garlock Packing Company, 56 



Goldsmith, David, 281 
Goldsmith, Thomas, 281 
Greene, Almon C, 282 
Harrison, George, 122 
Hennessy, W. J., Dr., 239 
Hillimire, Anson, 239 
Johnson, William R., 68 
Johnson, William R., 69 
Jordan, E. T., 69 
Langden, Alonzo, 216 
Mclntyre, S. B., 79 
McLouth, Charles, 81 
Milne, Alexander P., 148 
Parker, Lorenzo, 208 
Philip, Thaddeus, 149 
Powers, William A. , 208 
Sansbury, Alfred W., 108 
Saunders, Enoch, 103 
Sawyer, S. N., 105 
Smoulton, John, 200 
Sutton, Ezra B., 105 
Townsend, Jonathan, 3 
Wigglesworth, A. G., 146 
Williamson Brothers, 230 



ROSE. 



Barless, R. C, Dr., 294 
Boyce, Isaac, 296 
Briggs, John. 219 
Cullen, Thomas, 293 
Ellinwood, E. Chester, 223 
Garratt, Richard, 220 
Gordon, Hiram, 286 
Graham, Nelson R., 284 
Grenell, Herman, 321 
Hart, Samuel C, 277 
Hickok, Eugene, 176 
Horton, William O., 277 
Jeffers, George, 221 
Jeffers, Henry, 221 



Jewell, Alva, 275 
Le Vanway, Joseph, 243 
Lyman, Milo S., 314 
Lyman, Samuel, 244 
Oaks, Charles G., 264 
Ream, Fred, 313 
Rodwell, William, 258 
Seager, Asher W., 175 
Sherman, Charles B., 253 
Snow, Lorenzo M., 254 
Thompson, S. P., 250 
Welch, T. B., 247 
Wilson, Ephraim B., 248 



INDEX. 



339 



SAVANNAH. 



Allen, Wells A., 157 
Anderson, George, 20 
Bates, C. A., 15? 
Bixby, John H., 130 
Calkins, William M., 158 
Campbell, Grove E., Rev., 159 
Carncross, Andrew, 148 
Carver, P. K., 34 
Clarke, Byron G., 159 
Coleman, C. A., 158 
Cotten, D. J.. 158 
Cotton, Jerome, 158 
Crandle, R. S., 36 
Davis, Daniel D., Rev., 45 
Dunham, Henry, 42 
Dunham, Jerry, 159 
Dunham, Laura Ann, Mrs., 42 
Earley, James, 49 
Evans, David H., 148 
Farnum, Ammon S., 53 
Farrand, G. A., 53 
Farrand, Isaac T., 53 
Ferris, O'Connell, 159 
Gage, B. F., 281 
Goss, James W., 281 
Gregg, Alexander, 281 
Hall, Aaron, 64 
Hall, Aaron F., 64 
Hamilton, David R. , 63 
Harrington, Eb. , 63 
Hogan, A. N., 143 
Holdridge, A. J., 300 
Ingersoll, John, Mrs., 160 
Jepson, Charles B., 70 
Laird, John B. , 75 
Long, Charles, 76 
McGinniss, Michael, 78 
Magraw, George R., 160 
Male, Edwin B., 161 
Merriman, H. E., 160 
Merritt, Gordon, 161 
Mesner, John, 160 



Monroe, Allida, Mrs., 160 

Munson, John A., 80 

Newton, H. E., 161 

North, Orissa, Miss, 85 

Olmstead, H. M., 161 

Platner, Solomon, 156 

Plumb, Charles G., 147 

Pomeroy, E. P., 161 

Quackenbush, Elizabeth, Mrs., 89 

Rector, Sarah, Mrs., 96 

Rising, Henry C. , 94 

Rising, Joseph H. , 94 

Roberts, Cyrus, 162 

Sedore, Ira B., 163 

Seelye, Jesse, 101 

Severance, Smith, 162 

Silver, O. Clate, 102 

Smith, Ensign, 19 

Smith, Horace W., 104 

Soule, Harriet B., 101 

Soule, Mary and Lavinia, 102 

Spoor, Abijah, 162 

Spoore, John L., 163 

Stevens, Elford, 162 

Stuck, Henry, 145 

Sweeting, William H., 105 

Swift, Philip, Rev., 162 

Taylor, Henry, 163 

Ure, Hosea, 8 

Vanderpool, George, 164 

Van Duyne, Ezra M. , 7 

Van Dyke, Ralph, Mrs., 144 

Van Wickle, Simon, 149 

Vought, N. C, 164 

Westcott, George H., 165 

Widrig, Russell, 165 

Wiley, C. C, 165 

Williams, Albert, 165 

Williams, Samuel, 11 

Wilsey, Irving, 164 

Wood, Alonzo D. , 1 64 

Wood, Charles, 12 



340 



LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 



vSODUS. 



Andrews, Asa P., 299 
Arnold, William T.,24! 
Barclay, William, 294 
Bartleson, Peter, 295 
Bates, Lewis, 222 
Kelden, Samuel P., 295 
Bennett, Clark T., 298 
Brant Family, the, 296 
Brower, Aldice W., 316 
Brundige, Cornelius O., 243 
Butts, Porter P., 307 
Carpenter, Orville, 293 
Champlin, George W., 292 
Cheetham, William J., 225 
Delano, Edward Chandler, 224 
De Right, Samuel H., 291 
Dufloo, William, 291 
Emery, Walter, 289 
Kspenscheid, Nicholas, 221 
Field, Warren A., 314 
Filkins, William J., 289 
Gaylord Family, the, 285 
Granger, Sprague S., 315 
Greene, Samuel B., 22:! 
Gulick, Amos, 285 
Hanby, James E., 302 
Hill, Charles H., 241 
Hill, Gilbert and Noadiah, 276 
Hopkins, E. Horace, 217 
Horn, John P., 278 
Hulett, William J., 278 
Jolly, Thompson, Rev., 275 
Kansier, Christopher, 274 
Knapp, Walter, 224 
Lent, Charhs I)., 271 



Mason, William H., 269 
Mather, Ehsha B., 233 
Miehl, Philip, 267 
Moody, Charles R., 268 
Norris Family, the, 266 
Pearsall, John T., 315 
Potter, James, 262 
Pot wine, Thomas H.. 264 
Pulver, John, 314 
Proseus, Elias, 264 
Redman, Abraham, 223 
Reynolds, Frank L., 258 
Riggs, Prine, 258 
Robinson, Rowland, 225 
Robinson, Thomas, 259 
Rogers, Erastus, 222 
Rogers, George H., 259 
Sauer, Martin, 315 
Sentell, Edward W., 255 
Seymour, Morris J., 315 
Snyder, Eli, 254 
Snyder, George, 254 
Snyder, Henry J., 25:! 
Spear, Mahlon, 253 
Tinckelpaugh, William H., 220 
Toor, Charles H., 251 
Trowbridge, Theodore B., 221 
Turner, Nathan M., 251 
Van Slyck, Charles D., 314 
Vosburgh, William, 305 
Warren, Gardiner D., 241 
Waters, John, 248 
Whitbeck Family, the, 246 
Wride, William, 246 



WALWORTH. 



Baker, J. W., 115 
Bills, William, 124 
Brandt, George, L30 

Bumpus, E. I)., Ill 
Clemans, Putney, 152 
1 >owning, Fred 1'.., Ill 



Elliott, Charles, 179 
Ellison, Richard T.. 122 
Foskett, James G., 141 
Frawley, Jacob, 125 
Freer, John, 143 
Fuller, Roswell D., 157 



INDEX. 



341 



Gilbert, Charles D., 143 
Gould, Therou O., 152 
Gould, William E., 142 
Haley Edward, 138 
Hamm, Andrew J., 119 
Harris, Calvin P., 238 
Hoyt, Daniel, 115 
Hunt, William, 238 
Johnson, Samuel J., 130 
Loomis, F. H., 218 
Lotze, John, 217 
McKee, Hiram, 214 
Main, Marquis S., 234 
Moore, F. W., 152 



Murphy, James S., 21G 
Orchard, R. P., 210 
Payne, George, 130 
Peacock, Albertus J., 129 
Reed, R. T., 145 
Smith, Frank W., 151 
Stalker, Robert, 114 
Tiffany, Reuben, 146 
Wait, G. W., 129 
White, John T., 229 
Williams, M. E., 229 
Wooster, Denison S., 151 
Wooster, Hiram O., 144 
Yeomans, Albert, 144 



WILLIAMSON. 



Austin, Orlando, 20 
Beardsley, David S., 30 
Bennett, Charles, 25 
Bennett, John P. , 29 
Benton, William, 32 
Berzine Family, The, 135 
Britton, John, 33 
Britton, Joseph, 167 
Buckles, Abram, 168 
Carr, Robert S. , 39 
Cheetham, Richard M.,40 
Clarke, F. Wake, 37 
Cogswell, Hiram S., 188 
Cornelius, John, 188 
Dehond, Abram F., 43 
Deright, Hermones D., 180 
De Zutter, Cornelius, 46 
Eaton, William L. , 245 
Fish, Chauncey, Capt, 287 
Fish, Harry S., 222 
Gates, Joseph J., 120 
Hanby, Joseph H., 68 
Hance, De Witt C, 69 
Hoagland, Charles B., 238 
Holling, Andrew, 155 
Laing, John A., 217 
Lyon, Samuel, 76 
Mason. Charles, 143 



Mason, D., 234 
Milhan, David R., 84 
Miller, Charles A., 2U 
Mullie, Isaac, 78 
Paget, Tom, 91 
Pallister, Albert A., 88 
Pallister, Harley C, 157 
Pallister, Richard, 93 
Pearsall, G. A., 155 
Peer, Barton P. , 91 
Plyte, Isaac, 91 
Rodgers, Mason L. , 205 
Russell, Darius F., 120 
Russell, W. D., 98 
Selby, Amos E., 108 
Selby, Stephen Fish, 141 
Shepard, John, 197 
Sprague, John A., 107 
Sprague, L. S., 112 
Swift, ElishaT., 242 
Tassell, Frank W., 194 
Teats, John H., 156 
Van Eenwyk, John, 125 
Van Holde, John, 194 
Wamesfelder, Daniel, 229 
Waters, George F., 17 
Wilder, F. S., 15 
Wilson, Royal P., 128 



342 



LANDMARKS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 



WOLCOTT. 



Barber, William, 28 
Bates, MaryE., 28 
Bevier, Fred, 32 
Blackmore, H. F., 173 
Booth, B. S.,30 
Bradway, A. J., 174 
Brink, A. C, 24 
Brinkerhoff, George W., 124 
Brooks, Alfred, 174 
Bullock, Ira, 138 
Burghdorf, Joseph, 33 
Campbell, W. P., 118 
Carrier, Amaziah T., 191 
Church, William O., 191 
Cosad, Samuel, 192 
Crafts, Alfred P., 39 
Creque, Hermon C, 41 
Curtis, Omar M., 191 
Cuyler, John H., 192 
De Lamater, George C. , 43 
Doolittle, Miss Franc, 183 
Dow, Jasper E., 180 
Dutcher, John, 45 
Easton, Charles H., 50 
Eddy, Charles W., 132 
Ely, George S., 180 
Fanning, Joel, 51 
Fenn, Merritt H., 52 
Field, N. J., 177 
Fisher & Kellogg, 53 
Frost, Oscar J., 178 
Grant, Willis, 279 
Graves, H. A., 139 
Green, Hugh, 138 
Hale, J. H., 220 
Hall, J. Madison, 59 
Hanchett, Orange R. , Mrs. , 61 
Hawley, William, 240 
Hill, Joseph G., 2:!!) 
Hoag, Jefferson W., 239 
Hoff, Hubbard, 240 
Horton, George S., 60 
Hoyt, A. W., 240 
Hyde, J. H., 240. 



Jenkins, Burgess E., 236 
Kellogg, A. D., 74 
Kellogg, Edward H., 72 
Kimball, S. F., 236 
Kyle, David J.. 236 
Lovejoy, Nelson, 75 
Merrill, William H., 82 
Newberry, E. W., 211 
Newell, Emily J., Mrs., 87 
Paddock, H. R., 88 
Paddock, W. W., 91 
Patrick, R. Z., 210 
Perkins, Herbert, 139 
Peterson, C. O., 138. 
Phillips, John M., 207 
Porter, Nathan B., 88 
Putnam & Co., J. H., 90 
Reed, Enos H., 205 
Rice, Amman, 204 
Robertson, J. N., 97 
Roe, William, 207 
Schuyler, Henry, 202 
Scott, Irving, 133 
Seymour, L. D., 202 
Smith, John H., 138 
Snyder, J. F., 202 
Spurr, John, 132 
Strait, John G., 202 
Tabor, Charles R., 196 
Taylor, Emogene, 5 
Taylor, Henry G., 196 
Thacker, William H., 4 
Tyrrell, J. S., 5 
Vanalstine, H. C, 10 
Van Valkenburg, C. F., 8 
Viele, Charles J., 132 
Vought, Nicholas, 192 
Waldorf, Jefferson, 227 
Waldorf, Reuben, 113 
Ward, Reuben, 229 
Watkins, R. H., 117 
Wells, Albert, 231 
Wheeler, Justus J., 14 
Wiggins, William H., 232 



INDEX. 



348 



Wilson, Emily J., 227 
Wise, A. M., 227 
Wood, Anson Sprague, 16 
Wood, Noah, 18 



Worthy, Henry, 132 
Wright, Warren H., 231 
Younglove, R. W., 226 



PORTRAITS. 



Allerton, Oliver Hurd, facing 

Bickford, Lyman, 

Blakeley, Lamott M. , 

Botcher, Carl, 

Burnham, Edwin K. , 

Camp, John Henry, 

Clark, William, " 

Cowles, George W. , 

Dunwell, James W. , 

Edgett, Ezra A. , 

Fisher, Jacob, 

Ford, Charles H. , 

Gaylord, Charles D. , 

Greenwood, Marvin I. , 

Griffith, Frederick W. , 

Hotchkiss, Hiram G., -- 

Landon, Newell E., Dr., -- 

Mestler, Nicholas, - 

Miller, Edgar D., - " 

Sawyer, S. N., 

Saxton, Charles T., -- 

Sexton, Pliny, 

Sexton, Pliny T., 

Stuerwald, John, . . — 

Thomas, Orlando F., - -- 

Tinsley, William T., 

Williams, Stephen, 

Yeomans, Theron G. , 



10 


Part 11 


340 


Part I 


244 


Part I 


23 


Part II 


374 


Part I 


116 


Part I 


228 


Part I 


102 


Part I 


34 


Part II 


376 


Part I 


28 


Part II 


268 


Part I 


211 


Part I 


363 


Part I 


189 


Part I 


94 


Part I 


122 


Part I 


12 


Part II 


359 


Part I 


168 


Part I 


48 


Part I 


72 


Part I 


165 


Part I 


15 


Part II 


240 


Part I 


137 


Part I 


5 


Part II 


397 


Part 1 



. i 



5 
j 



